I got a "Uniq" DRO off eBay and tested it on the bench. It works well and very well constructed. However, the manual is the best/worst example of "Chinglish" I've ever seen. And, there's like half a page of pictures of the side views of the brackets. It's not intuitive at all. I don't have a clue how to bolt it on the mill. The hardware and brackets are beautiful and heavy and intricate. And, I don't have a clue how to bolt it on the mill. (I'm an idiot)
DRO install help
Nov 19, 2006
4 Replies
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First, the spar has to be aligned in two axes to be exactly parallel to the travel of that slide. So, for the X axis, it needs to be level left to right, and the same distance from the table at both ends.
The easiest way to set this up is to put a mag-base dial indicator on the saddle, and run the table back and forth while reading the spar for up/down and near/far. When it is parallel in both directions, then mount the read head to the saddle so that it doesn't rub against the spar or dig in the slot of the spar. The details here are so variable I can't advise much better. You should be able to get the idea from the mounting parts supplied. You may have to bend sheet metal brackets, or even mill a piece to match the right angle.
Jon
Looks like the one my neighbour installed on his mill
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There is an installation guide at the bottom of the page.
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We found a bug in it that the pocket milling function IIRC always uses mm rather than the inch/mm mode set prior to entering the function.
The hardware and brackets are beautiful
If you can't figure this out, how are you ever going to learn how to use the mill?
Good point! Have you seen any of my other posts about using this new mill? I state clearly that I'm going to have to learn how to mill all over again and forget everything I did on my other BP. This one actually does what it's suposed to do without shims, shake and chatter. No more driving wedges into the ways, no more sneaking up on numbers.
In my own defence, the manual, while a hillarious read, is worthless for the install. This should be the most used "Plain Jane" install. I offered the vendor pix of the install if could provide any info. and he sent pix of another install in a few hours. Good man!
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