I just put two (x,y) of the Igaging DRO's on my LMS mill.
Yeah, ridiculously inexpensive. Accuracy? Well, I'm a total noob to this as I said. But, ten full turns of the leadscrew each axis (@.0625) read exactly .625 on the LCD. They advertise .002, per six inches of travel for this model:
http://www.igaging.com/page18.html
They have a new line, the Absolute DRO, with an absolute function, better display, and .0015 accuracy per foot. Still, under $100 per axis depending on length. 6" is about $60 on Ebay.
The mill had a torsion spring to support the head, I've just replaced it with an air spring so I now have space to add the z axis.
I suppose, it depends on the level of precision of the part(s) being machined. Basically, these are the same technology used in calipers, adapted onto longer slides with remote readouts.
But, accurate "enough", for me for the time being, at least- and NO MORE backlash compensation! That alone makes it a dream to learn with. Seems to me that even minor errors are bound to occur due to backlash that would end up being no more accurate in the end than using the DRO's. I hesitate to offer an opinion though because I'm so new at this.
Hesitating to put a lot of dough into the manual aspects (including a power feed) because I'm giving it some time to figure out whether I'm going to do the CNC conversion which would make these "improvements" moot. There are comprehensive kits designed specifically around these X2 mills that make a turnkey conversion for little more than a grand.
I haven't put any DRO's on the lathe yet because it's a bit more challenging to figure out a way to mount them on the cross-slide, and since all cuts are in the same direction I don't see it as a "must-have" just yet.
A lot to learn...
Yeah, ridiculously inexpensive. Accuracy? Well, I'm a total noob to this as I said. But, ten full turns of the leadscrew each axis (@.0625) read exactly .625 on the LCD. They advertise .002, per six inches of travel for this model:
http://www.igaging.com/page18.html
They have a new line, the Absolute DRO, with an absolute function, better display, and .0015 accuracy per foot. Still, under $100 per axis depending on length. 6" is about $60 on Ebay.
The mill had a torsion spring to support the head, I've just replaced it with an air spring so I now have space to add the z axis.
I suppose, it depends on the level of precision of the part(s) being machined. Basically, these are the same technology used in calipers, adapted onto longer slides with remote readouts.
But, accurate "enough", for me for the time being, at least- and NO MORE backlash compensation! That alone makes it a dream to learn with. Seems to me that even minor errors are bound to occur due to backlash that would end up being no more accurate in the end than using the DRO's. I hesitate to offer an opinion though because I'm so new at this.
Hesitating to put a lot of dough into the manual aspects (including a power feed) because I'm giving it some time to figure out whether I'm going to do the CNC conversion which would make these "improvements" moot. There are comprehensive kits designed specifically around these X2 mills that make a turnkey conversion for little more than a grand.
I haven't put any DRO's on the lathe yet because it's a bit more challenging to figure out a way to mount them on the cross-slide, and since all cuts are in the same direction I don't see it as a "must-have" just yet.
A lot to learn...