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Favorite DRO for lathe

You might check out https://www.hobby-machinist.com/ a lot of various DRO's evaluated. Seems there have been some problems with the DRO's that are coming on some of the later Precision Matthews machines (MagXact). People complaining about slow updates of the display. Not sure if common or isolated. Mine came with Easson ES-12B and I have no complaints. If your thinking you need a robust tool library to store all your tool offsets, it's a little weak, while doable I've never used it. My display supports 3 axis and I added a 1 uM magnetic read head on tailstock, so I have a Z0 and Z1. You can actually shop kits in UK and was cheaper to have shipped here when I bought a magnetic read head.

Normally a 1uM (.000039") head for X and 5uM (.0002") is normally on Z.

https://www.machine-dro.co.uk/

If you prefer a Tablet

Easson 12B DRO install on a 13x40 lathe
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...-sra-m-dro-magnetic-scales.77261/#post-650973
 
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I’ve got the one from DROPros and I’ve been really happy with it. Easy to use and repeatable. It was actually the first time I drilled and tapped holes. I just followed along with the videos on their website. Really good customer service as far as answering dumb questions. The guy that made the videos is actually the one that answers the phone for tech support.
 
I also have the "Easson ES-12B" That I purchased from "DRO-Pro's" And I installed it myself. The rifle builder I used to work for used "Newall Dro's" and he has had an issue with one of them and had to replace one magnetic scale reader. Other than that they have been very nice Dro's.
 
The thing I like about the Newall on one of our lathes at the shop is it shows feed rate. The PM DRO on the PM lathe doesn't have that feature, unless I am missing it.

I bought a TPAC tools DRO for my home lathe. Haven't installed it yet. I bought the TPAC tools DRO because I have one on my home milling machine. My milling machine was tipped over during a move, landed on the A-Axis screw, and then rolled.

The fall pushed the Y and Z Axis DRO head brackets out of alignment. I was sure the DRO was toast. I replaced all the bent and broken parts, which was under $200. When I went to check the DRO, it still worked fine. So it seems like a good option for a budget friendly DRO.
 
DROs are one of those things that are far down on the list when you learned how to use dials efficiently. Took me a long time to outfit a DRO on my machine. It's much more handy on a BP than a lathe. I still use my dial alot, especially when threading. The DRo does come in handy at times. I'm glad I finally fitted my lathe with one. I went with a DRO Pros version. It's nice, accurate and repeatable. Can't go wrong.
 
My lathe came with a sino dro system. After having it for 3-4 years now, started having trouble with the scale on the cross slide. I’m converting over to a magnetic scale system like the dropro’s sells.
 
WillyTP said:
My lathe came with a sino dro system. After having it for 3-4 years now, started having trouble with the scale on the cross slide. I’m converting over to a magnetic scale system like the dropro’s sells.
Click to expand...
Clean it or something is loose.
 
I tried cleaning and checked everything for tightness. It’s missing on slow small movements, it seems spot on with rapid larger movements.
 
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