"Errol Groff" wrote in message
...

If you have a DRO always be in the habit of setting your dials to
zero when setting up. If the power blinks out and you haven't
done so you may be up the creek. When I did industrial modelmaking
for a living often times the pick up point would be machined away
and without a good set up I would have been lost after a power outage.

[Note: I corrected "DRP" in the text above to "DRO" to avoid further
confusion.]

That's a good tip Errol. Another one is to buy an Uninterruptable Power
Supply (UPS) for your DRO. This is also commonly known as a battery back-up
power supply. This serves several benefits:

1. If the power blacks out (or browns out) briefly, you lose nothing. The
DRO can remain powered on.

2. If the power blacks out (or browns out) for an extended period, you have
time (using the battery back-up) to position your table back to the origin
(zero/zero) and lock it down. Then you can shut off the DRO and wait for the
mains power to return.

3. Quality UPS's have superior AC line filtering, thus protecting your
expensive DRO from the line noise and transients that are common in a shop
(due to motors and such).

It used to be that a decent UPS was very expensive, but with the
proliferation of personal computers, that is no longer the case. A DRO
typically doesn't draw much power, so you don't need a large UPS. I highly
recommend the UPS's made by APC (American Power Conversion). No affiliation,
etc., but I have used them extensively on servers and workstations for many
years with great success, and now have one powering my DRO. Also, APC offers
a lifetime warranty on the UPS *and* the protected equipment from any damage
caused by electrical surges, spikes, or even lightning.

- Michael