DRO repair

[Spark plug]

Ok so I have a old heidenhain 731 DRO on the milling machine witch has developed a fault.

As can be seen in the picture the X axis has developed a fault and reads all 8's, apart from when in imperial mode the 4th decimal place will change bettwen 0/5 as it should.

I have narrowed the fault down to the Dro unit it's self, I have reversed the scales and the X axis reads fine when pluged into the Y axis. I have even swapped the connectors over at the circuit board to eliminate the plugs on the back of the unit.

I am terrible with electronics (too fiddley) so looking for suggestions to help get it repaired, the are a few places advertising DRO repairs online but I'm very dubious of the " just post it to us and we'll have a look".

 

[Rig Pig]

If the scales are still ok you could chance the display out for an android powered DRO, have a look at yuriy's toys web page, I'm thinking of building a linear scale system for my lathe and mill.

 

[Spark plug]

If the scales are still ok you could chance the display out for an android powered DRO, have a look at yuriy's toys web page, I'm thinking of building a linear scale system for my lathe and mill.

I would like to upgrade to a console with more features but I don't have time to build something, so I need something that will just plug in and work with the encoders I already have.

 

[500e]

Firm in Bristol that did a refurbished on exchange (same make) for us on our Bridgeport
Tel No 01173294478
http://www.sorted-uk.com/heidenhain.html

 

[Spark plug]

Firm in Bristol that did a refurbished on exchange (same make) for us on our Bridgeport
Tel No 01173294478
http://www.sorted-uk.com/heidenhain.html

I emailed these on Monday, no reply so I gave them a call, wernt very helpful. They hadn't heard of the model of DRO I have, nor any idea of cost to fix.

So I sent an email off to these:

http://www.gtprecision.co.uk

at 22:05 last night by 22:21 I had a reply:

"The repair is £110 plus vat no fix no fee and all repair come with a 6 month warranty,
Or we have a brand new Goodwin 2 axis mill console that will plug straight in for £245 plus vat the new console comes with a 2 year warranty.
Best Regards
Darren"

I gave him a call today, he couldn't be more helpfull, a realy nice chap, he went through my options in more detail. I've ordered a new 3 axis unit so I can add a scale to the z axis at a later date. He is pre-programming the unit for my encoders and sending adapter cables so I can plug my encoders straight in

He also told me if I have problems setting it up or useing it's features to just call him, don't bother with the manual.

So it should be hear tomorow, ile keep you updated.

 

[mike os]

If the scales are still ok you could chance the display out for an android powered DRO, have a look at yuriy's toys web page, I'm thinking of building a linear scale system for my lathe and mill.

looks like a nice easy way for hobby

please can you keep me informed ... scales used, etc? ( better still make it a project on here)

 

[500e]

Ah well the Bristol lot were real helpful with us we had replacement next morning looks the same as yours & same as page in their add, don't understand a lot of company's any more

 

[Spark plug]

Ah well the Bristol lot were real helpful with us we had replacement next morning looks the same as yours & same as page in their add, don't understand a lot of company's any more

I did have higher expectation but I got the impression they wernt interested.

 

[Rig Pig]

looks like a nice easy way for hobby

please can you keep me informed ... scales used, etc? ( better still make it a project on here)

I will, but don't hold your breath, I have a huge backlog of must do projects at the moment!

 

[Spark plug]

Ok, the DRO arrived yesterday as promised. I took it straight out the box pluged in and worked straight away, the only programming I had to do was reverse the direction of one axis. This was fairly straight forward.

The features I have figured out so far are excellent the PCD feature is brilliant and there is a centre find feature that works with only a cupple of button pushes.

Overall I am very pleased with it, the service is top notch, and the unit comes with a 2 year warranty. I would happily recommend them.