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latest work

mechaform

mechaform

Active Member
Thought I should post something in here to give a sense of what I get up to.

I've been wanting to turn some small wooden parts on my Taig metal lathe; handles, marking tool bodies, etc. Taig makes some accessories for wood turning, but I don't like them.

The spur centre started as 3/4" ATF steel hex stock and used the 20-hole ring of the indexing plate on my headstock, plus the Dremel toolpost I built to hold a flex-shaft handpiece with 1/8" collet. It is modelled on the "Steb" style centre instead of the more traditional cruciform pattern. The point in its middle is 1/8" O1 rod. The live centre for the tailstock has two 3/8" ID (7/8" OD) bearings press-fitted inside the cone body. The T-rest is bolted together from 3/8" O1 rod (still needs to be hardened) set into one of the last Lee Valley dovetail slides they had in the warehouse (LV used to offer the Taig lathe aimed at pen-turners).
 

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You will find quite a few members who practice the woodworking.
There are software engineers here making remote control toys, a few pilots making 3D printed items or mechanical designers like me making anything.
See my photos:
BBQ Burner
KING 3/4hp Mill with DROs & Accusize Flycutter
Inspection Jigs
 

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LenVW said:
You will find quite a few members who practice the woodworking.
There are software engineers here making remote control toys, a few pilots making 3D printed items or mechanical designers like me making anything.
See my photos:
BBQ Burner
KING 3/4hp Mill with DROs & Accusize Flycutter
Inspection Jigs
Click to expand...
Hobby machinists span the gamut. Making fabrication & inspection jigs and fixtures is an underrated part of working with machine tools.

I have thought about buying a DRO for the Taig mill, but the short travel on the X and Y axes makes it difficult to determine which scales would be best suited; I suspect I will have to cut them down from longer units. Not familiar with the process. I do know that any readout lag would drive me nuts.
 
My KING Mill is just a Benchtop and I-Gaging had 6” and 10” units did not need to be cut.
The displays can be ’0’, and are clearly displayed.
I find the DROs to be valuable, as the lead screws wear, I can still count on the DROs.
Early wear is of the drawbacks of these Chinese produced machines.
 

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mechaform said:
I have thought about buying a DRO for the Taig mill, but the short travel on the X and Y axes makes it difficult to determine which scales would be best suited; I suspect I will have to cut them down from longer units. Not familiar with the process.
Click to expand...

I think Len's idea to use the i-gaging units will probably be best for your machine. The problem isn't the size - it's the cost. It doesn't make sense to spend over $500 on a DRO.

Modern magnetic scales are compact and easily trimmed to whatever length you need.

Optical can be trimmed too but not as easily as magnetic.

Scales also come in different sizes from tiny 10mm magnetic tape to bigger optical scales.

The i-gaging units are very compact.

mechaform said:
I do know that any readout lag would drive me nuts.
Click to expand...

Almost any modern scale won't have any lag.
 
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Thanks for the great feedback.

The reasons I would want a DRO on a mill would be for functions like bolt circles, halving to find centre, direct entry of measured values, and X by X hole patterns. As I understand it, the I-gaging style readout modules do not interact with one another, so these functions are not possible. Now, how often I would actually use such functions is purely a matter of conjecture. I could pick up one each 6" and 12" I-gaging scale for ~$200 and set those up on the mill for accurate X-Y placement of features that I would have to calculate offline. Not a horrible option...
 
mechaform said:
I could pick up one each 6" and 12" I-gaging scale for ~$200 and set those up on the mill for accurate X-Y placement of features that I would have to calculate offline. Not a horrible option...
Click to expand...

whydontu said:
Yuri’s Toys. DIY DRO with adapters for iGaging scales, uses an Android tablet for display and control.
Click to expand...

How's that for amazing feedback!

Ask and thou shalt receive - all from the collective wisdom of the forum!
 
I took a look at Yuriy's DRO site; an interesting possibility.
My immediate concerns are that there have been no updates to the Blog since June of last year, and there's not much activity on the Forum.
The V3 TouchDRO app has been in Beta since last May 2-4, but I cannot access the Google Group despite being told there are no prerequsites to join.
I also do not have any Android devices. This will take some pondering.
 
The I-Gaging DROs I have are not interconnected.
They purely supply me X and Y positions.
If I need to do bolt circles, I get the dimensions out of my AutoCAD layout.
@whydontu sounds like an option, there must be add-ons to do them.
 
Yes the I-Gaging Easy View have them.
But, I have not used the ‘Data Port’, as of yet.
The LARGE display is quite handy to confirm positions.
I bought the two DROs (4” and 10”) for less than $100, direct from I-Gaging.
 

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LenVW said:
Yes the I-Gaging Easy View have them.
But, I have not used the ‘Data Port’, as of yet.
Click to expand...

It's worth thinking about using the data ports Len. A graphic display on a tablet screen would make child's play of a bolt circle or an array.
 
mechaform said:
I took a look at Yuriy's DRO site; an interesting possibility.
My immediate concerns are that there have been no updates to the Blog since June of last year, and there's not much activity on the Forum.
The V3 TouchDRO app has been in Beta since last May 2-4, but I cannot access the Google Group despite being told there are no prerequsites to join.
I also do not have any Android devices. This will take some pondering.
Click to expand...
Yuriy is very active and responsive on the Hobby Machinist forum where he has a paid sub-forum. There is active development going on and if I'm not mistaken an new release is in beta with users.
 
mechaform said:
My immediate concerns are that there have been no updates to the Blog since June of last year, and there's not much activity on the Forum.
Click to expand...
I've spoken with Yuri and he's a very dedicated guy; When a very minor bug was reported last fall, had it solved in 3 days. Little goes on in the blog, partly because most of it goes on in HobbyMachinist website nowadays.
 
Susquatch said:
It's worth thinking about using the data ports Len. A graphic display on a tablet screen would make child's play of a bolt circle or an array.
Click to expand...
Or you can use the graphic calculators on . . .

Bolt Hole Circle Coordinate Calculator

Bolt Circle Coordinate Plot Calculator. This calculator will determine a bolt circle pattern and X Y coordinates as well as plot data. Bolt circle can be rotated as well.
www.engineersedge.com

There are a bunch of useful tools if you look thru the web pages.
 
LenVW said:
Or you can use the graphic calculators on . . .
Click to expand...

That's the way I used to do it sans the DRO Readout. Yes, the Readout makes it an order of magnitude easier. But it's yet another order of magnitude easier to use a graphic display that you just crank to. I press a button on my DRO, it shows where I am along with coordinates, and also shows the next hole along with its coordinates, and all you do is crank till the two holes and their coordinates line up.

It's stupid easy. Might have to watch it being done to really appreciate it.

You are absolutely right though. It isn't required. But it sure is nice to have.
 
Good to know that Yuriy is active on other forums. Lots of info to process (today has been super hectic).

From the Igaging site (they no longer offer the Easy-View model)
6" Absolute $65 USD + 12" Absolute $92 USD + shipping, customs = $89 + $126 = $215 CAD + ~$50
Touch DRO (Igaging model) $99 USD + shipping, customs = ~$136 CAD + ~$30
decent Android tablet ~$130 CAD
---------------------------------
~ $560 CAD if customs clears them without issue/assessment

Searching Amazon.ca for the Easy-View shows a 6" for $85 CAD, but that it will not ship to my destination address (?)
The Easy-View 12" is $98 CAD + $16 shipping
Absolutes are $168 and $179 CAD in the 6" and 12" models respectively (+ tax)

Amazon has a ToAuto 2-axis DRO with 8" + 14" scales is $334 CAD + $30 shipping (+tax)
Even some of the Ditron models are in a similar price range.
 
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