Yet more DRO

Hi All

Just got back from the NEC after spending the day looking at all sorts of CNC
EDM machines.... I think I need a bigger workshop !!
Had an interesting chat with a couple of companies - First one was Newall. They
are doing a low cost magnetically encoded strip coupled with a hall efect read
head - The strip costs about �45 per metre in lengths of up to 32 metres for
those long bed mills. Resolution is claimed to be 10 microns.
Renishaw are also marketing a flexible steel scale. Using a quadrature read
head, a 10 micron resolution is also possible.

I'm trying to get a sample of Newall's tape to play around with - if I can get
the time at work. It should be possible to achive a higher resolution by using
multiple sensors...

Renishaw also have a neat little laser gadget for gauging the diameter of a
rotating tool.

Regards Paul.