Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] DRO ENCODER TOOL

> My concern at the moment would be a lot more about effectively mounting
> and protecting the strip.
> A strip prone to damage would be worse than useless, after a few
> botched projects ruined by a hosed encoder.

Dan Mauch has pictures on metalworking.com of his totally enclosed
mounting in a square aluminum tube, driven by a pushrod from the end.

I wanted something that can be driven at the point of the read head.
First attempt - workable, was to sandwich the strip between two pieces
of aluminum extrusion hanging behind the lathe bed, with a J bracket
that reaches down, around, and back up again to hold the read head
from below. The head is fairly well shielded.

My next plan (I really need to get the stuff ordered) is to buy some
1.5x3/4" square tubing and rip a slot in the bottom with a table saw.
Strip would be clamped between two strips of aluminum and bolted in
the top half of the tube, read head would run in plastic shuttle
sliding in lower half, actuated by bracket sticking up through slot.
Optional weatherstripping on around slot - but probably uneeded as
it's on the bottom. This would be more or less how commercial linear
encoders are packaged.

Chris

--
Christopher C. Stratton, stratton@...
Instrument Maker, Horn Player & Engineer
30 Griswold Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
http://www.mdc.net/~stratton
(617) 492-3358 home/shop