Leave the alignment inserts (blue plastic shim things) in while you fit the readers, and adjust / shim them to put the reader square and central (I find it helps to put a toolmaker's clamp on to hold the reader and insert against the scale at this stage, and adjust the brakets so there's no pressure on the reader). put a DTI on a mag holder on the carriage, run it along the scale and adjust - I go for a maximum of 5 thou" end-to-end runout, both vertical and horizontal, as the glass scales can be damaged if the alignment's too far out.).
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When fitting the scales (particularly the Z-axis which will be bolted to a casting with pattern draft and an uneven surface - the back of the cross-slide's usually accurately flat and square, but run the DTI against it as you traverse, just to be sure), build in some adjustment by using spacer blocks with grubscrews (4mm / 4BA / whatever's usual in your area) at the corners so you can tram the scales in (e.g. I haven't yet seen (or done) an installation with DRO on the compound / topslide: although some 3-axis DROs can deal with this by keying in the topslide angle and then can calculate the tool position, it's damn awkward to fit them!įitting the DRO yourself is probably 1/2 a day, depending on whether you have all the necessaries, plan ahead to be sure you have clearance for everything (and don't bolt one end of the Z-axis scale to the gap-piece on the bed - No, it wasn't me!) and have ordered scales with enough travel (err on the over-length side by a couple of inches - the scales break if you run 'em hard against the ends) - I've found the supplied brackets (when they *are* supplied) to be huge, awkward and ugly, so when fitting 'em I make up something a bit tidier! It's unlikely that you'd need anything bigger than M6
#How to add lathe to cambam windows
FYI, metric tap drills are: for M3 2.5mm, M4 3.3mm, M5 4.2mm, M6 5mm. I have been using Dolphin Partmaster Cad Cam for a few years now and have been very pleased with its ease of use etc, but i've just updated to Windows XP on my 'design' computer and now the lathe cam function has stopped working within Partmaster. Keep in mind that the majority of far-eastern scales and readers will have metric threads / clearance holes, you may need to buy/borrow/scrounge a bunch of suitable taps and capscrews. 1 micron Vs 2, 5, 10 - how accurate do you want / need them, the price goes up with accuracy)?
![how to add lathe to cambam how to add lathe to cambam](https://content.instructables.com/ORIG/FMA/72V1/GLFUDCA7/FMA72V1GLFUDCA7.jpg)
and c) compatible with most of the DRO readouts on the market - bear in mind that there are 3 different sizes (width/height, not length) available, some installations may need the smaller to allow fitting in the available space, particularly the X-axis if fitting behind the cross-slide, and different resolutions (e.g. Go for glass scales - they're a) usually more accurate than the magnetics and b) unaffected by swarf etc. sub-datum memories to store setups, tool offsets programmable so you don't have to re-zero when changing tools/holders, taper measurement etc.) - they seem to exhibit the "bathtub" curve as far as reliability goes, if they don't fail in the first 30 days they're pretty reliable! At $1000, you're probably in between the Ch*n*s* and other DROs - I fit a lot of the unmentionables and they seem pretty good, especially the ES-14 which has a lot of useful features (e.g.