Add DRO Digital Readout To Milling Machine To Enhance Functionality And Precisio

Posted by mike brown on October 7th, 2016

A number of manufacturers are aware of precision machining that explains the increasing demand for machining centers - particularly milling machines, which seems to have an important role in producing high precision components fast, precisely, and accurately. The introduction of milling machines have taken repetitive work out from the hands of humans and safely placed them in the confines of these computer controlled machines. Whether it is a small piece of jewelry, the engine of an automobile or a custom made metal or wooden part of an airplane; it would surely have been touched by a milling machine. In a sense, with the use of milling machine, industrial tasks are being completed with a lot of ease and faster with a lesser production cost of the company.

The innovation of milling machines has helped many manufacturers to produce a wide spectrum of components on a large scale without neglecting precision and accuracy. It has proven that these machines have the ability to boost one’s productivity and profitability. As a result of technology advancement, these machines are capable of performing complex milling operations which subsequently enable companies to fabricate more useful components.

Just like other machines, milling machines can also be equipped with few additional accessories or parts to enhance its performance. So, if you are looking for various milling machine parts and confused about what to pick then start with digital position readout (DRO). A DRO digital readout provides a numerical display showing the position of your machine elements. On a milling machine, a 3-axis DRO shows the X- and Y- positions of the mill table plus the Z-axis position of the cutting tool. DROs help prevent common errors such as misreading the hand wheel dials or losing count of the hand wheel rotations. They also provide capabilities that are impossible with mechanical hand wheels and dials, such as switching from measuring inches to measuring millimeters. Other functions of a DRO include the ability to drill or bore bolt holes, compute a cut across an incline, preset dimensions, absolute or relative modes and a scientific calculator.

In addition, DRO also makes it possible to follow circular arcs on a manual machine. Once the user has entered the desired tool path into the control - a tool path built out of straight lines, circular arcs, and bevels - the DRO presents this tool path on the display as a target for the operator to follow. These amazing features of DRO increase the scope of what a manual machine can do.