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Congratulations and well done!
I am in the process of an install on a millrite and love seeing how other setups. I chose to mount he tablet similar to yours because I didn’t know if I needed an articulating arm. It turns out I didn’t and saved some time and money. This is a super capable setup and your Rockwell mill will be thanking you. I feel I will use mine more once it’s ready to go!
Would you mind sharing photos of how you mounted the scales? I’m working on my Y now and it is proving to be the most difficult. I have ideas but want to simplify.
Thank you for sharing and congrats on your DRO.
_Mike
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The magnet solution is genius! So simple and non-invasive. I was thinking about getting another scale for the knee since I've rigged up my quill with 4" of z travel.
Thank you for the photos and taking the time to write the response. It is a huge help and you Y axis bracket wizardry has been an inspiration. So simple.
I may post some images of the final install here too. Although not as clean...
Best,
_Mike
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The rare earth magnets work very well. I bought both cylindrical and rectangular in bulk from China on the cheap. They do accumulate a little Swarf when machining magnetic steel, but accumulation is slow so not much trouble. I use the cylindrical ones to hold way covers I made from Home Depot rubber runner material.
You will definitely like the z axis on the knee. I started out with an import round column RF-40 clone. I put the original iGaging scales on X, Y and Z on the quill. Problem with Z on the quill is in plunge milling or in boring where the weight of the quill makes it very difficult to sneak up on the z dimension. The plunge forces tend to make the quill ride up in the backlash and then as come up on the desired dimension, the quill weight pushes through the backlash and you overshoot. I actually installed an airspring system on my quill to push it up against the backlash to prevent the override. It worked, but no where near as well as a knee.
With the Rockwell, and your Millrite, the weight of the knee keeps all of the backlash taken up as do the plung forces. It is much more accurate than plunging or boring with the quill. When I first got the Rockwell, I thought I might miss the quill DRO and figured I could add it later. After using the machine for a while, I find that I only use the quill to drill through holes and all precision work is done with the knee. At least for what I am doing at present, I see no need for the quill DRO.
Good luck, you will enjoy your vintage machine.
Bob