I posted this message in the General forum, but unfortunately got zero responses. Perhaps there is a better chance in this forum so I will try again. I hope someone here can help.
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I have recently replaced the DRO and scales on my mill, which were ancient and failing - see The oldest DRO in everyday use?? for details.
For a variety of reasons, I stuck with Heidenhain scales and counter (ND780) and the installation was fairly smooth apart from the scales being a bit fatter than the old ones, necessitating making some new brackets.
I am happy with the new DRO - the display is good and it has a very wide range of useful functions that I am now getting familiar with. However there is one area that I would like some views and opinions on.
I use a simple traditional edge finder a great deal. There is edge finder support in the ND780, but it seems to me that it is really only intended for use with the KT edge finders or electrical contact edge finders, both of which can plug into the box and work with the Datum/Edge Find functions. You can use a traditional edge finder, but it appears that there is no specific support for this, which is a pity. For example, you can enter the edge finder radius into the edge finder data table, but the ND780 does not appear to make use of this. You have to key in the offset directly.
I may be missing something, in which case I would be glad of some guidance.
If I am not missing anything I can work fine with it as is, but I am curious about the KT130 edge finder which is directly supported. From what I can find (very limited information) this is potentially more accurate than I can achieve with a traditional edge finder, and of course integrates completely with the ND780. I would be glad of any direct experience of people using this on a regular basis, particularly repeatability, accuracy and convenience.
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I have recently replaced the DRO and scales on my mill, which were ancient and failing - see The oldest DRO in everyday use?? for details.
For a variety of reasons, I stuck with Heidenhain scales and counter (ND780) and the installation was fairly smooth apart from the scales being a bit fatter than the old ones, necessitating making some new brackets.
I am happy with the new DRO - the display is good and it has a very wide range of useful functions that I am now getting familiar with. However there is one area that I would like some views and opinions on.
I use a simple traditional edge finder a great deal. There is edge finder support in the ND780, but it seems to me that it is really only intended for use with the KT edge finders or electrical contact edge finders, both of which can plug into the box and work with the Datum/Edge Find functions. You can use a traditional edge finder, but it appears that there is no specific support for this, which is a pity. For example, you can enter the edge finder radius into the edge finder data table, but the ND780 does not appear to make use of this. You have to key in the offset directly.
I may be missing something, in which case I would be glad of some guidance.
If I am not missing anything I can work fine with it as is, but I am curious about the KT130 edge finder which is directly supported. From what I can find (very limited information) this is potentially more accurate than I can achieve with a traditional edge finder, and of course integrates completely with the ND780. I would be glad of any direct experience of people using this on a regular basis, particularly repeatability, accuracy and convenience.