[rkernell]

Appologies if this has been covered already, there are bunches of postings for the G0704. I am a real rookie when it comes to modifying equipment so I was wondering if anyone has had experiences with any of the Meister DRO systems? There is one avialable on E-Bay that has a good selection of linear scales.

I would appreciate any warnings/approvals that anyone might give or recommendations of better DRO's.

Rick Kernell

[RX-Heven]

Haven't tried the DRO's from the source you are talking about but I did install a 3-axis set from DRO PRO's. I also have a G0704 and the y-axis was a pain to install since there is no real (near) vertical flat surface to mount the scale or reader brackets to and the base is not long enough to mount the scale to.

I had to use another mill to machine down a part of the saddle to have enough room to mount the reader bracket, though I am sure a good 'ol angle grinder would work just fine.

I also had to make a longer vertical surface that is bolted to the base to mount the y-axis scale to. In profile, it looks like a right triangle and serves two purposes. One is to provide a vertical surface for the actual scale to mount to and the other is to extend the length of the base as the scale is too long to mount on the base and have the adjustability needed to align everything.

I made the mount out of 1x2 6061 barstock fwiw.

Now if I could just get my new motor mounts made....

[rkernell]

Dave,

This doesn't sound like such a simple project after all. Do you have photos of the mod?

Rick

[djbird3]

Appologies if this has been covered already, there are bunches of postings for the G0704. I am a real rookie when it comes to modifying equipment so I was wondering if anyone has had experiences with any of the Meister DRO systems? There is one avialable on E-Bay that has a good selection of linear scales.

I would appreciate any warnings/approvals that anyone might give or recommendations of better DRO's.

Rick Kernell

Hey Rick,

I have 2 Meister DRO systems and I love them. I had the one on my mill for over 4 years and the one on my lathe for about 2 and haven't had a single problem with either of them. Meisters are very well made very accurate, I highly recommend.

~Don~

[rkernell]

Don,

Thank you for your reply. I think that I am going to go ahead and get the Meister unit.

Rick

[RX-Heven]

Dave,

This doesn't sound like such a simple project after all. Do you have photos of the mod?

Rick

It wasn't that hard to do really. If you look at the mills base from the very front you will see the angled portion of the base ~53'-54' from horizontal. All I did was take some stock and mill it down to bolt to the angled part of the base to make it vertical at the same time extending the distance along the y-axis part of the base for the scale to mount to.

To do all three axis' took me about 8 hours total I'd guesstimate. Well worth it.

I don't have pics right now and currently my mill is completely torn apart for y-axis extension mods, new motor and a one-shot oiler setup. I will take some pics when it is all back together...whenever that may be.

[RX-Heven]

Also, for the x-axis scale, I'd suggest you get the slimline version of the scale and reader. They are a wee bit thinner and that is important along the x-axis since you have to mount the scale on the backside of the table (gib locks in the way on the front side) and that means you will loose some y-axis travel.

I'd also suggest looking into doing a y-axis extension mod FIRST to gain that loss of travel back and then some. That way you won't have to replace your y-axis scale when it becomes too short
Check out Hoss's build thread...he has pics of his extension and some of the work required to accommodate it near the end of his LONG thread.

[rkernell]

Dave,

Good advice. I am going to do some home work on the mill base regarding mounting room. Meister has quite a verity of sensor lengths. I will contact the company to see what they would recommend for the G0704.

Rick

[eartaker]

I was looking at this for my Lathemaster 9X30. Meister BOLTS2 DRO + scales Mill Drill Boring Grinder | eBay

[Davo J]

Another happy Meister customer here and agree with above about them being quality reliable DRO's.
I have had a 3 axis BC10M on the mill and a 3 axis XPOS3 on the lathe for 5 years now with no troubles. I asked him a question about using Mititoyo scales with these units before christmas and he answered strait back with a wiring diagram, great people to deal with.
Just recently I bought one of their digital angle gauges and that also went fine.

Dave

[rkernell]

Dave,

Thank you for your feed back. I have decided to go with the Meister system. I am looking the mill to figure out the best way to mount the sensors on the G0704.

Rick Kernell