FINALLY! I've watched dozens of dozens of RUclips videos that use this equipment. But nobody has ever explained what DRO is and how it works. THANK YOU!
Let me join the chorus: I don't own a mill or a lathe and never will yet I'm totally addicted to Quinn's YT videos. What a phenomenal instructor and that wonderfully dry sense of humor keeps me coming back for more. Absolutely brilliant.
I just want to say thank you, not only for this video, which is excellent but for your entire library of work. Your videos are absolutely brilliant, informative, humorous and always containing the perfect level of detail for a ken hobbyist but most of all your personal enthusiasm shines through. Thanks so very much Quinn . I just learnt more about my DRO than I have in the past 5 years :-)
Installed my DROs this last weekend, on an old Rockwell mill. And I have to admit that I did so with more confidence only after watching your video. You are an excellent teacher! Thank you!
I think its her ability to speak trchnically, clearly, and succinctly. I was building a ramp for our bed for oue ouo who's just turned 14, and I had it playing as sort of background. If I do suddenly decide I can't live withiut a lathe, I'm betting the high points come back to me. I just nrrd a decent vise and a drill press and a good set of files. Anything beyond that I just don't have the space for. Oh... welding - I need to learn basic mig wekding.
For bolt circles, instead of calculating the angle of the last hole, add one extra hole and always set the last hole to 360 degrees. i.e., the last hole is a duplicate of the first. This eliminates the possibility of miscalculating the ending angle. EDIT: as GrahamY1970 suggested, I discovered that setting the start and end angle to the same value will indeed have the same effect as laying out a 360 degree pattern on my import DRO. So if you follow the tip I gave above, your DRO might actually miscalculate the pattern. BEWARE!
Quite agree Chris. The (seemingly quite good) manual that came with my DRO recommended this method IF DOING A COMPLETE CIRCLE. Only use a calculated end angle if not a complete circle - either under of over 360 degrees. While I hear everyone's gripes about the janky interface, the reason it is so is to allow for different end angles - different to 360 degrees that is. Remembering to add one extra hole is in any case easier that trying to calculate the end angle when you are drilling 57 holes!
Chris, you beat me to it. I was going to suggest exactly the same method of adding one extra hole to the input data. I fumbled my way through how to use my Sino DRO as the chenglish instructions were near impossible to decipher and this extra index method was what I arrived at by trial and error. The error being one less hole than there should be.😵
Quinn, PLEASE keep doing these videos, they are more helpful than you will ever know. I just got a new to me Bridgeport with a Mitutoyo DRO, and I was able to be in the ball park for usage, ( this coming from an old school guy that used the dials on an 1895 vintage Van Norman mill ) , but I could find no good videos on more in depth operation of the Mitutoyo DRO. Your video got me up to bat, and making hits :-) , as your tutorial was similar for my Mitutoyo. Thanks so much for your time, you are a good teacher and explain well, I love your other videos too.
Before watching your video I was asking myself do I really need a DRO, after watching, I realized I NEED a DRO. I had no idea that they had all of those functions (bolt patterns, center finders, etc.) I am brand new to milling machines (been using a drill press as a mill for a few years) and I just purchased a mill. Thanks for the awesome video, you earned yourself a subscriber :)
By far the clearest description of these features that I have seen yet. Thank you very much. I am in the process of installing my DRO on a Bridgeport and the manual is not quite as helpful as one would hope. Please keep up the good work!
Wow, this made so much sense! My mill and lathe both came with 2 axis DRO's, which I use all the time now. Didn't realise the display units were so functional, because I gave up trying to understand chinglish instruction manuals. In the process of adding a second(much cheaper) 2 axis DRO to the mill for Z1 and Z2(quill and knee). Keep up the great video's!
With my PM mill on the way, I find myself revisiting this video after looking at the almost English manual for the PM DRO. (Seriously, it uses "conducive" correctly but refers to the scales? as "gratings"... This video is worth way more than I realized on first viewing!
I bought a DRO and din't no how I much I needed it till I got one. A really great investment that will boost anyone's productivity and save brain ache. The bolt hole function makes a DRO worth the money even if that was the only thing it did. A power feed is also a must have that you won't regret buying. Not only does it save you winding back and forth but will improve surface finish. I love these videos. always very well explained and no waffle. Thank you and keep them coming.
Just bought myself one of these for my mill. Two days to install it but its done now. Why did I leave this purchase so long. WOW, I love it. Thanks for this video, its speeded up my learning curve greatly. Nice one.
Thanks Quinn. Your sharing of info is a major aid. My father-in-law is a tool & die maker so a lot of what he says is over my head but your posts are helping me understand.
Dear Quin this weekend I finished the installation of my dro on my 3 year old Precision Mathews 25 milling machine and thanks to your very clear videos I was able to adjust the machine without losing any possibilities, the x ruler is on the front and the Y ruler on the left side diagonally, it works great Sunday I made my first precision pieces with the dro I hope to learn a lot from you, thank you very much for your lessons.
Better explanations than any of the manuals give you. Thanks Quinn I now have some basic understanding of my dro. Always a pleasure to watch your videos.
Quinn your videos are just the best!! I love all the detailed information you narrate into them and your willingness to share your wisdom with guys like me that are just starting out in machine work. I dig your sense of humor and your photography is just excellent!! You are one of my "go to" channels when I bring up youtube on my TV. please keep up the excellent work, yes I am a subscriber too!
Hi Quinn! I have noticed (in this and previous videos) that manual movement in the Y-axis makes the drive a whining noise. I have a model 45 mill that has a similar drive for the Y axis. You have to loosen the gear drive between motor and Y-spindle, it needs 0.5mm (or something like that) clearance between the gears. If that play is not there, the motor of the Y-axis will always turn during manual operation, making the whining noise and making it more difficult to turn. Give it a try, you will see.
After a couple hours reading the manual....... and wondering how I ever arrived at thinking this device might be useful.... a bright light came on that said.. "look on you tube" ! Unfortunately, the variety I first watched made me even more confused. Then I came across your video. I must say you explained this device in a way that was easy to understand and additionally saved my sanity. Very good job of explaining and especially liked your little side video showing what the actual milling machine was doing. You will be my goto you tube author from now on! Thank You!
I just installed my first DRO on my old Index Model 40 mill. Your video has been very helpful, especially with understanding the various functions the DRO can do. The Chinglish in the manual is quite difficult to follow so your translations were very welcome. Initially I had difficulty in understanding how to adjust Linear Compensation after the install. I wish you had gone over that in your video but I think I finally have it figured out. Thank you so much for your videos and particularly this one.
As others have already stated, Excellent video and clear explanation. Great job Quin! I’ve been drooling over DRO’s, now it’s painfully obvious I need to get one.
I work with Datums on a daily basis in the GIS/Survey world....the SDM feature is a miniature form of the same 100-year-old Datum technology used in mapping the earth's surface (all the little brass benchmark discs embedded in concrete/epoxy in the ground with spatial accuracies of around 1 mm XY and 5mm Z)....basically the SDM is making its own Datum by relating the "known" reference points in a group (or feature dataset) with spatial relationships to each other, and then also the locations in between each point....the same way that a surveyor accurately marks property boundaries in relation to the 300,000ish known control points scattered across the US.
Hi Quinn - thanks for the good overview of the DRO. I recently bought a DRO with LCD, which is a newer version of the classic 7-segment DRO. Upfront information was a little sketchy, but I am quite impressed with the unit. Numbers are very readable and change colour between ABS and INC mode and turn red near zero. Hole pattern entry is aided by the graphic screen to assist with the data entry. Build quality is the same as the older units, so I can definitely recommend it! Keep up the good work - Peter
Excellent content! I recently replaced the DRO on my lathe. The original DRO used rotary encoders on the hand wheels. I had to constantly reset my zero because the rotary encoders didn't account for backlash. I replaced them with linear encoders on the carriage and cross slide. The best things is that I can switch between "Radius" and "Diameter" mode on the cross slide. In Diameter mode, after I measure the diameter of the part, I don't have to mentally divide the required cross slide travel by two to determine how much further I have to go. I can use the cross slide DRO to dial in close to the final the diameter directly, measure, and then sneak up on the final diameter. Life is good!
Just got my dro going and needed this, although you went through it very fast. Will save to go through again. A tool and die maker of 40 years no automatic machines. Thanks Bob
Blonde what a great video. I just finished a GD&T course and your video not only was very informative but well presented. Thanks for the time you put into making machining fun for the hobbyists!
Yes, most Content Creators seem to make their videos from a professional Machinist's point-of-view. Quinn explains things clearly for hobbyists very well!
Excellent video! Thanks very much! I watched it several times before buying and installing a DRO on my mill. Even though I work in metric only, still went for the 1 micron meter accuracy. On the physical dimensions of the rulers, you can get much smaller ones, which means you loose less travel. Or in my case, might be easier to install on smaller mills. But they are a bit more expensive. Very happy with my DRO. Extremely useful gadget!
Quin - you do such an excellent job of describing this. Seems a must have item if one values their time and sanity. Especially since they can be had at a low cost.
Been doing a lot of modifications to my table top mini mill. One thing I am working on is adding a fine feed for the quill. Was looking at adding a DRO. Now with you video I know what to look for. Thanks
OMG! In 10 minutes, you just CLEARLY, and simply, explained features of my newly installed DRO that I had given up on figuring out by reading the so-called "instruction" booklet numerous times. I cannot Thank You enough.
Confusingly if you’re a german speaker, “Datum” is not only the singular of “Daten”, but also the word for “date” (as in calendar, not as in dried fruit).
Maybe take a look out for the newer ones with LCD. It's just few bucks more, but worth the money. I have both, the LED segment type on the lathe and the LCD type on the mill. The LCD version is way more intuitive, especially for such kinds of hole circles and such a stuff. I strongly recommend this DRO type.
@@Delmarksman Once I bought this one: de.aliexpress.com/item/32845522968.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dWxu0xE I don't know any video of this DRO type. It is quite new. But basicly there is no difference between the older once and this one with a display. But the useability difference is really high. Hole patterns for example are my more simple to manage, because the DRO will will show it to you on the display "as is". There is no cryptic messages as like on the older 7-segment once. Just setting up a hole pattern is dead simple, also because of the clear UI.
I would like to point out that although these cheap DROs are often sold with 5um or 1um scales, that only represents the "precision" & not the actual "accuracy". Take a look at the specs say Heidenhain Lida 477 - the accuracy is only +/-0.75um per 50mm & that's for a scale & reader that costs more per axis than a complete Chinese 3 axis system! Probably not a big issue for the majority of users, but can catch you out if you aren't aware & I have seen cheep systems out by as much as 0.25mm/50mm! Also remember that temperature will play a part as the scale will tend to expand & contract with temperature changes so will affect the readings too!
my mill is intresting the base was made in 1918. it was converted from a horizontal lineshaft mill to a vertical knee mill with a head from tree milling products. I picked it up fully cleaned restored and repaired it and added a 3 axis dro. To upgrade the mill and because at some point in time someone lost the handwheel scale on the x axis. the dro is a very useful upgrade for any mill
I'm always so very impressed by the clarity and quality of your istructionals. You are a true teacher. Just a thought about the material used to demonstrate: Rather than putting a bunch of holes etc. in a piece of valuable stock (like the aluminum flat stock used here) have you considered using, say, a piece of hardwood? You could paint the wood to make it show up on camera best. You might even use some glue or double backed tape to stick a cheap piece of sheet metal to the wood. Dumb idea?? Thanks again!!
I am from the shop of 1970 - 1976 & we had no DRO’s on any of the machines , yes we did it the old hard way. What will machine be first to get a DRO the mill or the lathe ??, thinking it will be the lathe and then the milling machine. Building the PM 1 steam engine with you and the DRO would have made this ongoing project easier for sure. Thanks for covering the feature buttons ABS / INC & Mid Pount centering features as I fight backlash in the positioning screws everyday. Great informative video - Thanks BB
I may not own a mill(at least of right now) but this video has gotten rid of the burning questions that I have had for a dro, now i can finally sleep at night :)
Gee, Quinn.where were you three months ago when I installed a two axis on my lathe and a three axis on my mill? Your video did give me affirmation I did it right but, I could have installed it in half the time. Also your instruction on the use of circle and line calculation was EXCELLENT.! Thank for another great video.
Great informative video! I am interested in adding one to my mill and had many questions and you answered them all! I watched about 10 videos before yours. Some of which I turned off due to lack of detail and poor illustrations. The use of split screen as an illustrative tool was very helpful. I also now understand how the DRO eliminates backlash problem. Awesome work. Thanks.
I also use the SDM mode to create more than 1 datum, so I can have up to 999 different datums as well as the ABS and INC mode. This is also a good way to keep track of different holes so that you can return for different operations and save a few tool changes (spot/drill/tap holes etc). And with the DRO I bought from China I am able to set my bolt hole circle to 360 and have it give the correct hole pattern without the need to enter the actual angle of the last hole or add an additional hole as mentioned in other comments (I think it also takes the centre as the 0,0 of the datum before entering the function and not from where you were before entering the function). These differences between DROs means it is always best to perform a dry run BEFORE actually making a cut if you are new to the DRO or haven't used it for a while.
Quinn you are an absolute wizard and training others! I have often wondered about DRO's and now, armed with useful knowledge, I shall seriously consider purchasing two, Thank you!.
Tell you what, this says about all that it needs to for buying at least your first one. I am currently looking at them and have seen this video in the sidebar for a while, decided i should probably watch it before sending money down the tube. Great info!
Excellent video ! THANK YOU . I have held off on buying a DRO for my mini mill for several years. But I have a larger mill coming next week. (just a little larger bench top Rong Fu mill / drill) So... I started looking into a DRO again. I came across your video, and I'm glad I did ! Very helpful.
Good stuff. I was struggling trying to figure out the bolt hole function on my DRO. The Chinglish manual wasn’t making things very clear. Your video put everything in place that I was missing. Thanks!
Very nicely done. Thank you. Bought a new knee mill with a DRO and love the mill. But, the DRO is new to me. I think you were charitable in your description of ENGRISH manual.
Engrish can be challenging! The first VFD I bought had a manual that was about an 1" thick. It took me about a week to determine what data I needed, where in the book it was located, and decipher the text. Amazingly enough, it worked exactly how it was supposed to the first time out.
These devices are a blessing.. i did bolt hole patterns on a machine without DRO...a royal pain in the lower back.. nowadays?.. it's all CNC for me.. but a CNC isn't for everyone.. apart from the cost.. there's also the additional learning curve..
I've got DROs on both the mill and the lathe. The operation manuals that come with them missed a lot in translation. But fooling around with the buttons and making dry runs I finally got most of them worked out. There are 99 reference points that can be saved if you end up making multiple parts. BUT I'm not very good at remembering what each was for so I have to make myself a paper cheat sheet. On the mill I use the knee for exact depth rather than the quill. The extrusion has the min & max stops on it to prevent the feed from going too far. I have also set up the X travel stops so if I'm asleep at the wheel it won't crash anything. My PM lathe hand wheels measure the diameter but the installed DRO was set for radius. It's a simple matter to change and the display will show a "d" indicating it is reading diameter. There are calibration routines that allow you to check the accuracy.
Great video as always, thank you Quinn. I am currently looking to buy a DRO setup for my mill, so this was quite handy. One thing I will mention is that at about 2:40 you do say "Typically the 1um scales are only a little bit more money than the 5um scales". Actually they are at least double the price. In fact the ones I have found so far have been close to treble the price, which is a shame as I think I'll have to go the 5um route.
Thanks Quinn it's something I've been wondering about, my chipmaster lathe has no dro and my s13 mill has only X and Y. So at some point I need to move the dro off the Schaublin and onto the chipmaster, then get something to replace it. Not something I've been looking forwards to. But as they are both in storage at the moment it is something I could do while they aren't in use. Also the Schaublin has an old school pretty expensive Dro so I'm also hoping that the travel available is useful on the lathe, it can't just be upgraded to 3 axis unfortunately.
These videos are just incredibly useful and entertaining. I am a mechanical engineer, turned software guy, turned hobbyist fabricator and I was looking for classes on vertical milling but I think I have found what I needed here. My only question is, “Are you ‘Engrish’, Canadian, American, of something else?” You sound American but you keep saying “Zed” instead of “Z.” 😜
Surely it's obvious Quinn is Canadian and a very fine one. Virtually all Canadians are great people. I have met and worked with many of them and each have been great people. Listen to her accent and how she pronounces words like "PROcess". 😉
A very good guide to DRO's. I'm finally adding one to my mill after working around backlash and dials for years. I certainly look forward to Imperial/Metric for my Imperial dial mill! All the best from the UK.
Great Video!!! I have a $600 4 axis DRO new in the box for my knee mill. The scale installation is straightforward but me being able to utilize all the bling it has to offer is a different matter! This video gives me a starting point and some practice exercises!!
Perhaps I viewed it incorrectly, but it looked like your head locking "doojiggers" are pinned into place by the Z axis scale. On a movable head mill with a quill I find it is useful to lock the head, because at some point you exert enough pressure from the quill to raise the head (due to backlash), making your cut too shallow. On mine the tool also seems to move in X slightly when unlocked, not always a problem when drilling but sometimes when milling.
Recently I installed a DRO (YH800-3 YIHAO GD) with 5µm linear glass scales from Amazon on my small mill. Everything worked fine, and I was happily using the DRO. Then I needed a rather accurate drill pattern on a 100mm long part. Actual positions of some holes on the x-axis were off in the 0.1mm range. Finally I cut the part to 100mm length by using DRO coordinates only. The part came out with 100.17mm! After some checking with gauge blocks and indicator it became obvious that the scale on the manual wheel of the x-axis was much more accurate than the uncompensated glass scale. The y-axis scale was only 0.02mm off over 100mm. Fortunately my DRO provides compensation settings for this kind of error. As YH800 also allows compensation of non-linear errors I will eventually check the full length of all scales.
Love this one. Oh, Datum...used plenty in shipboard navigation. Anyhoo, need to figure out what to buy and fit to my Smithy 1340 I bought Dec 2020. I like that one but have to make darn certain the readers are correct lengths. I saw one lesser unit that only shows a readout but no extra "buttons" to speak of. The upside is the reader are magnetic and you can cut them to fit with a bandsaw. The downside is they really only show a plus or minus readout (linear) x/y/z.
That Weller soldering station that apear in your video introduction, reminds me when I worked at Burroughs in the 80's, at that time I was electronic technician, very good times!!!
Well. I am looking at getting a DRO .. watched this .. and went .. WOW!! While I HAVE run a mill with pre-sets on the tool holders .. it was so long ago we used paper tape for the program running everything. :)
perfect content. recently have gotten access to using a mill with DRO and was looking for the common things that as you say 'most' people use...great stuff
thanks, I know little bit more about my DRO. I have to find the book. I bought it a few years ago , and finally got to install it a few months ago , since I'm retired now.
For demonstrations (and dry runs) consider having a tool-holder (or ready collet) with a Sharpie mounted in it. While not as precise as an actual steel (or carbide) tool it is additive rather than subtractive and can save damaging a part with an amount of work already in it by dinging a toleranced surface.
Yes, all I now need is a DRO, a lathe, a mill, another DRO and a few more tools, bits and bobs. I guess I should also hope to find some small amount of talent, a bit of imagination and just a little ambition for something more than just dreaming of having a nice workshop...
One thing is now very clear to me and that is, " How in the would did I ever live without a DRO ", looking for a set up tomorrow, the days of setting back to starting point by wheel and eye are over. 👍🤣
I happy I found this channel. I feel like I'm learning alot, and Quinn has a fantastic personality I can vibe with. Can't wait till I have a workshop so I can put this knowlage to use
This information is great. Trying to understand the chenglish instruction booklet is very frustrating. You are well spoken, so I think you could sell a translation in plain english, at least I would buy one. I watched a video of a dro installation. As the guy read the instructions, I thought, I can understand those instructions! Thanks again and, Keep um coming.
Very nice I put in a system like this, and you have saved me from having to read that very poor manual. One thing I found out is that you should buy your scales from the same seller as the DRO. Pinouts on scales for the DB9 are different from different manufactures.
A little trick I saw recently- take a bit of metal sized to fit in a lathe tool holder and mount a bearing on it. To center a piece in your lathe just toss it in your chuck somewhat loosely, spin it slow and kiss it with the bearing in the toolholder.
Just finally bought a DRO for my mill and had to come back to this vid to learn more about it. I've been wanting/needing one since i first watched this vid. so excited to try it out when it gets here. and would definitely be interested in more tip vids on using it if you make any in the future
This was great, ordered a DRO just now, thanks. Anyone know if this has been done... I think I'd like to eventually go full cnc with a few steppers and control board, and it seems like someone would have already hacked together using one of these DRO/scale-sets, so the cnc could use the data for milling. I imagine they sell expensive all in one kits, but it's not worth it, and more fun, to DIY. In my ignorance, since it's unlikely the DRO has handy digital outputs, the next best thing is to Y-split the scale outputs to have access to the scale ttl signal, and then set your zero with the DRO, tell your cnc this is 'zero', and let it run straight off the scales apart from the DRO. Thanks for the video, Quinn. Best tutorials on mills and lathes I've found.
This is an outstanding and helpful video, especially as I just acquired the PM 727V with the same DRO. What would be great is a followup video featuring just use of the DRO. My suggestion would be to create a demonstration project (via CAD since you have that) that would incorporate multiple features. The project could have an XY datum starting point, then perhaps two rectangular locations for milling pockets, using absolute and incremental to switch back and forth (how many subsets can the DRO store?). Then add a bolt hole circle in a larger bolt hole circle and add other features. Then you could take a piece of metal about 4" x 6" in the vise and run through the operations (perhaps even use a Sharpie in a collet just to mark the locations). Ideally at the end of the video (or each segment) you would list the steps in order to review the process (rather than having to go back and replay the video over and over to remember all the steps. This would show integration of the primary features into a "real world" project. I have searched YT and found nothing like this. It would be ambitious but hugely helpful. In fact, you could even offer the video to Precision Mathews to be included on their website.
Ah yes, the curviness of old machines sometimes make mounting things like scales or mag bases difficult. I guess that's the price you pay for elegance 😊. Great vid 👍😁👍.
I just finished installing mine last night. So far the box with the buttons is outsmarting this old hillbilly (no gimmick infringement meant on this old tony lol). Now I gotta learn how to operate them buttons
No incomplete sentences, no dumbed down explanations, no Bubba-speak, no gratuitous attempts at humor. Quinn, you are a national treasure!
Feels like your throwing shade at ThisOldTony
Truly a high level teacher.
Yes she is a national treasure...Canadian that is...: )
Yeah she tells the story without dumbing it down or making things too complex. Succinct!!
Can not agree more. Talented for teaching. You better suit for professor than me.
This is BY FAR the best video on this subject ever!!! Thank you!!!
FINALLY! I've watched dozens of dozens of RUclips videos that use this equipment. But nobody has ever explained what DRO is and how it works.
THANK YOU!
3 years since posting and this is still helping people like me! Thanks.
It's 3y and two months now! 😀
Let me join the chorus: I don't own a mill or a lathe and never will yet I'm totally addicted to Quinn's YT videos. What a phenomenal instructor and that wonderfully dry sense of humor keeps me coming back for more. Absolutely brilliant.
I'd like to understand her a little better. Yes the slow learner is now chiming in.
I just want to say thank you, not only for this video, which is excellent but for your entire library of work. Your videos are absolutely brilliant, informative, humorous and always containing the perfect level of detail for a ken hobbyist but most of all your personal enthusiasm shines through. Thanks so very much Quinn . I just learnt more about my DRO than I have in the past 5 years :-)
Installed my DROs this last weekend, on an old Rockwell mill. And I have to admit that I did so with more confidence only after watching your video. You are an excellent teacher! Thank you!
I don't know why I watched this, as I have no mill or lathe and no plans to get one any time soon, but it's still entertaining!
I think its her ability to speak trchnically, clearly, and succinctly.
I was building a ramp for our bed for oue ouo who's just turned 14, and I had it playing as sort of background.
If I do suddenly decide I can't live withiut a lathe, I'm betting the high points come back to me.
I just nrrd a decent vise and a drill press and a good set of files.
Anything beyond that I just don't have the space for.
Oh... welding - I need to learn basic mig wekding.
For bolt circles, instead of calculating the angle of the last hole, add one extra hole and always set the last hole to 360 degrees. i.e., the last hole is a duplicate of the first. This eliminates the possibility of miscalculating the ending angle.
EDIT: as GrahamY1970 suggested, I discovered that setting the start and end angle to the same value will indeed have the same effect as laying out a 360 degree pattern on my import DRO. So if you follow the tip I gave above, your DRO might actually miscalculate the pattern. BEWARE!
Now that is such a great tip that I’m kicking myself for never having thought of it!
Came to ask about this.
That's what I was thinking too 😆
Quite agree Chris. The (seemingly quite good) manual that came with my DRO recommended this method IF DOING A COMPLETE CIRCLE. Only use a calculated end angle if not a complete circle - either under of over 360 degrees. While I hear everyone's gripes about the janky interface, the reason it is so is to allow for different end angles - different to 360 degrees that is. Remembering to add one extra hole is in any case easier that trying to calculate the end angle when you are drilling 57 holes!
Chris, you beat me to it. I was going to suggest exactly the same method of adding one extra hole to the input data. I fumbled my way through how to use my Sino DRO as the chenglish instructions were near impossible to decipher and this extra index method was what I arrived at by trial and error. The error being one less hole than there should be.😵
Quinn, PLEASE keep doing these videos, they are more helpful than you will ever know. I just got a new to me Bridgeport with a Mitutoyo DRO, and I was able to be in the ball park for usage, ( this coming from an old school guy that used the dials on an 1895 vintage Van Norman mill ) , but I could find no good videos on more in depth operation of the Mitutoyo DRO. Your video got me up to bat, and making hits :-) , as your tutorial was similar for my Mitutoyo. Thanks so much for your time, you are a good teacher and explain well, I love your other videos too.
Before watching your video I was asking myself do I really need a DRO, after watching, I realized I NEED a DRO. I had no idea that they had all of those functions (bolt patterns, center finders, etc.) I am brand new to milling machines (been using a drill press as a mill for a few years) and I just purchased a mill. Thanks for the awesome video, you earned yourself a subscriber :)
What mill did you buy?
"and or, when frozen, moves the island" LOL
These bits and pieces are truly what make your videos for me
More people got that joke than I expected, which is nice. 😁
Thanks a lot Quinn! I just got out of machining school and they didn't taugh us how to use the whole potential of the DRO. I now have INFINITE POWER!
Your instructions are so much easier to understand than the CD that came with my DRO
That's because the CD that came with your dro was originally written in Mandarin and then translated into Ingrish...LOL
By far the clearest description of these features that I have seen yet. Thank you very much. I am in the process of installing my DRO on a Bridgeport and the manual is not quite as helpful as one would hope. Please keep up the good work!
Wow, this made so much sense! My mill and lathe both came with 2 axis DRO's, which I use all the time now. Didn't realise the display units were so functional, because I gave up trying to understand chinglish instruction manuals. In the process of adding a second(much cheaper) 2 axis DRO to the mill for Z1 and Z2(quill and knee). Keep up the great video's!
That was the absolute BEST explanation of backlash on a manual machine I've ever seen. Great video!
With my PM mill on the way, I find myself revisiting this video after looking at the almost English manual for the PM DRO. (Seriously, it uses "conducive" correctly but refers to the scales? as "gratings"... This video is worth way more than I realized on first viewing!
The best DRO tutorial that I have ever seen!!! Thank a lot Quinn.
As a Newbie to milling, this channel is a godsend!
Superb content 👌 👏.
All the best from 🇬🇧
I bought a DRO and din't no how I much I needed it till I got one. A really great investment that will boost anyone's productivity and save brain ache. The bolt hole function makes a DRO worth the money even if that was the only thing it did.
A power feed is also a must have that you won't regret buying. Not only does it save you winding back and forth but will improve surface finish.
I love these videos. always very well explained and no waffle. Thank you and keep them coming.
Just bought myself one of these for my mill. Two days to install it but its done now. Why did I leave this purchase so long. WOW, I love it. Thanks for this video, its speeded up my learning curve greatly. Nice one.
Thanks Quinn. Your sharing of info is a major aid. My father-in-law is a tool & die maker so a lot of what he says is over my head but your posts are helping me understand.
Dear Quin
this weekend I finished the installation of my dro on my 3 year old Precision Mathews 25 milling machine and thanks to your very clear videos I was able to adjust the machine without losing any possibilities, the x ruler is on the front and the Y ruler on the left side diagonally, it works great Sunday I made my first precision pieces with the dro I hope to learn a lot from you, thank you very much for your lessons.
Better explanations than any of the manuals give you. Thanks Quinn I now have some basic understanding of my dro. Always a pleasure to watch your videos.
Quinn your videos are just the best!! I love all the detailed information you narrate into them and your willingness to share your wisdom with guys like me that are just starting out in machine work. I dig your sense of humor and your photography is just excellent!! You are one of my "go to" channels when I bring up youtube on my TV. please keep up the excellent work, yes I am a subscriber too!
Wow! Simple enough to follow, comprehensive enough to make me make the leap! Thanks.
Hi Quinn! I have noticed (in this and previous videos) that manual movement in the Y-axis makes the drive a whining noise. I have a model 45 mill that has a similar drive for the Y axis. You have to loosen the gear drive between motor and Y-spindle, it needs 0.5mm (or something like that) clearance between the gears. If that play is not there, the motor of the Y-axis will always turn during manual operation, making the whining noise and making it more difficult to turn. Give it a try, you will see.
After a couple hours reading the manual....... and wondering how I ever arrived at thinking this device might be useful.... a bright light came on that said.. "look on you tube" ! Unfortunately, the variety I first watched made me even more confused. Then I came across your video. I must say you explained this device in a way that was easy to understand and additionally saved my sanity. Very good job of explaining and especially liked your little side video showing what the actual milling machine was doing. You will be my goto you tube author from now on! Thank You!
I just installed my first DRO on my old Index Model 40 mill. Your video has been very helpful, especially with understanding the various functions the DRO can do. The Chinglish in the manual is quite difficult to follow so your translations were very welcome. Initially I had difficulty in understanding how to adjust Linear Compensation after the install. I wish you had gone over that in your video but I think I finally have it figured out. Thank you so much for your videos and particularly this one.
I hate this video... because now I'm buying a DRO.
In all seriousness, well done and thank you for all of these videos!
As others have already stated, Excellent video and clear explanation. Great job Quin! I’ve been drooling over DRO’s, now it’s painfully obvious I need to get one.
I work with Datums on a daily basis in the GIS/Survey world....the SDM feature is a miniature form of the same 100-year-old Datum technology used in mapping the earth's surface (all the little brass benchmark discs embedded in concrete/epoxy in the ground with spatial accuracies of around 1 mm XY and 5mm Z)....basically the SDM is making its own Datum by relating the "known" reference points in a group (or feature dataset) with spatial relationships to each other, and then also the locations in between each point....the same way that a surveyor accurately marks property boundaries in relation to the 300,000ish known control points scattered across the US.
Very impressed with both the DRO’s functionality and your clear, concise and articulate demonstration of its values. Thanks!
Hi Quinn - thanks for the good overview of the DRO. I recently bought a DRO with LCD, which is a newer version of the classic 7-segment DRO. Upfront information was a little sketchy, but I am quite impressed with the unit. Numbers are very readable and change colour between ABS and INC mode and turn red near zero. Hole pattern entry is aided by the graphic screen to assist with the data entry. Build quality is the same as the older units, so I can definitely recommend it! Keep up the good work - Peter
Now I’m learning. Thanks for uploading , these things always seem so complicated but you simplify it to an understandable level.
Excellent content! I recently replaced the DRO on my lathe. The original DRO used rotary encoders on the hand wheels. I had to constantly reset my zero because the rotary encoders didn't account for backlash. I replaced them with linear encoders on the carriage and cross slide. The best things is that I can switch between "Radius" and "Diameter" mode on the cross slide. In Diameter mode, after I measure the diameter of the part, I don't have to mentally divide the required cross slide travel by two to determine how much further I have to go. I can use the cross slide DRO to dial in close to the final the diameter directly, measure, and then sneak up on the final diameter. Life is good!
Just got my dro going and needed this, although you went through it very fast. Will save to go through again.
A tool and die maker of 40 years no automatic machines. Thanks Bob
Brilliant demo, I bought a mill with a DRO but no instruction book. So glad you clarified those useful function.
Thank you
You are an excellent teacher! Thank you.
Blonde what a great video. I just finished a GD&T course and your video not only was very informative but well presented. Thanks for the time you put into making machining fun for the hobbyists!
Yes, most Content Creators seem to make their videos from a professional Machinist's point-of-view. Quinn explains things clearly for hobbyists very well!
Excellent video! Thanks very much! I watched it several times before buying and installing a DRO on my mill. Even though I work in metric only, still went for the 1 micron meter accuracy. On the physical dimensions of the rulers, you can get much smaller ones, which means you loose less travel. Or in my case, might be easier to install on smaller mills. But they are a bit more expensive. Very happy with my DRO. Extremely useful gadget!
Quin - you do such an excellent job of describing this. Seems a must have item if one values their time and sanity. Especially since they can be had at a low cost.
Been doing a lot of modifications to my table top mini mill. One thing I am working on is adding a fine feed for the quill. Was looking at adding a DRO. Now with you video I know what to look for. Thanks
OMG! In 10 minutes, you just CLEARLY, and simply, explained features of my newly installed DRO that I had given up on figuring out by reading the so-called "instruction" booklet numerous times. I cannot Thank You enough.
Confusingly if you’re a german speaker, “Datum” is not only the singular of “Daten”, but also the word for “date” (as in calendar, not as in dried fruit).
I don't give a Fig what it means in Germany😊
Howard Osborne wow, how nice of you
@@gedoensful No sense of humour? Date and Fig (dried fruits) Smile😊 it was intended to give a laugh.
Howard Osborne ah, gotcha. Didn’t get that one, sorry... :-P
Ich habe tatsächlich noch nie irgendwo das Wort Datum für Singular von Daten in Verwendung gehört
Maybe take a look out for the newer ones with LCD. It's just few bucks more, but worth the money. I have both, the LED segment type on the lathe and the LCD type on the mill. The LCD version is way more intuitive, especially for such kinds of hole circles and such a stuff.
I strongly recommend this DRO type.
Very interesting comment Matthias H. I am totally new to this, do you have a unit in mind, or a video link? TIA
@@Delmarksman Once I bought this one: de.aliexpress.com/item/32845522968.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dWxu0xE
I don't know any video of this DRO type. It is quite new. But basicly there is no difference between the older once and this one with a display.
But the useability difference is really high. Hole patterns for example are my more simple to manage, because the DRO will will show it to you on the display "as is". There is no cryptic messages as like on the older 7-segment once. Just setting up a hole pattern is dead simple, also because of the clear UI.
@@matthiash.4670 thank you, that does appear to be a nice setup, very reasonable in cost too! I've seen some 3x-4x that.
I would like to point out that although these cheap DROs are often sold with 5um or 1um scales, that only represents the "precision" & not the actual "accuracy". Take a look at the specs say Heidenhain Lida 477 - the accuracy is only +/-0.75um per 50mm & that's for a scale & reader that costs more per axis than a complete Chinese 3 axis system! Probably not a big issue for the majority of users, but can catch you out if you aren't aware & I have seen cheep systems out by as much as 0.25mm/50mm! Also remember that temperature will play a part as the scale will tend to expand & contract with temperature changes so will affect the readings too!
I just installed my DRO on my mill, but haven't had time to actually use it. This video is a huge help. Thank you.
This is one of the most helpful videos I’ve ever watched on RUclips. Thanks for the great content. Seriously. Great stuff.
my mill is intresting the base was made in 1918. it was converted from a horizontal lineshaft mill to a vertical knee mill with a head from tree milling products. I picked it up fully cleaned restored and repaired it and added a 3 axis dro. To upgrade the mill and because at some point in time someone lost the handwheel scale on the x axis. the dro is a very useful upgrade for any mill
Thank you so much. Just installed my first DRO on the lathe and I have no idea on to how to use it. I’m sure this video is going to be very helpful.
I'm always so very impressed by the clarity and quality of your istructionals. You are a true teacher. Just a thought about the material used to demonstrate: Rather than putting a bunch of holes etc. in a piece of valuable stock (like the aluminum flat stock used here) have you considered using, say, a piece of hardwood? You could paint the wood to make it show up on camera best. You might even use some glue or double backed tape to stick a cheap piece of sheet metal to the wood. Dumb idea?? Thanks again!!
I am from the shop of 1970 - 1976 & we had no DRO’s on any of the machines , yes we did it the old hard way. What will machine be first to get a DRO the mill or the lathe ??, thinking it will be the lathe and then the milling machine. Building the PM 1 steam engine with you and the DRO would have made this ongoing project easier for sure. Thanks for covering the feature buttons ABS / INC & Mid Pount centering features as I fight backlash in the positioning screws everyday. Great informative video - Thanks BB
Of the two, I would definitely put it on the mill first. DROs are “nice to have” on the lathe, but massively transformative on a mill.
Wonderful video! I've had a DRO on my mill for about 2 years and never figured out how to use most of the features until now. THANKS!!!
I may not own a mill(at least of right now) but this video has gotten rid of the burning questions that I have had for a dro, now i can finally sleep at night :)
Gee, Quinn.where were you three months ago when I installed a two axis on my lathe and a three axis on my mill? Your video did give me affirmation I did it right but, I could have installed it in half the time. Also your instruction on the use of circle and line calculation was EXCELLENT.! Thank for another great video.
Great informative video! I am interested in adding one to my mill and had many questions and you answered them all! I watched about 10 videos before yours. Some of which I turned off due to lack of detail and poor illustrations. The use of split screen as an illustrative tool was very helpful. I also now understand how the DRO eliminates backlash problem. Awesome work. Thanks.
Long time with old machines but new to DRO's. Best beginner explanation I've seen! Thanks so much!
I also use the SDM mode to create more than 1 datum, so I can have up to 999 different datums as well as the ABS and INC mode. This is also a good way to keep track of different holes so that you can return for different operations and save a few tool changes (spot/drill/tap holes etc). And with the DRO I bought from China I am able to set my bolt hole circle to 360 and have it give the correct hole pattern without the need to enter the actual angle of the last hole or add an additional hole as mentioned in other comments (I think it also takes the centre as the 0,0 of the datum before entering the function and not from where you were before entering the function). These differences between DROs means it is always best to perform a dry run BEFORE actually making a cut if you are new to the DRO or haven't used it for a while.
Quinn you are an absolute wizard and training others!
I have often wondered about DRO's and now, armed with useful knowledge, I shall seriously consider purchasing two, Thank you!.
I have a chinese DRO myself.. and i Totally agree it makes my 1945 heavy universal mill all modern (no backlass) :-) Love this video, great recap!!
Tell you what, this says about all that it needs to for buying at least your first one. I am currently looking at them and have seen this video in the sidebar for a while, decided i should probably watch it before sending money down the tube. Great info!
Excellent video ! THANK YOU . I have held off on buying a DRO for my mini mill for several years. But I have a larger mill coming next week. (just a little larger bench top Rong Fu mill / drill) So... I started looking into a DRO again. I came across your video, and I'm glad I did ! Very helpful.
Good stuff. I was struggling trying to figure out the bolt hole function on my DRO. The Chinglish manual wasn’t making things very clear. Your video put everything in place that I was missing. Thanks!
Very nicely done. Thank you. Bought a new knee mill with a DRO and love the mill. But, the DRO is new to me. I think you were charitable in your description of ENGRISH manual.
Engrish can be challenging! The first VFD I bought had a manual that was about an 1" thick. It took me about a week to determine what data I needed, where in the book it was located, and decipher the text. Amazingly enough, it worked exactly how it was supposed to the first time out.
These devices are a blessing.. i did bolt hole patterns on a machine without DRO...a royal pain in the lower back..
nowadays?.. it's all CNC for me.. but a CNC isn't for everyone.. apart from the cost.. there's also the additional learning curve..
I've got DROs on both the mill and the lathe. The operation manuals that come with them missed a lot in translation. But fooling around with the buttons and making dry runs I finally got most of them worked out. There are 99 reference points that can be saved if you end up making multiple parts. BUT I'm not very good at remembering what each was for so I have to make myself a paper cheat sheet. On the mill I use the knee for exact depth rather than the quill. The extrusion has the min & max stops on it to prevent the feed from going too far. I have also set up the X travel stops so if I'm asleep at the wheel it won't crash anything. My PM lathe hand wheels measure the diameter but the installed DRO was set for radius. It's a simple matter to change and the display will show a "d" indicating it is reading diameter. There are calibration routines that allow you to check the accuracy.
Great video as always, thank you Quinn. I am currently looking to buy a DRO setup for my mill, so this was quite handy. One thing I will mention is that at about 2:40 you do say "Typically the 1um scales are only a little bit more money than the 5um scales". Actually they are at least double the price. In fact the ones I have found so far have been close to treble the price, which is a shame as I think I'll have to go the 5um route.
Thanks Quinn it's something I've been wondering about, my chipmaster lathe has no dro and my s13 mill has only X and Y. So at some point I need to move the dro off the Schaublin and onto the chipmaster, then get something to replace it. Not something I've been looking forwards to. But as they are both in storage at the moment it is something I could do while they aren't in use. Also the Schaublin has an old school pretty expensive Dro so I'm also hoping that the travel available is useful on the lathe, it can't just be upgraded to 3 axis unfortunately.
These videos are just incredibly useful and entertaining. I am a mechanical engineer, turned software guy, turned hobbyist fabricator and I was looking for classes on vertical milling but I think I have found what I needed here.
My only question is, “Are you ‘Engrish’, Canadian, American, of something else?” You sound American but you keep saying “Zed” instead of “Z.” 😜
🇨🇦😁
Surely it's obvious Quinn is Canadian and a very fine one. Virtually all Canadians are great people. I have met and worked with many of them and each have been great people.
Listen to her accent and how she pronounces words like "PROcess". 😉
A very good guide to DRO's. I'm finally adding one to my mill after working around backlash and dials for years. I certainly look forward to Imperial/Metric for my Imperial dial mill! All the best from the UK.
your discription of PCD was absolutley awsome. learn somthign new every day with the DRO
Great Video!!! I have a $600 4 axis DRO new in the box for my knee mill. The scale installation is straightforward but me being able to utilize all the bling it has to offer is a different matter! This video gives me a starting point and some practice exercises!!
Perhaps I viewed it incorrectly, but it looked like your head locking "doojiggers" are pinned into place by the Z axis scale. On a movable head mill with a quill I find it is useful to lock the head, because at some point you exert enough pressure from the quill to raise the head (due to backlash), making your cut too shallow. On mine the tool also seems to move in X slightly when unlocked, not always a problem when drilling but sometimes when milling.
The column locks work fine
Just fitting my Banggood DRO to my Warco as we speak. Thanks Quinn, really helpfull. This Old Tony got some competition!!!
Recently I installed a DRO (YH800-3 YIHAO GD) with 5µm linear glass scales from Amazon on my small mill. Everything worked fine, and I was happily using the DRO. Then I needed a rather accurate drill pattern on a 100mm long part. Actual positions of some holes on the x-axis were off in the 0.1mm range. Finally I cut the part to 100mm length by using DRO coordinates only. The part came out with 100.17mm! After some checking with gauge blocks and indicator it became obvious that the scale on the manual wheel of the x-axis was much more accurate than the uncompensated glass scale. The y-axis scale was only 0.02mm off over 100mm. Fortunately my DRO provides compensation settings for this kind of error. As YH800 also allows compensation of non-linear errors I will eventually check the full length of all scales.
I’ve now watched this video at least a dozen times. Excellent / informative context.
Love this one. Oh, Datum...used plenty in shipboard navigation. Anyhoo, need to figure out what to buy and fit to my Smithy 1340 I bought Dec 2020. I like that one but have to make darn certain the readers are correct lengths. I saw one lesser unit that only shows a readout but no extra "buttons" to speak of. The upside is the reader are magnetic and you can cut them to fit with a bandsaw. The downside is they really only show a plus or minus readout (linear) x/y/z.
Love it. Now could you show us how to calculate the right size of rules for our mill and the drilling/tapping/organizing process
That Weller soldering station that apear in your video introduction, reminds me when I worked at Burroughs in the 80's, at that time I was electronic technician, very good times!!!
Well. I am looking at getting a DRO .. watched this .. and went .. WOW!! While I HAVE run a mill with pre-sets on the tool holders .. it was so long ago we used paper tape for the program running everything. :)
perfect content. recently have gotten access to using a mill with DRO and was looking for the common things that as you say 'most' people use...great stuff
thanks, I know little bit more about my DRO. I have to find the book. I bought it a few years ago , and finally got to install it a few months ago , since I'm retired now.
For demonstrations (and dry runs) consider having a tool-holder (or ready collet) with a Sharpie mounted in it. While not as precise as an actual steel (or carbide) tool it is additive rather than subtractive and can save damaging a part with an amount of work already in it by dinging a toleranced surface.
That was just beautiful. Now I need to get one... And the purchase list grows again..
Yes, all I now need is a DRO, a lathe, a mill, another DRO and a few more tools, bits and bobs. I guess I should also hope to find some small amount of talent, a bit of imagination and just a little ambition for something more than just dreaming of having a nice workshop...
Nice "Lost" reference! So quick, I had to go back and play it through again. Thank you for doing what you do, and doing it so WELL! Kudos!
That's messed up.... I thought is was a Myst reference. Then looked it up and found out they are basically two sides of the same coin. :)
Great explanation on the DRO. Have used one a few times at work but never had the functions explained. Thank you.
One thing is now very clear to me and that is, " How in the would did I ever live without a DRO ", looking for a set up tomorrow, the days of setting back to starting point by wheel and eye are over. 👍🤣
I happy I found this channel. I feel like I'm learning alot, and Quinn has a fantastic personality I can vibe with.
Can't wait till I have a workshop so I can put this knowlage to use
This information is great. Trying to understand the chenglish instruction booklet is very frustrating. You are well spoken, so I think you could sell a translation in plain english, at least I would buy one. I watched a video of a dro installation. As the guy read the instructions, I thought, I can understand those instructions! Thanks again and, Keep um coming.
Very nice I put in a system like this, and you have saved me from having to read that very poor manual. One thing I found out is that you should buy your scales from the same seller as the DRO. Pinouts on scales for the DB9 are different from different manufactures.
A little trick I saw recently- take a bit of metal sized to fit in a lathe tool holder and mount a bearing on it. To center a piece in your lathe just toss it in your chuck somewhat loosely, spin it slow and kiss it with the bearing in the toolholder.
Just finally bought a DRO for my mill and had to come back to this vid to learn more about it. I've been wanting/needing one since i first watched this vid. so excited to try it out when it gets here. and would definitely be interested in more tip vids on using it if you make any in the future
Awesome thanks I’m intending to buy DRO soon so now i feel more confident about buying one and getting use out of it . Excellent video thanks
This was great, ordered a DRO just now, thanks.
Anyone know if this has been done... I think I'd like to eventually go full cnc with a few steppers and control board, and it seems like someone would have already hacked together using one of these DRO/scale-sets, so the cnc could use the data for milling.
I imagine they sell expensive all in one kits, but it's not worth it, and more fun, to DIY.
In my ignorance, since it's unlikely the DRO has handy digital outputs, the next best thing is to Y-split the scale outputs to have access to the scale ttl signal, and then set your zero with the DRO, tell your cnc this is 'zero', and let it run straight off the scales apart from the DRO.
Thanks for the video, Quinn. Best tutorials on mills and lathes I've found.
This is an outstanding and helpful video, especially as I just acquired the PM 727V with the same DRO. What would be great is a followup video featuring just use of the DRO. My suggestion would be to create a demonstration project (via CAD since you have that) that would incorporate multiple features. The project could have an XY datum starting point, then perhaps two rectangular locations for milling pockets, using absolute and incremental to switch back and forth (how many subsets can the DRO store?). Then add a bolt hole circle in a larger bolt hole circle and add other features. Then you could take a piece of metal about 4" x 6" in the vise and run through the operations (perhaps even use a Sharpie in a collet just to mark the locations). Ideally at the end of the video (or each segment) you would list the steps in order to review the process (rather than having to go back and replay the video over and over to remember all the steps. This would show integration of the primary features into a "real world" project. I have searched YT and found nothing like this. It would be ambitious but hugely helpful. In fact, you could even offer the video to Precision Mathews to be included on their website.
Ah yes, the curviness of old machines sometimes make mounting things like scales or mag bases difficult. I guess that's the price you pay for elegance 😊. Great vid 👍😁👍.
I just finished installing mine last night. So far the box with the buttons is outsmarting this old hillbilly (no gimmick infringement meant on this old tony lol). Now I gotta learn how to operate them buttons