Hello, I have a 2019cr mill no cnc yet. Has anyone put a DRO on there mill? Looking for even some ideas on mounting chinese scales to mill. Any links to someone that has would be helpfull. I love this mill so much more handy than the mill drill I also have.Thank You Steve

I know Grizzly sells DRO kits, but they are about $500 and up. You could purchase 3 steppers and the controller for about that much or less - then you would just need the computer and software to be CNC.

If you bought digital scales you could do it for a bit less, but it would still be a good fraction of the cost of CNC electronics. I went through the same thought process as you, and scoured the web, but best as I can tell, people are either leaving their taig mills as is, or going CNC - and the vast majority appear to be CNC.

Now watch someone post links to dozens of DRO conversions on Taig mills....

Here is an option if you want to use Chinese scales and have a DRO that looks a bit more professional and is easier to read. They have a users group which might provide installation hints for Taig hardware.

http://www.shumatech.com/products/dro-350/index.htm

It is sold in kit form, but the design is 'open source' on the web site.

As Mark suggests, take a careful look at the cost of a DRO vs going CNC. With the CNC, you can machine under full computer control or you can use the CNC to position the cutter and make cuts in a somewhat manual mode using the jogging function and/or manual data input. I find both modes useful. In the jogging and manual data input mode, having CNC on the mill is like having a combined power feed and DRO. I think of it as a very smart power feed.

Regards,

Chuck

and don't forget the wizards in Mach3. Most manual mill operations are covered by the wizards. If you haven't already, download the demo version and start playing with it (no controller or mill needed).

Cheers,
Mark

Yeah I know I need to bite the cnc bullet. Should a newbie go all out with the gecko 540 or maybe a lower cost control to learn on. I will need 4 axis for my projects. On a side note a milwaukee 12v lithium drill with a socket to fit the drive handles,makes a real nice power feed. It has a variable speed trigger. Took about 2 minutes of cranking on the sherline rotary to figure out we need a new plan.

Thumper...If cost is not a problem, get the Gecko setup

in the long run you will be glad you did,

If cost is a Factor then a Xylotex or Hobby CNC Driver will work, Just not as Fast.....

hope this helps

Thanks for the reply fellas. Soon on the cnc.

Don't let being new to CNC sway you away from purchasing,

Thats what this forum is For, all of us will help you the best we can

I can hear you guys in a couple of months " can this guy tie his shoes in the morning without help"?

Hello Brian,

It sounds like you have a CNC ready mill. Did you get some threaded tubes and motor mount plates with the mill?

You are right. The CNC mill does not use digital scales. The control software tells the steppers how far to move the table and keeps track of the location. There is no location feedback in a stepper system, but this is not a problem as long as the load the stepper is working against is less than the steppers strength. I've had no problems.

You would need to mount your stepper motors. Then you'd add a computer with software such as MACH3 to convert g-code to stepper movement or convert manual data input to stepper movement. The computer connects to some sort of power supply, breakout board, stepper driver combination. The Gecko 540 combines the breakout function and stepper driver function into a very small and capable package. Of course you need some cables to carry signal to the motors. At this point your should be operational.

There may be some Taigs out there running ball screws, but the factory supplied screws and nuts in the CNC ready mills seem to work well for most people's use. I've had no poblems.

That is a rather quick and short explanation. Keep asking questions as there are many people in this group who will help.

Regards,

Chuck

Hi Brian,

The price you mention for the motor mounts seems high to me, but I don't know what pieces were being quoted. I'd think that amount would nearly cover the needed mounting hardware for all three axis. From what you have said I'd guess you just need the motor plates, threaded tubes, tube clamp, and couplings.

The Shuttle Pro is a nice control for jogging. Take a look at Fretsman's thread on mods he has made to his mill. However, you can certainly jog with the arrow keys on the keyboard, but the Shuttle gives very fine control for creeping up on a location.

I would think 500 lines would allow you to do a lot of 2.5 axis work, though a licensed copy of Mach3 is a real bargain.

Some people say CNC isn't good for one off work, but I find I do mostly one off work on my CNC Taig. These were small model engine parts that would have required some rotary table work in a manual machine.

Good luck.

Regards,

Chuck