# Yet another X3 DRO conversion



## doubletop (Jan 22, 2011)

I&#8217;ve finally made the leap and retrofitted DRO&#8217;s to my X3. I went for Sino, off Ebay. The vendor (Xiao1207) is in Singapore but the parts came direct from the factory in China via Hong Kong. Once the order was placed communication was good and we had a bit of dialogue on which scales to select and the protective covers to be supplied.

They do various cover types and I went for the type D, which later turned out to be a good choice as they come with a separate back plate that is 10mm thick. The benefit being that the back plate can be fitted to your mill any way you like and then the scale just mounts to that. I went for the standard KA300 although the slim line KA500 are available.

The kit comes with a set of 4 pairs of different mounting plates and other hardware. A set of installation instructions are available so you can work out what you need before the order is dispatched.

It&#8217;s up to you how you go about mounting the scales. There are many ways to skin a cat and I did my Y axis and then re-did it after I&#8217;d done the Z axis. In the end all I had to make was a bracket for the top of the column and a number of spacers out of 19mm dia ally. The rest of it just used what came with the kit apart from some longer 4mm and 5mm hex cap screws. You&#8217;ll need 4mm and 5mm taps for the mill mounting points.

Before








After







Sino display unit







X Axis







Y Axis







Z Axis







The user manual is hopeless. I&#8217;m getting used to the Chinglish and working things out but there are some sections I have no idea what they are on about. Anybody got a local supplier who provides a better version please??

And from the installation instructions ;D



> _4.5 Rearrangement of Reading Head Cable
> The cable of the reading head is arranged on the right in the factory. If it is inconvenient for use, the user may rearrange it in another direction in the following procedure:
> (1)    Take out four M2 &#8220;+&#8221; setscrew in the figure cover and two M3 &#8220;-&#8221; bolt on the right of the cover.
> (2)    M4 hexagram bolt into the adjust screw holt and please do this one by one for flab the cover board which has airproof bar at the top, when noticing the gap. Please pry the cover board along the top by the screwdriver.
> ...


As you can see from the pictures I left my cables as they were because trying to understand the instructions was "inconvenient"

In all I'm very pleased with the the result and happy with my purchase

Pete


----------



## Blogwitch (Jan 22, 2011)

Pete,

Nice fitting layout.

My 'English' manual for fitting was about the same. That bit is on about if you want the cables coming out of the read head the other end, which I had to do on my Z1 axis. The thing about 'butter' is just use a bit of lube, I used a silicon oil that is used by plumbers for fitting seals into grooves.

The programming manual is much better, you can usually pick up the exact method after reading thru a couple of times, and the PCD function is absolutely spot on.

I hope you enjoy your new found accuracy.


John


----------



## doubletop (Jan 22, 2011)

Thanks John

I'm very pleased with the result and its only the y axis that would possibly need the cable changing. As there is a nice curve on the run, as it is, I decided to leave it alone.

You probably have the same manual. It does have the potential to lead to a bit of misinterpretation. I spent a few evenings trying to work out what they meant by "segmented compensation value". Then I picked up the calibration certificates for each of the scales and realized what they were on about. I've got the basic functions sorted now (that state diagram on page 6 took a few reads). I'm sure that once I get comfortable with the paradigm the more complex functions should become clearer.

The new found accuracy is great even when making the bracket for the top of the column I already had the X and Y in place and it was a great help. I quickly realized the way I had previously been setting up edges with my wiggler had an error introduced.

One question though. The heads have a large range of movement relative to the scale when not secured. For example, the gap between the head and scale is quoted as 3mm however it doesn't seem to matter how much of a gap there is they seem to work OK. Do the heads have to be located as accurately as the install instruction imply?

Pete


----------



## Blogwitch (Jan 22, 2011)

Pete,

The scales should have had some plastic transit retainers, for locking the moveable piece to the main scale. With those in position, that is the perfect gap, and I didn't remove mine until all the mounting holes had been done. You should be able to slide it from side to side with a bit of a push with the retainers in position, as long as the limit marks on the large outer casing are not passed, you will be OK.

So I just set my max table travel fully one way, set the moveable head well inside the limit mark (still with transit clips in), and bolted each part to both table and main casting. By doing that, you are never going to exceed the max travel of the scales, and everything should be the correct gaps.

I hope you can understand that.

I have had seven of those read heads in constant use for a couple of years, and not one has missed a beat. 

Yes, the gap is rather critical, otherwise you are bending the roller bearing support springs inside the main unit a bit too far. I took one apart to see if it could be shortened, and even though it can be done, I wasn't going to risk such a lot of money.


John


----------



## firebird (Jan 22, 2011)

Hi DT

I will be watching this post with great interest.

I have an X3, slightly different to yours. Mine has the motor on the outside. I think yours is possibly the super x3???. Anyway when I bought mine the first thing I did was to fit DRO to the x and Y axis. I did a similar mod to my X1 and from the experience gained on that machine DRO on the X3 was a must, it transforms the machine. Because of budget limits I fitted the cheaper scales along with remote readouts that I purchased from Arc eurotrade (usual disclaimer). At the time glass scales were way out of my budget but they have come down considerably since then. Currently a pair of cheap scales to fit the X and Y axis + a couple of remote readouts will cost £145.00. They have given great service but they don't like dirt/oil/swarf etc and have a nasty habit of going awry at the most inopportune moment. A strip down and clean soon gets them going again but it is a nuisance. I have been watching the 3 axis Sinpo DRO kits on e Bay. they are currently at £234 51 which is pretty cheap compared to the £145.00 for the 2 axis cheap scale set up. The only down side at the moment is the postage at a whopping £75.09. Anyway keep us informed as to how you get on i am most interested. 

Cheers

Rich


----------



## doubletop (Jan 22, 2011)

John

I understand completely what you are saying and think I've got it right, I ensured that there was no loading on the head. My question related to the gap,there are three 'pips' on the head that limit the minimum gap but if it is allowed to drop to its lowest level the gap can be something like 8mm. I've set mine at about 4-5mm to ensure that it doesn't go tight at one end or the other if the scale is slightly off axis. It seems to work OK

The great thing about the sales offer from these guys you can choose whatever scale size you want and the price is the same. As you'll see from the pictures the X axis scale extends beyond the end of the table. I positioned the read head so it doesn't get anywhere near the end points at either end. Similarly with the Y axis and actually the spacers would act as end stops for the mounting brackets if the table tried to go too far. (I've had the lead screw circlip come off so its a possibility). The Z axis extends the entire length of the column and the read head is at the lower end of the dovetail so again the head has no chance of getting anywhere near the ends of travel.

Rich

Yes its an SX3 but I'd imagine it uses the same components as the X3 for the base, column and compound slide. It would just need a shorter scale for the X axis. I'd been bulking on price but during the past year I'm sure they've come down considerably. There comes a point where the price becomes acceptable and outweighs the excuses for not going ahead. Shipping is a fact of life in NZ, the market is so small that importers mark-up invariably makes things more expensive than going direct. Unfortunately for them I'm now conditioned to looking around and never had a problem with offshore suppliers.

There's not going to be a lot more on this post but I am going to spend some time today trying things out. I've just read the "Smooth R" function over my morning toast and think I now understand what it does.

regards

Pete


----------



## firebird (Jan 22, 2011)

Hi Pete

I have just been perusing the pages on Arc Eurotrades web site and see that they do an extended table to replace the existing one. It's 150mm longer (6 inch) so I may wait until I have enough in the kitty to fit the longer table first. This is an option they do for the X1 mill which I did to mine. It's amazing the difference it makes.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## doubletop (Jan 22, 2011)

Its 2:30 Sunday afternoon and I've been trying to get this smooth R function working since this morning. I couldn't get the step coordinates to drive the tool in the correct direction round the arc I'd defined. It turned out to be the start/end angles which according to the manual should be 0/90 but by trying all the combos I've got it starting from the right place and heading off in the right direction with 270/360. I've a suspicion it may be something to do with a center point being 0/0 which is also my abs reference point so the calcs are getting their knickers in a twist. I'll play with the CP by shifting it 1mm.

In searching for info I found the SINPO manual, that is written in English. Surprise surprise its virtually the same as the SINO manual, has the same diagrams, display wording and control sequences, Only the keyboard/front panel layout is different. They must be the same electronics in the control unit. So if you are struggling with the SINO manual get the SINPO manual, it's marginally better.

www.usinages.com/download.php?id=30271

I'm off to make chips

Pete


----------



## doubletop (Jan 22, 2011)

A piece of scrap and I got the Smooth R function working correctly in the end, 305 steps later I had it finished. Did a few holes with PCD and that was my day. OK I could have done this on the rotary table but that's not the point I'd never have been able to achieve this on the mill last weekend, so I'm happy







Practice practice and a set of loco frames could even be on the cards at some point.......

Pete


----------

