Quill DRO fitted to a Millrite MVI

Mar 06, 2010 2 Replies
J

Well, this has been in progress forever, but I finished installing a Jenix DRO on the quill of my Millrite MVI vertical mill (resembles a Bridgeport, but about



2/3 the size) today. I now have X, Y, and Z axes covered.

What a help a DRO is, especially with older machines with wear.



Now, only the knee lacks a scale. I have the necessary scale, but don't know when I'll get around to installing it. The quill was far more important, and the knee is the most difficult case - odd shape, nothing flat or perpendicular.



The big issue with putting a DRO on the Millrite (made in June 1965) is that it was never designed for any such thing, so usually there is no convenient machined surface to use.



Having a lathe helped a lot, allowing lots of custom little adapters and spacers to be made.



I'll take some pictures and post them to the dropbox when I have some time.



Joe Gwinn


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W

I started a gatling project over two hears ago. Buying and repairing a lathe and a mill extended the start date a bunch.

If your Z (column) ways are a bit whupped, the quill dialed in is all you can really trust. I have a bit of wear in my Z column on my bridgeport but when it matters enough, I can work around it. Thankfully X and Y were rescraped at one point and hard chromed. Table surface a bit ugly.

I would like to see them. Someday my ancient Sony scales are going to die and going 3 axis will on my agenda.

Wes

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J

I don't really know if the Z-axis ways are whupped or not, although one assumes that they have had their fair share of wear over the last 45 years.

If you already have scales on the mill, it will be pretty easy to replace those scales, compared to adding scales to a pre-DRO machine for the first time.

Joe Gwinn

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