Author Topic: DRO's from china  (Read 6124 times)

Offline jjtjr

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DRO's from china
« on: March 12, 2013, 07:53:01 AM »
Has anyone purchased a DRO's from china ?  How good is it !   The price is right, but that may be the whole story.

Offline black85vette

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Re: DRO's from china
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2013, 08:24:51 AM »
Are you talking about the iGaging imports?    I have had them for several years now.   In that time I lost one due to swarf getting into the pickup unit and had one button failure on a readout.   I have put plastic shields over all of them and have no problems at all now.  These were originally made for the woodworking market where swarf is not a problem.   I would rather have the nice 3 axis with lots of features but have a hard time spending twice as much for DRO as I spent for the entire mill.  They are cheap enough that I keep a spare to avoid any down time.

I have them on all 3 axis on my X2 and they do just what I want.

Offline cwelkie

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Re: DRO's from china
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2013, 09:25:23 AM »
I've had a Meister DRO on my lathe (Grizzly 4003G) for 4 years now.  The display and the larger, longer scale has been fabulous.  Even the instructions are understandable.  The mid-size carriage scale however failed twice in that time frame.  Just ended up with a dead/unreliable spot right where I need it most for now apparent reason.  After the second failure a number of tests were done and data shared with the supplier to no avail.  I've successfully replaced that scale with another from an alternate supplier (the DROStore); we'll see how long it lasts.

DROStore provided the 3-axis setup on my Hartford mill (Bridgeport clone).  It has worked very well with no issues the past 4 or 5 years.  One nice feature on their scales are the double lip seals.  They also provide more than enough hardware to get the scales installed when purchased as a package.  Downside - the manual is awful!  It is full of fodder for those pub conversations about translated technical manuals.

In short - I've been happy with mine generally.  It's one of those features that you don't need until you have it; then you can't life without it!
Cheers
cw

Offline navzptc

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Re: DRO's from china
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2013, 09:34:06 PM »
I have just fitted a 3 Axis DRO to my SX2 mill, and even though I am still in the 'Lets Play Mode', I am very impressed.

The *bay site that I used had the option to purchase stock from a UK agent, which meant that I had quicker (Overnight) delivery and knew what price I had to pay instead of running the excise/VAT/delivery gamble 

You do have to be creative in fitting the scales, but after chatting to the UK agent I ended up with 3 slimline units which have fitted on very well.

The quality seems good (time will tell, but have seen good reports on various forums), and I am extremely happy with it.

I have posted a few pics to show my set up to give you an idea  :thumbup:

Andy


Offline Davo J

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Re: DRO's from china
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2013, 09:54:11 PM »
The Sino DRO's are a good unit, I used to praise the Meister DRO's but after a recent episode I would steer clear of them.
I bought 2 Meister units around 5-6 years ago for $2150 as they where new out and our dollar was low at the time, and then early last year one failed which was the XPOS 3. I am disappointed as I sold my motor bike to buy these and expected them to last longer than this as it's only hobby use.

I contacted the seller for a new or exchange board he had spoken about for around $135 posted. He came back (after over a week of waiting) with a price of $380 for a new board and a front as they have changed the layout of them. For not much more I could buy a full system from other sellers (or even a new Meister set up) and the Meister's have no special features compared to other brands, actually less than the easson as they have the speed of the axis.
Also they also don't offer 0.001mm scales which you really need for the cross slide.

I have found a Chinese supplier that will sell me a head unit without scales for $150 posted so am going that way, Meister has lost my business for life.

On my mill I have a Sino and it's been brilliant. It is a multi function readout so you can go into the menu and select any machine like lathe, mills (2) grinder, etc, just choose the right scales to suit your machine.

Dave