I've been wanting a DRO for my mill since right after I got it, but have been getting by without one because it was more of a want than a need, and I had other places the money was needed. Lately I've had several projects where a DRO would have made the setup, if nothing else, a lot faster, and easier. Plus I want to start getting a little deeper into the types of millwork I can do, as a hobby, that can help me out with the business as well. Between this, and the indexing head I got from Dad's and have been trying to learn lately, I can see a lot of project possibilities that weren't there before.
My mill already had the x, y, and z axis scales attached, so all I needed was a display. A new one was going to be around $700, so I've been looking for a good, used one. I found one on Ebay last night.
It was a complete, NOS, Acu-rite setup, that included both the scales and the display. Like I said, the display was all I really needed, but with the scales in this kit, I can now mount one of them on the knee, and use it as an alternate to the quill, for the Z axis reading. This will allow me to have the digital depth reading if I'm drilling to depth with the spindle, or change to the extra scale, and use it if I'm milling something to a certain depth and feeding with the knee.
I think I did pretty good as, shipping and all, I came in just over $100 less than the new display I had been looking at.
Hopefully it will be here by the end of the week so I can set it up and start playing with it next weekend. That way I can get one of the 80% AR lowers I've got setup and milled out, the easy way, and then start finding more small stuff to get into to put it to use.
My mill already had the x, y, and z axis scales attached, so all I needed was a display. A new one was going to be around $700, so I've been looking for a good, used one. I found one on Ebay last night.
It was a complete, NOS, Acu-rite setup, that included both the scales and the display. Like I said, the display was all I really needed, but with the scales in this kit, I can now mount one of them on the knee, and use it as an alternate to the quill, for the Z axis reading. This will allow me to have the digital depth reading if I'm drilling to depth with the spindle, or change to the extra scale, and use it if I'm milling something to a certain depth and feeding with the knee.
I think I did pretty good as, shipping and all, I came in just over $100 less than the new display I had been looking at.
Hopefully it will be here by the end of the week so I can set it up and start playing with it next weekend. That way I can get one of the 80% AR lowers I've got setup and milled out, the easy way, and then start finding more small stuff to get into to put it to use.