Dro

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f21sh

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Hello All
I have not used an DRO on a lathe would like to know are they worth the money spent. I under stand they are almost a necessity on a mill, however on a lathe are they that helpful. Anyone with experience using DRO mounted to a lathe. Thanks:D
 
f21sh

I put a Miester on my lathe and it helps me hold tolerances a little closer. When turning the necks on my brass I'm sure the cross slide doesn't move and I don't have to keep measuring all the time. Its nice but you can live without it.:D
 
Depends on how much regular machining you will be doing. We have them on all our lathes and mills for a manufacturing company. Those machines get used 10 to 18 hours a day. If your only going to use it as a three times a month hobby thing I would not spend the money.....
 
I use mine ...

... all the time. It is an Acu-Rite with a .0002 resolution on both axes. I have an Acu-Rite 3 axis DRO on my mill with the same resolution as well. When truing receivers or creating barrel shanks it is an indispensible tool for all operations including threading. Once you get used to having a DRO you wouldn’t want to be without it. When cutting threads I use a dial indicator mounted on the ways to gauge when to roll out or in the cross feed as required and disengage the half nut. When returning the cross slide to “Zero” for the next pass you can check the DRO and verify that it is correct. A word of caution you need to make sure that you purchase the very best DRO that you can afford. The cheap units stink and will scrap more parts than if you didn’t have it in the first place. Some companies use a spur gear and rack for counting, not so good. Other companies use a worm and spur type arrangement for counting, again not so good. It is my opinion that you want a unit that has glass scales and a reader head that uses an LED that shines trough a smaller glass gauge scale against the longer scale and reads it like a vernier caliper.
 
I installed a Newall C80 3-axis DRO on my vertical mill just a few months after getting it set up in the shop, and have found it to be indespensible. I was so impressed with it that a year later, I bought another C80 for my 13x40 lathe. I invested in the 2nd C80 simply because of the experience with the first one, and because I'm certain Newall's scales are pretty much bullet-proof. Living out in the sticks makes getting service such a PITA, which is another consideration.

I don't mind paying for quality - within reason - and would rather cry once than regret cheaping-out when a product repeatedly lets me down over the course of the years. I have no regrets in having installed a DRO on the lathe, even though I don't feel nearly as justified with the investment as I did with the mill's DRO. However, since I don't use coolant on the lathe, I'm wondering if a less expensive DRO with glass scales wouldn't have served my purposes just as well?

I'm fixing to find out, as I've just purchased a 2nd lathe which came with a Sino DRO installed, and the electrician - looking for a warm place to work with our 1*F temps & wind this morning - is coming out to wire it into a Hitachi VFD.
 
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