How much more useful is a mill with DRO

[HoosierBuddy]

Hey guys,

Let's cut to the chase.

I have an old U.S. Burke Millrite 8X30 Knee Mill. I use it for hobbyist type stuff plus make a few parts to sell when I can (automotive bling pieces). The mill runs an average of 20 hours a month.

I think I want to drop some $ and put a DRO on it.

But then there's another part of me that thinks that dropping a grand or so adding a DRO to a 40 year old milling machine that might only be worth $1500 or so is stupid.

What do you guys think?

Phil

 

[Hafen_Kafer]

You won't regret it. Do it.

 

[rsanter]

It will not make the machine more useful. It will make things easier for you when you use it.
You can do it the old school way by just reading the dials and for circles you can do the math to figure out where to be for the desired pattern

Don't look at it like dompinf money into that mill. The DRO is a separate piece to me and if you buy another mill you have the option to swap the DRO over to the other machine

Bob

 

[E.Marquez]

Yes it's worth it.... Just did this myself for a Mill and lathe.
Can the same milling operations be done without a DRO as with? Yes, of course.
Can they be done with repeatability, accuracy and without the inevitable human error NO.
Don't think of it as an investment, it's not, you will not see a $ for $ or more return on what you spend.

It is simply another tool to make a job better, faster, more enjoyable and part of the tinkering mindset most of us have.

Have a look at the DRO STORE http://www.thedrostore.com/

Yes it's off shore suppliers. No you'll not find a Tech Rep that will come to your house, install it, service it, teach a class on using it..

But the products they sell work as advertised.....at the end of the day.. I assume that is what your after..

 

[Possum]

The DRO will really improve the ease of use of the machine as well as provide way more accurate positioning of the machine. Especially over the full travel on an old machine with worn lead screws.

 

[Cryptic1911]

You don't need to spend a grand on a DRO.. Look on ebay, you can get some decent 3 axis ones for under $500 with glass scales

 

[rlitman]

You can do it the old school way by just reading the dials and for circles you can do the math to figure out where to be for the desired pattern

That doesn't compensate for backlash. DRO does.

 

[383 240z]

Buy the DRO. Dont look back. I used a mill last week with one. I used my mill last night. I hate reading those dials now. I'm moving it up to the head of my list on the must purchase. I even put it above my rotary table. Here is where I'm getting mine. http://www.cdcotools.com/ part number is 30002 Keith

 

[justanengineer]

Not to be unkind, but it all depends on YOU. We cannot tell you what your ability to work with dials is compared to working off the DRO, nor can we tell you if its worth the $$$ to increase productivity some small amount. We also cant tell you whether or not the small amount of travel lost on a small mill from installing DROs is worth it or not. Personally, to me on that machine it wouldnt be, I'd rather sell it and buy a slightly larger machine like a Bport that already has a more capable professional DRO for the same or less $$$ (aka find a deal).

A close family friend has a shop full of early machine tools with which he makes his living. He's an older guy now, so everything has a big screen DRO and feeds on all possible axes....even his big 19-0-something vertical mill (Kempsmith IIRC)

 

[zkling]

DRO's can really shine on machines with quite a bit of backlash, thus improving the useful life of a machine tool.

Are they handy, sure. Are they a necessity, not really. Kinda like an impact wrench vs breaker bar. Will a breaker bar get it done, of course. Will an impact be faster, and easier, of course.

DRO's can be real handy when manufacturing new parts from bar stock. Or if you have complex parts that require repeated transversing of the table (compounded backlash). Some of the higher end DRO's have handy features like pocket, bolt hole and off set parameters.

If you want something on the cheap you could try mounting a semi cheap set of digital calipers to your table. Especially since your travel range is not that long. I did this to my clausing 8520 and it makes it really nice. I picked up two 8" Mitutoyo digital calipers off of ebay for $100 total. Made up some mounts to the table. Work good for the small stuff on the 8520.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Thanks for all the feedback, guys.

Good information!

Phil

 

[Steevo]

It is sooooo much easier to do repetitive operations with a DRO to guide start/stop points.
My first mill was all manual, and my second has DRO.
Next will have CNC.

Or maybe I'll just buy a 3D printer and print stuff . . .

 

[rsanter]

That doesn't compensate for backlash. DRO does.

if you know what you are doing you always operate off one side of the backlash

bob

 

[rlitman]

if you know what you are doing you always operate off one side of the backlash

bob

I know what I'm doing. That's easy to say, not so easy to do when you have to re-indicate all the time. DRO can be a huge timesaver.

 

[helterskelter]

I wouldn't want to use a mill without a DRO (unless I was just hacking sh*t up). The 500$ will pay for itself in time and frustration.

 

[HAP]

Makes milling operations fun and repeatable. Makes even the cheapest machine look cool(er). Plus if you accidentaly bumped your dials you will know it...

HAP

 

[Outlawmws]

Lots of ways to get to the DRO beside a high end kit. Do some research. and yes it's worth it, unless you dump silly $$ into the upgrade.

 

[383 240z]

http://www.shumatech.com/web/home

For the real DIY guys. Here is an option. Kinda like megasquirt but for mills and lathes. Keith

 

[larry_g]

The subject line made me think, When did DRO's hit the market? This link says 1972. So we fought wars and put men in the air and men in space without DRO's. Your machine will not be more useful, but a lot easier to use. One other advantage to the DRO is with the push of a button you can switch to metric units.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[oldgoat]

If you are doing much at all DRO is almost a must. Sure you can try to set things up to just use one side of the backlash, but it isn't always possible. It also will allow to do things like hole patterns and be faster and more accurate. Unless you put indicators all over the place you won't know if you have moved into a worn area and it has moved. Yes we put men into space but they also had some great machines down in Oak Ridge that were already in climate control buildings and NC machines. Heck in the mid 60's we had NC machines running, but they were still using trig tables and slide rules.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Really good information guys.

I actually am glad that my mill came without DRO. I think it taught me a lot. The above posters are right. You really have to work in one direction to eliminate backlash. Another thing I do A LOT is set my stops and work between them for repetative work.

I'm giong to look at that sumatech site. That stuff REALLY interests me.

I'm building a robot with my kids right now and taking an online Python class to update my programming skills, hoping that translates to programming microcontrollers and such. A DIY DRO kit that was cheap would be awesome. Of course, the transducers (scales) are going to be a big part of the expense....

Phil