DRO-350

Preliminaries:

The goal: To add an inexpensive digital readout to the mini-lathe.

In case you have never seen a DRO before, this is the author's website

The author's website has all the documentation and firmware for download. Although the BOM is out dated. There is an improved and more upto date BOM on the SABWORKSHOP Website, which is also currently the only official source for the circuit boards.

After building the first DRO-350, I found that the blue connectors specified tend to have a poor electrical contact. I had trouble programming the first DRO because of the poor conntacts. The fix is to replace the blue connectors that mate with the header pin with these parts.

1. (1) replace AMP MTA .100" Connectors CLOSED W/O TABS 2P blue, tin, 26 AWG with:

2. (1) replace AMP MTA .100" Connectors CLOSED W/O TABS 3P blue, tin, 26 AWG with:

3. (3) replace AMP MTA .100" Connectors CLOSED W/O TABS 4P blue, tin, 26 AWG with:

4. (1) replace AMP MTA .100" Connectors CLOSED W/O TABS 5P blue, tin, 26 AWG with:

5. (22)high pressure header pin sockets, crimp on.

These replacement parts do require a cripping tool and are more expencive than the original. But they will save you time and frustration when you are trying to figure out why the firmware will not program.

Another part you should consider replacing is the snap-in DC power jack. This part has a very poor mechanicle fit and tends to pop out of the panel.

1. 1 replace Kobiconn DC Power Jacks 2.1MM SNAP-IN PNL MT with:

For the digital scales/quill kit I ordered from MCE-Tools 4"($17.00) and 12"($32.50) DRO quill kit 12/20/05. If you order from them, I recommend calling them and placing a phone order. Ebay is flakey, there website is poorly designed and they have at least one security issue on there site, which as of this writing they have not fixed.

For the connection between the scales and the DRO-350's din connectors, I desided to use recycled keyboard PS2 cables. They're shielded and have a heavy duty outer covering. For the connector from the digital scales circuit board to the interface cable I used the idea suggested on this website.

Work:

    Order circuit board.

    Source parts.

    Assemble, test and program firmware.

    Built first of two DRO-350s.

Parts:

    BOM: Coming soon.

01/03/07 03:35:00 AM