Warco Mini Lathe DRO

[Chris VeitchParticipant @chrisveitch14689]

I have a Warco Mini Lathe which I’ve had for some years and which has seen little use, mainly for the want of time and opportunity. I’d like to make more use of it and a DRO seems to be a useful next step in making it more usable. I’m aware of its limitations and that it’s far from the best machine available, but it’s what I’ve got.

Warco have a DRO which they state is specifically for these lathes but they provide minimal details, and it appears to be over twice the price of options such as this one one from Amazon – however the Amazon option is also unclear and it’s whether the DRO price includes scales, as these are also listed separately. I suspect something like this Amazon package is actually a complete kit with scales, which brings it out at somewhat more than the Warco offering.

Can anyone provide some advice on:

• What’s suitable for this machine?
• What price point should I be looking at?
• Should I go for glass or magnetic scales?
• Any suppliers to be recommended or avoided?

Regards,

Chris

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

Because of the very limited amount of room, it’s impossible to use a glass scale on the cross slide of a mini lathe, it has to be magnetic, though you could probably use one for the Z axis i.e. lengthwise.

Although a DRO for milling machines is a no-brainer, for lathes, their usefulness is a bit more questionable – I find it handy, but it’s by no means essential.

The basic magnetic DROs like the Warco one don’t have all the bells and whistles that the set ups like the Amazon ones you link to have, and they are a bit less accurate. You can get high quality magnetic scales which are accurate, and will work with the fancy displays, but they are pretty expensive. I’m not sure I’d want to spend that much on a lathe installation.

If you want to go with one like the Warco, I have a display and a pair of read heads which I don’t need, and I’d sell them for not very much – you’d need to get some magnetic scale strip from Warco (the standard type you can get from AliExpress, etc., won’t work with this kind of display), and make up the necessary brackets, etc.

If you’re interested, PM me,

Andy

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