Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
G'day everyone,
I used to be of the opinion a DRO for a milling machine was a necessary upgrade to make it usable. Accounting or backlash in two directions on both the x and y axis (which happen to have different backlash values) was a bit more time consuming than I would have liked, and frankly I wasn't great at it.
Backlash on the lathe however has never fussed me that much, and I've always been able to get by with the handwheel dials and scribed lines. My parts have big enough tolerances that scribed lines work just fine for layout.
However with my new lathe, the handwheel dials (and the carriage ) move 15.5 mm per rotation of the handwheel. Not the worst thing, but it makes calculating distances traveled more of a hassle than it needs to be. The cross slide dial is also much coarser than before with more divisions on the dial. As a result its harder to read and harder to hit exact diameters.
So I ended up doing what I thought I'd never do, and buy a DRO. Not exactly a cheap investment, even an import DRO is $270. But now that I have it, lets install it.
#machining #lathe
Lathe DRO install
How to Install A Digital Readout on a lathe
Lathe Digital readout
Chinese DRO kit
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
3:55 - The Digital Readout
7:21 - Installing The Linear Scales
16:33 - Testing The DRO
G'day everyone,
I used to be of the opinion a DRO for a milling machine was a necessary upgrade to make it usable. Accounting or backlash in two directions on both the x and y axis (which happen to have different backlash values) was a bit more time consuming than I would have liked, and frankly I wasn't great at it.
Backlash on the lathe however has never fussed me that much, and I've always been able to get by with the handwheel dials and scribed lines. My parts have big enough tolerances that scribed lines work just fine for layout.
However with my new lathe, the handwheel dials (and the carriage ) move 15.5 mm per rotation of the handwheel. Not the worst thing, but it makes calculating distances traveled more of a hassle than it needs to be. The cross slide dial is also much coarser than before with more divisions on the dial. As a result its harder to read and harder to hit exact diameters.
So I ended up doing what I thought I'd never do, and buy a DRO. Not exactly a cheap investment, even an import DRO is $270. But now that I have it, lets install it.
#machining #lathe
Lathe DRO install
How to Install A Digital Readout on a lathe
Lathe Digital readout
Chinese DRO kit
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
3:55 - The Digital Readout
7:21 - Installing The Linear Scales
16:33 - Testing The DRO
