A DRO installation on a Maximat V10P presents some challenges due to the milling column behind the bed and small overall dimensions. I didn't mind putting a few holes in the machine but I didn't want to restrict any travels. The smallest scales I could come up with were Renishaw LM10 heads off eBay and magnetic scale tape from another eBay seller. I was able to come up with very low profile scale mounts that are as out-of-the-way as possible.
One cool thing about the TouchDRO's wireless transmission feature was that I was able to place the MSP430 hardware in a little box mounted to the underside of the saddle. The read heads are wired directly to that, so the carriage and cross slide do not drag cables around. The only wire that has to move is a 5V power cable to the MSP430 board.
Note that this isn't a discount setup. I decided if I was going to drill holes in my machine, it wasn't going to be for $30 Chinese scales. This setup probably cost as much as a Sino glass-scale DRO package, but it is much more compact on the machine, reads 0.0002 without jitter, and has all those great TouchDRO features.
![[Image: img_4529.jpg]](https://lensprojects.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/img_4529.jpg)
Both read heads fixed on saddle, so no scale wires to drag around
![[Image: img_4528.jpg]](https://lensprojects.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/img_4528.jpg)
MPS430 transmitter box under saddle. White wire is 5V power. That's the only wired connection that has to move.
![[Image: img_4519.jpg]](https://lensprojects.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/img_4519.jpg)
MSP430 and BT transmitter before mounting under saddle. OSH Park board and schematic at below link.
More info (PCB files, etc) at:
https://lensprojects.wordpress.com/2015/...l-readout/
One cool thing about the TouchDRO's wireless transmission feature was that I was able to place the MSP430 hardware in a little box mounted to the underside of the saddle. The read heads are wired directly to that, so the carriage and cross slide do not drag cables around. The only wire that has to move is a 5V power cable to the MSP430 board.
Note that this isn't a discount setup. I decided if I was going to drill holes in my machine, it wasn't going to be for $30 Chinese scales. This setup probably cost as much as a Sino glass-scale DRO package, but it is much more compact on the machine, reads 0.0002 without jitter, and has all those great TouchDRO features.
Both read heads fixed on saddle, so no scale wires to drag around
MPS430 transmitter box under saddle. White wire is 5V power. That's the only wired connection that has to move.
MSP430 and BT transmitter before mounting under saddle. OSH Park board and schematic at below link.
More info (PCB files, etc) at:
https://lensprojects.wordpress.com/2015/...l-readout/