Lathe digital readouts

[Kelly Tytlandsvik]

I am thinking of purchasing digital readouts for my lathe and mill. Which is better glass scale or the ones you can cut to length? I know a few guys that have setups from Shooting Star and was wondering which is better. Aren't there some that have a tube full of steel balls too and it measures the diameter of the balls some how as it travels?

Kelly T

[BGunn]

I put a Shooting Star DRO on my lathe about 12 years ago, the old style one. I had a failure about 6 months after installing it and the people at Shooting Star had a new one to me in less than a week. Great tool and great service, it hasn't given me a seconds problem in all these years and I use coolant some times. I liked the idea of being able to cut the scales to my machine and mount it in the best position. The nice thing to me is the ability to swap directions on the display so that I can read either + or - depending on what I am doing.

[joneg]

i like the acu rite/anilam brand myself, they use glass scales and are of very high quality. the ones with the ballbearings in them are made by newall, they are also good. the good readouts usually have metal armored cable for the scales to protect the wiring, the shooting star just uses phone cord.

[BGunn]

I have an Anilam on my mill and a few years ago the X axis was damaged. They charged 365.00 for the scale plus 55.00 for the correct cable. That is one reason I went with Shooting Star, I liked their prices on replacement parts. Plus the whole thing was not a lot more than one glass scale. I realize that the resolution and repeatability is probably better with the glass scales but the lathe isn't capable of any work that requires it.

[OTTO-Sawyer]

For $25.00 I just mounted a good used 12 inch digital caliper to the apron of mine, and a 6 inch one on the cross-slide. If either of them quits working I'll just throw another on on it.

Same thing on my mill.

I'm cheap, but resourceful.

I don't use coolant on either of them, but they do make coolant proof calipers if you need them.

[R.Baughman]

I work for a machine tool dealer and install all kinds of DRO,s. Glass scales are ok but dont like dirt. The best read outs that i have dealt with are Newall They have a tube filled with steal balls and a sealed reader head that the tube slides thru. The kit comes with all the necessary hardware. And best of all they have A ONE YEAR NO FAULT WARRENTY. If you Brake it they replace it no questions asked. At home i have an sony on my mill (that i trash picked) and newall on my lathe. The newall on my lathe is 15 years old and is still supported by newall my sony is not. We also sell a unique read out it uses a magnetic tape. They are cheap but wear out kinda quickly.
I hope i have helped you.

[John Hruska]

I have installed numerous Newall readouts on lathes, mills and boring bars.
The canned programs and additional reference points make this readout great to use on a mill.
The functions are easier to us than Accurite, in my opinion.
Installed on a lathe, I think it may be too pricey.

For either application, guard the bar and wipe it down once in a while. Coolant that dries on the bar will become sticky and collect debris. After a few years it will be enought to cause the bar to be bent during travel of the machine elements.
John