Installing a Digital Readout (DRO) on my Emco Maximat V10 Metal Lathe

Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Medium

Process:
I've been wanting to get a DRO for my metal lathe for almost a year because it makes finding and re-finding certain positions a lot easier but even the cheapest ones are almost $500 bucks so I made a secret deal with my wife and was fortunate enough to be able to satisfy my wife's requirements of the deal and ordered a DRO on ebay.

The discussions online all vary between getting a cheap-o chinese glass scale DRO or an easy to cut and smaller magnetic scale or to fork out a grand or two and get a really high quality DRO. Considering all my option, I decided to go with the  cheap-o chinese glass scales because I don't use my lathe for 40 hours a week and I don't mind going a bit slower and double check my work a bit more frequently than to spend a lot of money on a fancy set of DRO scales.

I bought the following set off ebay: 3 AXIS DIGITAL DISPLAY READOUT DRO FOR MILL LATHE MACHINE AND 3 LINEAR SCALE and have to say that I am very happy with it so far. The manual is crap, but it got me far enough to figure out how to use it.

Once I got the DRO in the mail, I unpacked it and made sure it all worked properly. Then came the fairly lengthy part of installing the scales. For the x-axis I had to actually make a wood patern, use my Aluminum Home Foundry along with the Propane Burner to cast the part, then use the lathe to finish the part.

Installing the y-axis was also a little tricky because I didn't have a lot of space beside the cross slide to mount the scale. I was debating installing it on the left hand side but that would have taken away from the "over the cross slide" capability of my lathe and I didn't want the scale to be too close to the rotating chuck for fear of accidentally damaging it.

The y-axis was probably the easiest but I did require a custom cast ring around my round mill head column so I could mount the scale in a way that would allow it to rotate out of the way when I wasn't using the mill head.

All in all it was a fun project that wasn't too hard and all the custom parts could have been made out of bought stock aluminum so a home foundry wasn't even necessary but it did help keep the cost down.

Update:
Someone inquired about the dimensions of the glass scales I ordered so I thought I'd include them in my post. They are as follows:

X: 31"

Y: 12.5"

Z: 20"

Videos:

Pictures:

The picture of the DRO from ebay

The picture of the glass scale and reader from ebay

Another picture from ebay

And another one

The custom bracket drawn up in FreeCAD

The parcel arrived!

Unpacking the DRO

What a beautiful sight

Tapping the first hole into my lathe to install the x-axis scale

A view of the lathe with the x-axis

Testing the x-axis for levelness

Testing various scenarios on how to mount the reader to the carriage

The DRO display

A custom bracket I bent up to test, but it was too flimsy so I had to go the heavy-duty cast aluminum route

Tilting the lathe so I could get to the underside

The dimensions of the custom bracket to mount the x-axis reader to the carriage

The dimensions, 3D diagram and mold pattern

My son adding some lego to my aluminum cast

And a toy from McDonalds

A 17 pound ingot of aluminum I bought at an auction is now getting melted up. The crystalized grain structure is fascinatingly beautiful

A little piece of aluminum I broke off the ingot

Another view

Machining the custom x-axis bracket

Another view of the custom x-axis bracket

Holding the x-axis bracket in place for testing

Tapping the custom bracket for the x-axis

Tapping the carriage apron

Milling the recesses for the cap screw heads

The installed custom bracket with the angle bracket holding the reader head

Side view of the custom bracket

View of the installed custom x-axis bracket from underneath

The x-axis glass scale done

Fitting the reader head cable into a fairly rigid "flexible" electrical conduit

The DRO x-axis cable management installed

I screwed the end of the electrical conduit into the lathe stand so it wouldn't get caught while working the carriage back and forth

View from the end of the lathe

Close-up of the installed cable management for the DRO x-axis

Getting ready to install

Drilling the cross slide for the rear bracket to hold the DRO y-axis

The other side of the cross slide

Cutting up another custom bracket to hold the DRO y-axis reader head

Drilling and tapping yet another hole into the carriage

The installed bracket to hold the DRO y-axis reader head

Testing the DRO y-axis glass scale for levelness

The rough cast of the round bracket for the DRO z-axis

Machining it down to size

The finished bottom bracket for the z-axis

Another view

Measuring the center of the bottom bracket

Machining off one side to be able to attach the DRO z-axis glass scale

Getting ready to mill a gap to read the mill head angle indicator

One angle done

Another view from a little further away

The second angle done

The finished bottom bracket for the DRO z-axis glass scale

Machining an extension for the bottom bracket

Bolting the extension to the z-axis bottom bracket

The finished bottom bracket

Another view

The bottom bracket installed on the mill column

The view port that shows the angle indicator marks on the mill column

I ended up having to mill the extension down a bit more

Milling a slot into the top bracket of the DRO z-axis

Testing for levelness of the DRO z-axis

The installed z-axis

Close-up of the top bracket

Close-up of the bottom bracket

Another view of the top bracket

Cutting the slots into the bracket holding the z-axis reader

The finished bracket

Tapping holes to hold the bracket to the mill head

The z-axis installed

Close-up of the bracket holding the reader head

Another view

Tools:
Metal band saw
Drill & drill bits
Tap & die set
Hammer
Measuring tape
Ear & eye protection
Metal lathe & accessories

Materials:
DRO kit
12" of 3" x 3" x 1/4" aluminum angle

Cost:
$500.00

Time:
25 hrs

Conclusion:
I love it. It makes working on the lathe so much easier