Quill DRO fitted to a Millrite MVI
Joseph Gwinn
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
Wes
>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.
I started a gatling project over two hears ago. Buying and repairing a lathe and a mill
extended the start date a bunch.
>
>What a help a DRO is, especially with older machines with wear.
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.
>
>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.
I would like to see them. Someday my ancient Sony scales are going to die and going 3
axis will on my agenda.
Wes
Joseph Gwinn
Wes <clu...@lycos.com> wrote:
> Joseph Gwinn <joeg...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> >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.
>
> I started a gatling project over two hears ago. Buying and repairing a lathe
> and a mill extended the start date a bunch.
> >
> >What a help a DRO is, especially with older machines with wear.
>
> 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 [is] a bit ugly.
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.
> >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.
>
> I would like to see them. Someday my ancient Sony scales are going to die
> and going 3 axis will on my agenda.
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