The Home Machinist!

Hello, I have a Rockwell mill and found a cheap Sony Magnacale DRO setup. Can I cut the scales down from the existing size to fit my smaller machine? Thanks.

i don't see why not.
the only scales i know of with actual "hard location" points are the big heidenhains.
were just talking about cutting glass on the old fashion ones and keeping track of the little balls on the newall types. i would say your most important aspect is to not monkey up the reader, but that would be a matter of sliding it to the opposite end your working on.

Thanks. There was an article in HSM a while back in which the author cut down a Mitutoyo linear scale from 6" to 4" for a Z axis reader for a Rockwell mill like mine. In the article, he pointed out that you could only trim one end as the ground connection would have been severed if cut at the other end. I forgot how he identified the end with the ground. I find a lot of bargains on scales and DRO readers but they are often from Bridgeports. My table travel is something like 7" X 16". Just right for my work most of the time. I really hate buying Chinese so I'd rather wait for a better quality used item.

i'll go look at a glass scale and see if i can see the ground deal or not

i went to the Alnilam site and read the installation and maint manual for there modern scales.
there was no mention of "watch this end or that" in there book. i went through it pretty fast but they did say if you ran the reader off the end of the scale it is possible to replace it which would imply there are no connections between the glass and the electronics.

Thanks, I finally cut another type of scale as a test and it works fine>