At the risk of opening a can of worms, I would really like some input
on the latest build-it-yourself digital readout for my mill.

Any help would really be welcome.

Thanks


Joe

justme wrote:
At the risk of opening a can of worms, I would really like some input
on the latest build-it-yourself digital readout for my mill.

Any help would really be welcome.

Thanks


Joe

www.shumatech.com They're about to put out another batch of the DRO 550
unit . Figger about 200 bucks plus scales for 5 axes (mill and lathe in one
unit !) and it has a bunch of features like bolt circles , tool offsets ,
incremental and absolute zeroes , etc .
I have a DRO 350 on my mill , has a fewer features than the 550 but it
works for me . I'm in for less than 250 bucks including scales .
--
Snag
Learning keeps
you young !

Thanks, Snag but I really wanted to build my own circuit board and
interface the displays to it.

Any suggestions having said that?

Joe


On Wed, 2 Mar 2011 19:05:01 -0600, "Snag"
wrote:

.

I haven't been looking into DIY versions of DROs for quite a few years, but
Nick M in Germany has a website with a lot of technical info wrt the generic
imported, low cost digital scales that may be of interest to you.

www.yadro.de

He also sells products for interfacing those types of scales to a PC (older
laptop will suffice).

I suppose a lot depends on whether the application is a mini machine, or a
full sized industrial machine.
There were some DIY circuit plans floating around at various online forums,
for making circuits to read/display TTL quadrature signals from conventional
industrial linear scales.
The generic imported digital scales don't output the TTL signals.

Converting the output signals from the generic imported digital scales to a
digital readout is more complicated than counting the squarewaves of
conventional linear scales.
There are complete digital readouts (with few features) for the generic
imported digital scales, but not in kit form (or available schematics/part
lists) that I'm aware of.

Shumatech? and another source were using different types of scales for home
shop machines, which had other types of output signals, IIRC, which may be
easier to convert to a counting display.. definite maybe.

When I was actively searching for DRO stuff, I saw some decent commercial
DRO units on eBag which generally read/display TTL signals from industrial
linear (or rotary) encoders.. and the commercial versions are typically
loaded with features that the other types of systems don't have.

There were numerous machine users seeking low cost DRO systems for home shop
use several years ago on several online forums, which may now have some DIY
solutions for home-built circuits.. so effective searching may produce the
results you're looking for.

--
WB
..........


"justme" wrote in message
news
At the risk of opening a can of worms, I would really like some input
on the latest build-it-yourself digital readout for my mill.

Any help would really be welcome.

Thanks


Joe

Very good, Wild Bill. That is some good info, too. I will take your
suggestions and run with them.

Thanks.

Joe


On Wed, 2 Mar 2011 22:45:50 -0500, "Wild_Bill"
wrote:

I haven't been looking into DIY versions of DROs for quite a few years, but
Nick M in Germany has a website with a lot of technical info wrt the generic
imported, low cost digital scales that may be of interest to you.

www.yadro.de

He also sells products for interfacing those types of scales to a PC (older
laptop will suffice).

I suppose a lot depends on whether the application is a mini machine, or a
full sized industrial machine.
There were some DIY circuit plans floating around at various online forums,
for making circuits to read/display TTL quadrature signals from conventional
industrial linear scales.
The generic imported digital scales don't output the TTL signals.

Converting the output signals from the generic imported digital scales to a
digital readout is more complicated than counting the squarewaves of
conventional linear scales.
There are complete digital readouts (with few features) for the generic
imported digital scales, but not in kit form (or available schematics/part
lists) that I'm aware of.

Shumatech? and another source were using different types of scales for home
shop machines, which had other types of output signals, IIRC, which may be
easier to convert to a counting display.. definite maybe.

When I was actively searching for DRO stuff, I saw some decent commercial
DRO units on eBag which generally read/display TTL signals from industrial
linear (or rotary) encoders.. and the commercial versions are typically
loaded with features that the other types of systems don't have.

There were numerous machine users seeking low cost DRO systems for home shop
use several years ago on several online forums, which may now have some DIY
solutions for home-built circuits.. so effective searching may produce the
results you're looking for.

justme wrote:
Thanks, Snag but I really wanted to build my own circuit board and
interface the displays to it.

Any suggestions having said that?

Joe


On Wed, 2 Mar 2011 19:05:01 -0600, "Snag"
wrote:

.

The info to build your own 350 is out there , you can start from scratch
with a piece of PCB . Etch it yourself , drill , assemble , etc . There's
also info to build interfaces for quad scales if you want that type .

--
Snag
Learning keeps
you young !

On Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:49:09 -0600, justme wrote:

Thanks, Snag but I really wanted to build my own circuit board and
interface the displays to it.

Any suggestions having said that?

Joe
would you settle for a kit? I bought one and never soldered it. This
is only a pc interface card, still need encoders and mounting. Plus a
PC.

Karl

Jeez, the price of the scales that I googled are way out of sight! Do
you know of cheap ones?

Joe

On Wed, 2 Mar 2011 22:45:50 -0500, "Wild_Bill"
wrote:

I haven't been looking into DIY versions of DROs for quite a few years, but
Nick M in Germany has a website with a lot of technical info wrt the generic
imported, low cost digital scales that may be of interest to you.

www.yadro.de

He also sells products for interfacing those types of scales to a PC (older
laptop will suffice).

I suppose a lot depends on whether the application is a mini machine, or a
full sized industrial machine.
There were some DIY circuit plans floating around at various online forums,
for making circuits to read/display TTL quadrature signals from conventional
industrial linear scales.
The generic imported digital scales don't output the TTL signals.

Converting the output signals from the generic imported digital scales to a
digital readout is more complicated than counting the squarewaves of
conventional linear scales.
There are complete digital readouts (with few features) for the generic
imported digital scales, but not in kit form (or available schematics/part
lists) that I'm aware of.

Shumatech? and another source were using different types of scales for home
shop machines, which had other types of output signals, IIRC, which may be
easier to convert to a counting display.. definite maybe.

When I was actively searching for DRO stuff, I saw some decent commercial
DRO units on eBag which generally read/display TTL signals from industrial
linear (or rotary) encoders.. and the commercial versions are typically
loaded with features that the other types of systems don't have.

There were numerous machine users seeking low cost DRO systems for home shop
use several years ago on several online forums, which may now have some DIY
solutions for home-built circuits.. so effective searching may produce the
results you're looking for.

justme wrote:
Jeez, the price of the scales that I googled are way out of sight! Do
you know of cheap ones?

Joe

On Wed, 2 Mar 2011 22:45:50 -0500, "Wild_Bill"
wrote:

I haven't been looking into DIY versions of DROs for quite a few
years, but Nick M in Germany has a website with a lot of technical
info wrt the generic imported, low cost digital scales that may be
of interest to you.

www.yadro.de

He also sells products for interfacing those types of scales to a PC
(older laptop will suffice).

I suppose a lot depends on whether the application is a mini
machine, or a full sized industrial machine.
There were some DIY circuit plans floating around at various online
forums, for making circuits to read/display TTL quadrature signals
from conventional industrial linear scales.
The generic imported digital scales don't output the TTL signals.

Converting the output signals from the generic imported digital
scales to a digital readout is more complicated than counting the
squarewaves of conventional linear scales.
There are complete digital readouts (with few features) for the
generic imported digital scales, but not in kit form (or available
schematics/part lists) that I'm aware of.

Shumatech? and another source were using different types of scales
for home shop machines, which had other types of output signals,
IIRC, which may be easier to convert to a counting display..
definite maybe.

When I was actively searching for DRO stuff, I saw some decent
commercial DRO units on eBag which generally read/display TTL
signals from industrial linear (or rotary) encoders.. and the
commercial versions are typically loaded with features that the
other types of systems don't have.

There were numerous machine users seeking low cost DRO systems for
home shop use several years ago on several online forums, which may
now have some DIY solutions for home-built circuits.. so effective
searching may produce the results you're looking for.

Igaging , thru the folks at Shumatech - your readout/control box will need
to be capable of providing the clock signal . Or 24 bit binary scales thru
folks like 800Watt on fleebay . My 24" X axis scale was less than a hundred
bucks , the 8" on my Y axis was around $35 . I'm using a $12 caliper on my Z
, with the inside-measuring jaws cut off . These I'm using are all 24 bit
binaries . If you're looking at glass scales , you're going to pay about
triple what mine cost me .
I still say the DRO 550 or 350 is the best bang for your buck . FWIW , I
built my 350 from a kit purchased from Wildhorse Innovations in Montana ,
though I don't know if he's still in business or if the 350's are still
available as a kit .
--
Snag
Learning keeps
you young !

Snag wrote:
justme wrote:
Jeez, the price of the scales that I googled are way out of sight! Do
you know of cheap ones?

Joe

On Wed, 2 Mar 2011 22:45:50 -0500, "Wild_Bill"
wrote:

I haven't been looking into DIY versions of DROs for quite a few
years, but Nick M in Germany has a website with a lot of technical
info wrt the generic imported, low cost digital scales that may be
of interest to you.

www.yadro.de

He also sells products for interfacing those types of scales to a PC
(older laptop will suffice).

I suppose a lot depends on whether the application is a mini
machine, or a full sized industrial machine.
There were some DIY circuit plans floating around at various online
forums, for making circuits to read/display TTL quadrature signals
from conventional industrial linear scales.
The generic imported digital scales don't output the TTL signals.

Converting the output signals from the generic imported digital
scales to a digital readout is more complicated than counting the
squarewaves of conventional linear scales.
There are complete digital readouts (with few features) for the
generic imported digital scales, but not in kit form (or available
schematics/part lists) that I'm aware of.

Shumatech? and another source were using different types of scales
for home shop machines, which had other types of output signals,
IIRC, which may be easier to convert to a counting display..
definite maybe.

When I was actively searching for DRO stuff, I saw some decent
commercial DRO units on eBag which generally read/display TTL
signals from industrial linear (or rotary) encoders.. and the
commercial versions are typically loaded with features that the
other types of systems don't have.

There were numerous machine users seeking low cost DRO systems for
home shop use several years ago on several online forums, which may
now have some DIY solutions for home-built circuits.. so effective
searching may produce the results you're looking for.

Igaging , thru the folks at Shumatech - your readout/control box will need
to be capable of providing the clock signal . Or 24 bit binary scales thru
folks like 800Watt on fleebay . My 24" X axis scale was less than a hundred
bucks , the 8" on my Y axis was around $35 . I'm using a $12 caliper on my Z
, with the inside-measuring jaws cut off . These I'm using are all 24 bit
binaries . If you're looking at glass scales , you're going to pay about
triple what mine cost me .
I still say the DRO 550 or 350 is the best bang for your buck . FWIW , I
built my 350 from a kit purchased from Wildhorse Innovations in Montana ,
though I don't know if he's still in business or if the 350's are still
available as a kit .


I always wondered if an optical mouse could be used for distance
measurement. I never had the time to see how it would track over longer
distances and repeat.


John

On Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:21:32 -0600, justme wrote:

Jeez, the price of the scales that I googled are way out of sight! Do
you know of cheap ones?

Senor Blow, here are some less expensive ones:

24" digital, $89. http://tinyurl.com/4rmpg4z
12" digital, $55. http://tinyurl.com/4z9w65a
6" digital, $19, stainless. http://tinyurl.com/4ntutzf
6" digital, $10, composite. http://tinyurl.com/4qwrmen

Some modification required, batteries included.

--
The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.
-- Okakura Kakuzo

I think that proposed use was discussed here (more than a couple of years
ago, IIRC) but I forget what the reasonable conclusion was.. maybe something
to do with needing a program/driver for the mouse encoder signals although
it may have been before optical mices were so popular.
The common X-Y wheels represent rotary encoders, but there may have been
more involved. Cleanliness of the tracked surface would certainly be one
issue.

SWI make/made rotary encoders (maybe still are TTL) that have a wheel with a
hardened, rough surface for reading movement from a clean, smooth, flat
surface.. the housing mount provides the pressure to prevent the wheel from
slipping.
Some machine users praised them as easier to install, and others curse them
as being problematic/erratic. I have some of the SWI units that I haven't
gotten around to using yet, but plan to eventually.

There are other rotary encoder types that use thin metal bands or wire,
similar to the way a steel tape measure pays out/returns.. the ones I saw
were not very accurate, maybe more suitable to wood cutting, I think.

Another type of linear encoder uses magnetically sensitive components to
read from a odd-patterned strip mounted to a stationary machine surface..
Sony was one, IIRC.

Heidenhain? from Germany used a slightly different system, IIRC.

--
WB
..........


"John" wrote in message
...

I always wondered if an optical mouse could be used for distance
measurement. I never had the time to see how it would track over longer
distances and repeat.


John

Larry has provided some links to affordable generic imported digital caliper
scales (although 1 is a dial caliper!).

Online searches for various product prices can be very misleading.. some
dealers insist on advertising prices that are more than double what numerous
other sellers actually sell the items for, I guess just for the chance that
someone will actually not know the value of the product.

A lot of times I'll include the term *surplus* in the search, just to see
what the results are for actual surplus sellers that have new surplus items,
not beat up old crap.. or just using the word surplus as a gimmic but having
high prices.

--
WB
..........


"justme" wrote in message
...
Jeez, the price of the scales that I googled are way out of sight! Do
you know of cheap ones?

Joe

Snag wrote:

I still say the DRO 550 or 350 is the best bang for your buck . FWIW , I
built my 350 from a kit purchased from Wildhorse Innovations in Montana ,
though I don't know if he's still in business or if the 350's are still
available as a kit .

Wildhorse is still in business. They just
sent me 2 custom milled enclosures for my
DRO 550's.

Maybe not what the OP is interested in, but here's a program that is stated
to work with (I haven't tried it) old computer parallel printer ports.. 486
PC 100Mhz.

Quadrature 5V signals from linear or rotary encoders.

http://www.lindsayengraving.com/othe...rests/dro.html

--
WB
..........


"justme" wrote in message
news
At the risk of opening a can of worms, I would really like some input
on the latest build-it-yourself digital readout for my mill.

Any help would really be welcome.

Thanks


Joe

On 03/09/2011 09:50 AM, Wild_Bill wrote:
Maybe not what the OP is interested in, but here's a program that is
stated to work with (I haven't tried it) old computer parallel printer
ports.. 486 PC 100Mhz.

Quadrature 5V signals from linear or rotary encoders.

http://www.lindsayengraving.com/othe...rests/dro.html

It'll be DOS only, from the description and the look of the screen
shots. Windows or Linux machines would need a special driver. And
you'd have issues with making sure that the program looks at the port
often enough -- if it misses a count, then it'll be off until the next
time you home the axis.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

On Mar 9, 2:47*pm, Tim Wescott wrote:
On 03/09/2011 09:50 AM, Wild_Bill wrote:

Maybe not what the OP is interested in, but here's a program that is
stated to work with (I haven't tried it) old computer parallel printer
ports.. 486 PC 100Mhz.

Quadrature 5V signals from linear or rotary encoders.

http://www.lindsayengraving.com/othe...rests/dro.html

It'll be DOS only, from the description and the look of the screen
shots. *Windows or Linux machines would need a special driver. *And
you'd have issues with making sure that the program looks at the port
often enough -- if it misses a count, then it'll be off until the next
time you home the axis.

Tim Wescott

I've used the parallel port for I/O quite a bit. Windows plays with
the control bits so I ran DOS7 from a Win98 boot floppy. Writes are
timed to about 1uS in hardware regardless of the speed of the
machine.

jsw

I made a DRO and linear encoder for my shops shear......accurate to a few thousandths in 30"......good enough for cutting sheetmetal.

wrote:

I made a DRO and linear encoder for my shops shear......accurate to a few
thousandths in 30"......good enough for cutting sheetmetal.
Yup, I've been thinking of doing something like that, too. The manually
adjusted gauge bar is just too time-consuming to set accurately.

My concept was a pair of 10 TPI leadscrews on the gauge, synchronized by an
instrument-size chain or toothed belt, and a Veeder-Root counter. I have to
find small enough screws so the nuts can sit down in the slots where the
clamps for the manual gauge slide.

Have any pictures?

Jon