The premier source of tooling, parts, and accessories for bench top machinists.
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The premier source of tooling, parts, and accessories for bench top machinists. |
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 Digital Position Readout ComparisonA digital position readout (also known as a DRO, short for digital read out) provides a numerical display showing the position of your machine elements. On a milling machine a 3-axis DRO shows the X- and Y- positions of the mill table plus the Z-axis position of the cutting tool. On a lathe, a typical 2-axis DRO shows the positions of the carriage and the cross slide. DROs help prevent common errors such as misreading the hand wheel dials or losing count of hand wheel rotations. They also provide capabilities that are impossible with mechanical hand wheels and dials, such as switching from measuring inches to measuring millimeters. Common features of DROs include:
More advanced DROs include more features:
At LittleMachineShop.com, we carry several complete DRO kits plus some mix-and-match parts with which you can build your own custom DRO. 2222 Digital Position Readout, 2-Axis Mini LatheThis DRO kit is specifically made for the mini lathe. It mounts right on the cross slide and compound rest to give you accurate depth of cut readings. Unlike our other DRO kits, this is not a true DRO. There are two things that differentiate this from a true DRO. First, it provides readouts for the cross slide and the compound rest. It does not display the position of the carriage at all. Second, it does not actually measure the position of the cross slide or the compound rest, but it measures turns of the hand wheels. Why are these distinctions important? The first is pretty obvious, if you want to know where your lathe carriage is. This product won’t help. But if you want to measure along the axis of the bed, you can set the compound rest perpendicular to the cross slide and use it to measure. The second distinction is a finer point. Because this product measures turns of the hand wheel, there is no compensation for backlash. On a milling machine this would make this product pretty much useless. But on a lathe, you are always cutting in the same direction (on any particular cut), so backlash doesn’t matter.
This product is a good value. It provides most of the features of a “real” DRO at a very attractive price. But don’t try to use it on anything but a 7x10, 7x12 or 7x14 mini lathe. It simply won’t work. 2016 Digital Position Readout, 3-Axis EconomyThis kit contains all the parts required to add a 3-axis digital position readout to the mini mill. It includes a 3-axis display, one 8" scale, two 12" scales and complete instructions The kit incorporates the inexpensive scales that are made like an electronic digital caliper without any jaws. These scales, like most inexpensive digital calipers, have a data port connection. The cable from the readout plugs into the data port providing a 3-axis display. Features of the economy DRO include:
While relatively economical, this kit provides only a bare-bones DRO solution. The kit is specifically configured for a mini mill. The scales might be the correct length for other mills, but you will probably have to select the components you need individually if you want to add this type of DRO to anything besides a mini mill. 2664 Digital Position Readout, 2-Axis
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| Part Number | 2222 | 2016 | 2664 | 2665 |
| Description | Mini Lathe 2-Axis Digital Position Readout | Economy 3-Axis Digital Position Readout | 2-Axis Digital Position Readout | 3-Axis Digital Position Readout |
| Price | $129.95 | $449.95 | $599.00 | $749.00 |
| Zero at any position | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reversible count direction | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Inch or mm display | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Measure diameter or radius | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Resolution | 0.0001" | 0.0005" | 0.0005" | 0.0005" |
| Accuracy | 0.001" | 0.001" | 0.001" | 0.001" |
| Two sets of coordinates | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Enter current coordinates | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Bolt circle calculator | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Bolt line calculator | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Preset positions | No | No | 100 | 100 |
| Tool offsets | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Scale lengths | N/A | 8", 12", 12" | 16", 48" (can be shortened) | 16", 16", 48" (can be shortened) |
| Application | 7x10, 7x12 and 7x14 mini lathe | Mini mill | Guaranteed to fit any lathe or mill | Guaranteed to fit any lathe or mill |
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