FILENAMES:

C5-apron.JPG
C5-carriage.JPG
C5-DRO.JPG
C5-slide.JPG

DESCRIPTION:

These are pictures showing a CBX-DRO installed on an EMCO-Maier
Compact 5 lathe. Posted by Bryan Harries <gab@spillage.net>. 
Bryan provided the following description:

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CBX-DRO installation on an EMCO-Maier Compact 5
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Display: (C5-DRO.jpg)
Two rectangular holes where cut in the left hand end of the upper 
lip of the splashguard to give wiring and on/off switch access.
The face panel was removed from the DRO display and two holes 
(one at each end) where drilled in the lower surface of the 
enclosure in a position that ensured the #6-32 bolts used cleared 
the circuit board. Matching holes where drilled in the splashguard.
The enclosure was secured to the splashguard and the display was 
re-fitted.

Carriage: (C5-carriage.jpg & C5-apron.jpg)
A bracket was fabricated from 16gage mild steel to extend beyond 
both the left and right hand ends of the carriage apron. The bracket 
has a vertical member that picks up the mounting holes of the encoder 
and then tapers up to the left hand end. It over laps the bottom of 
the apron by approximately 3/8” then turns out over the rack and 
finally turns down at 45° to offer added chip protection. The left 
hand end of this bracket extend as far as possible without hindering 
carriage travel and has a shield extending up and over the lead screw 
to help keep out of that as well. The bracket is secured to the apron 
with three evenly spaced #6-32 screws. With an installation in this 
position the rack is below a line struck between the bed and the 
front lip of the chip tray, giving it protection from any larger 
items that may be accidentally dropped on it. The mounting holes 
in end blocks of the rack where counter sunk to allow flush fitting 
of the SHCS supplied. The right hand end is spaced off the pillar 
for the lead screw on the bed casting by a 16gage washer and was 
drilled and tapped to take the supplied bolt. The left hand end was 
drilled and tapped into the bed in a similar manner using the 1” 
spacer supplied and a 16gage washer to maintain parallelism.

Cross slide: (C5-slide.jpg)
As I have not used and don’t foresee using the carriage lock, I have 
removed it and used that hole to mount the close end of the rack. 
As the rack in this installation is very short (2” travel) and therefore 
ridged, it does not need much extra support, so I have the back end of 
the rack “hanging in space” with only a 16gage chip guard with a bead 
rolled in it to offer a little more support. This chip guard is fixed 
to the rack mounting blocks by two #2-56 screws, both ends. The encoder 
has a 16gage mild steel fabricated bracket that extends from the end of 
the cross slide (where it is secured by #6-32 screws) in a triangular 
shape to give clearance on the back of the bed, and offset to the right 
by 5/32” to pick up the rack center line. It has a turn down on all sides 
to give it stiffness and on the right hand side extends down to pick up 
the encoder mount holes.

Wiring:
The cable from the cross slide encoder comes under the bed and meets up 
with the carriage encoder cable, then they both “loop” to the front lip 
of the chip tray where it is fixed by a “P” clip. The cables then run under 
the chip tray in the space between the feet and up behind the splashguard 
and around the left hand end to the display panel. Where the cables are in 
the chip tray I have added protection from chips and abrasion by covering 
them with 1/4" convoluted tubing.

Comments:
Although the CBX-DRO is for “full sized” machines, and fitting it to a small 
machine like the C5 initially seemed like an “overkill” (you know, “…using 
an axe to swat fly’s…”), it was a very straightforward installation with no 
“major” modifications to any components and certainly is not cumbersome on the 
lathe. These lathes are accurate but benefit extremely from the ease and speed 
of use now afforded by the CBX-DRO addition. I would highly recommend this 
addition to any serious C5 user.

Bryan Harries
“Spillage”® International