Three-axis DRO is simple and affordable

An ACI product story

Edited by the Manufacturingtalk editorial team Mar 15, 2006

By adding a third axis functionality to its an existing digital read-out product, a company has produced a new level of 'simple and affordable low end' DRO with numeric keyboard.

Measurement and control specialist ACI (UK) is displaying at MACH a new level of 'simple and affordable low end' digital readout (DRO) technology after adding third axis functionality to its highly successful Acu-Rite 100S DRO.

With fully functional numeric keyboard, the uprated 100S is also presettable - its predecessor was not - yet is available at the same price.

Complemented by the new and highly durable SENC 50/150 precision glass scale technologies that have resolutions of 0.5, one and five microns, the development represents an unrivalled cost-to-performance package for user-friendly three-axis milling, turning, grinding or general purpose applications.

With digital LED, the Acu-Rite 100S DRO's functionality - absolute/incremental display, instant inch/mm conversion, preset and zero rest capability, tool offset, instant radius/diameter conversion, multiple display resolutions, linear error compensation, message prompts, error checking and selection count direction - are complemented by the new SENC 50 and 150 precision glass encoders.

Developed at Acu-Rite's state-of-the-art, multi-million dollar manufacturing facility in the USA, SENC scales adopt a radically new construction process based around the use of reflective light (rather than that transmittive light) for measurement, using a reader head that is mounted on the scale's top face.

With advanced roller bearing technology for reduced backlash and greater scale travel life, the result is a high-precision glass scale that is more resistant to machine inaccuracies and vibration, and therefore more durable, than existing products but available at comparable cost.

SENC 150 is available in lengths of 50mm to 3.4m, while SENC 50 is available in lengths of 25mm to 500mm.

Both systems feature Acu-Rite's exclusive Position-Trac functionality that allows operators to accurately and quickly re-establish workpiece zero from any position after a power interruption.

Once power is restored, the DRO reads a line pattern on the glass scale to recall the last known zero.

* ACI (UK) at MACH 2006, NEC, Birmingham, UK, May 15-19, Hall 5, Stand 5009.