Dro Scale Installation

Tramming the Homier 0. Mill Gadget. Builder. Tramming the Homier 0. Mill Last Modified. April 2. 01. 5 0. MST. A rite of passage for mill owners is the tramming process, where the head is adjusted to be almost perfectly perpendicular to the table. The Homier mill is no exception my mills head was slightly off, typical for all mills. The documentation provided did not cover how to tram the mill the column and base looked monolithic except that there were 4 large bolts adjacent to the base. The table was centered to avoid any tilt and the head was set low on the column and locked. A Sharpie was used to mark the fore and aft measurement points on the tablesee picture above the left and right points were judged based on the table slots. To minimize the DTIs movements a piece of glass was placed on the table for the initial work both the table and the glass must be very clean even one small piece of swarf could ruin the accuracy of the readings. A drill chuck was used to hold a rod appropriate for my DTI clamp and the DTI was mounted as shown to allow measuring the variation in distance between the spindle and the table. The accuracy of the chuck and the straightness of the rod do not affect the readings using a collet to hold the rod will not allow more accurate readings. As with RDM for lathe alignment, taking the difference between readings eliminates errors due to these sources. KA Series Glass Scales STERLING 7 Dimensions of KA500 glass scale Fig. Model L0 L1 L2 Model L0 L1 L2 KA50070 70 172 182 KA500320 320 422 432. Four readings were taken in order to judge the alignment error initially, the Before readings in the table in thousandths. The diameter of the circle touched by the DTIs probe was 8 inches. The readings before and after tramming are shown in the table below Homier Mill. Drill Tram Readings Front Rear Left Right Before 0 1. After 0 0. 1. 0 0. The four bolts surrounding the column were loosened and downward pressure was applied on the front of the head. This caused the column to rock forward slightly and cracks opened between the column and base as anticipated, it was not monolithic. The castings seem to have been bolted together, sanded and then filled with a soft material before painting. When the junction between the parts opened, small particles of this filler found their way into the joint without me realizing it. I added paper shims in the appropriate places to reduce the error and re tightened the bolts. The error lessened but further adjustment was needed so I repeated the process. The error changed but not quite as expected. I did this several times before realizing that bits of filler were disturbing the process. I then scraped the joints clear with a thin metal piece most of the filler was on the rear and then lightly gripped pieces of paper in the mating joints and pulled them out to remove the filler dust. The external area of the rear joint was scraped and filed to further remove filler as part of the cleanup process. Main Unit Startup System This machine incorporates a startup system relocation detection system, which disables operation when an unexpected vibration is applied or. DRO PROS sells magnetic scale kits starting at only 670The picture shows where the filler broke away toward the rear of the right side the edge of the paper shim is visible peeking out of the joint. Once the filler was cleaned off, tramming was predictable and quick, being completed in about a half hour. I found an easy method of inserting shims which wasnt obvious to me initially. The headmotor is approximately balanced on the column by pulling down on the front of the head with the retaining bolts loosened, the column tilts forward slightly. The column base has an area forward of the front bolts around which the column base cantilevers upward, raising both sides and the rear of the column off the base paper shims can be slipped into place easily on these 3 sides while applying downward pressure on the front of the head with the other hand. On my machine the mating surface between the mill base and the column base does not touch all the way across on the rear so shims work best on the sides of the column base. If shims are needed at the front of the base, replace the plate glass on the table with a block of wood, then use the quills fine feed to apply downward pressure via the rod which will raise the head, allowing a shim to be slipped into place on the column front. Dro Scale Installation' title='Dro Scale Installation' />DIGITAL READOUTS Operation Manual Dro Ver1. GUIYANG XINTIAN OETECH CO. LTD www. chfoic. com. Once the alignment was approximately correct I completed tramming with the plate glass removed more care is needed while turning the spindle to the measurement points because of the T slots to eliminate that as a source of error. The After readings in the table were taken with the glass removed. Update the tram drifted slightly over 3 years so I recently re trammed. Paper shims are a pain to remove because it is difficult to get at the area and they must be scraped off when theyve been in place for years. Best to use brass or stainless shims to avoid this. A Meister DRO for the Homier Mill Click to Enlarge In November 2. I installed a Meister Top. DRO on my Homier mill. Installation took a while but wasnt difficult. The Z scale was bolted to the head using a spacer near the lower end to align it parallel to the spindle. A square bar was bolted to the spindle clamp and drives the DRO read head via a short round bar. Once installed, the Z readout was immediately helpful in making the X and Y mounts. The X scale was mounted in place of the movable stops using 1. A piece of 14 aluminum was milled to space the read head and also hold the bar for the way protector. The aluminum shield provided with the scale was modified by removing the mounting. I wanted the security of the angle bracket protecting the scale from accidentally dropped items. The Y scale is less likely to be damaged by dropped items so a 18 aluminum plate was mounted to the carriage and the scale bolted to it using the Meister supplied shield. A spacer, angled 5 to match the mill base, was added to position the bracket that holds the Y read head. The armored cables which connect the scales to the display are longer than needed so the excess is hung from a hole added to the mills motor plate not elegant but it keeps them out of harms way. One awkward point to this setup is that the X scale blocks access to the front ball oiler. The front ways can be oiled by cranking the table to one side, oiling the extended area, crank the table to the other extreme and oil that end. I milled the aluminum angle away over the oiler but it is accessible only with a hypodermic possible but difficult. UPDATE On 2. 7 September 2. Z axis input to my DRO failed. The Z readout flashes the minus sign while the Z scale is moving but displays zero. The Z scale works if connected via the Y input. Occasionally the Z scale will work normally for a short time but it is no longer reliable. I use the DRO infrequently so it had perhaps 4. ON time prior to failure, i. Warranty was 1 year expired, of course, quoted repair cost is 1. Singapore. I dont often require Z readout so I havent had it repaired. This page was last modified. If you have a comment on this site or its contents. Distributions From A Qualified Tuition Program Are Reported On. MillDrill with Stand Grizzly Industrial. I bought this mill nearly a year ago. I was pleasantly surprised with how big and beefy it was in person. I purchased the power feed attachment at the same time and that was a very easy install. It has been a great accessory to have for longitudinal feed. Ive cut aluminum, 1. L1. 4 Steel, and hardened tool stool on this mill. I dont agree with the previous reviewer who said it would only cut aluminum. I havent found that to be the case. The issue is you cant take those huge hog leg 2. Bridgeport It will cut anything you want, you just have to take lighter passes on harder metals. I routinely take. Also, in the specs it says the mill capacity is 34 end mill. However, I have a 1 end mill that Ive used and again, no issues. Its really about how careful and caring you are about your machine and your tools. I am overall very happy with this mill. However, there is one problem that caused me at least a months worth of headache, and because of this, I took off one star. If I had known about this issue or been more perceptive, I might have either gone with a different model, or one that already had a DRO installed on it. So, the issue is with installing a DRO onto this mill yourself. Installing a scale and read head for the longitudinal feed is stupid easy. Plenty of space and no real extra fabricating needs to be done to attach that portion of the DRO to the back side of the table. Where the issue lies is with the Y axis front to back. Because the base of the mill is not flat, it is a NIGHTMARE. I tell you, to attach the scale and read head for this axis. Let me save everyone some time and calculating. The angle on the side of the base is approximately 3. You dont need it down to minutes take my word for it. So, you cant just put the scale directly onto the side of the base and get to going. I had to take some aluminum square stock and layout a 3. I then drilled and tapped, attaching it to the side of the base. This allowed the scale to be attached and dialed in perfectly squareparallel. The next horror is trying to find a spot to attach the read head. The issue is that the only space that I found acceptable, personally where you could begin to think about attaching some type of bracket for the read head is directly under the table, above the base, on a 7 long strip. This little bitty strip is just that. While it is 7 long, it is only 38 thick. So, I went out and found some 38 wide x 12 thick x 2. I essentially had to create a box and the arms extending away from the table had to be long enough that when I finally attached the bracket that the read head would be attached to, that it had a correct amount of spacing to not rub the scale as the read head moved with the movement of the table. I also added a middle bracing piece that was also drilled and tapped into the one piece attached to that little 7 strip under the table. Because I had to create those 3. I attached it to the left side of the table, so think of it this way read head all the way to the left, then the scale, then the standoffs, and then the side of the mill. It is rigid and has worked, but I was pretty frustrated and annoyed with how involved it became just to attach the Y axis, all because the base was angled. MORAL OF THE STORY Get the G0. DRO already on it. Its a different number than the 0. DRO already installed. Or dont, and have fun engineering something for the Y axis. There are others ways it couldve been attached, but for me, this is the first way to do it that popped into my head and its what I went with. And before you waste your time I did. Probably 4 or 5 hours over a two week period, there is absolutely nothing on You. Tube or a forum or on the interwebs where someone installs a DRO on the G0. There are a few DRO video installs on You. Tube for the G0. 70. Gaging type DRO system. And thats completely different than a real DRO package not putting down the i. Gaging type DRO system at all, but for a lack of better description, real is what Im going with.