Hi Stan, this is the most detailed TouchDRO overview I've seen to day. I wasn't even expecting this to be a video; wanted to send you a few units as a thank you for great content (I learned a ton from your channel over the years). Thank you for going into so much detail, and hope you like the unit. Please let me know if you have any feedback/suggestions. This is very much a community-driven design, and I take feedback and critique very seriously. Hope you have a great party, and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
I’ve been using a TouchDRO for several years now on a vertical mill and have found it to be completely reliable. I really appreciate its graphic clarity and configurability. I recently bought another one to install on a lathe but have not yet bought my scales, so I’ll be very interested to follow any future installments you share. Thanks for posting this Stan.
Good video Stan. Today I got my X axis installed and calibrated. My touchdro box had the nine pin connectors wired, but I had to research the pin outs. I just dropped the pins in without the permanent blocks, but all three axis work fine. I used the 3” gauge block and 1um scales and it’s something less than a thou. I have a combo mill lathe, so configuring should be fun.
glad to see a fresh fideo on this thing. I just got a bridgeport and I'm really keen to put this setup on it. Pretty much no videos with glass scales and the touch dro on youtube. I'm planning on combining this with a bluetooth numpad placed at the perfect angle with a wrist rest to punch in numbers. Already know thats gonna be cumbersome on the touch screen.
G'day and happy new year from Rodders in Melbourne, Australia The TouchDRO is a thing of beauty..... I'm wondering if it would be a lot of additional coding to allow increasing the font size displayed? those X Y & Z would start to look pretty small to many of us with aging eyesight!
There’s specific tools for removing those pins from the D-sub 9 housing; and the “DuPont” 0.100” pin housings have a little tab on them that can be gently pried up to pull the pin out. It helps if you have a microscope to be able to see the little tab.
Great video, thank you! I was hoping to watch the glass scale cutting video but can’t seem to find it. Robrenz? No luck. Please point me in the right direction.
were your vevor scales advertised to have a Z channel for a home position? I ask because mine were, spent days trying to clock a signal, never found one.
This is really state of the art Stan. I see a great advantage being able to set at a shop table or deck, too put in all the required commends and not having to lean over a machine where the DRO is mounded on a swing arm :)> . On the blue tooth function, how does it work? I am very interested, and will be looking into this more after the Holidays for sure. Thx for taking the time out to show this, Bear. Cheers for the X-Mas Party to all.
If they did it right; the tracking of the position should be done in the module (it looks like an ESP32) and it should be continuously streaming out an absolute position, not the relative motion over Bluetooth…
I see comments about Bluetooth being horrible pretty much under every TouchDRO post or video. The story usually goes like "BlueTooth sucks because my shower speaker keeps disconnecting". It's sort of like saying "I will never use a car to run a business because the 1993 Hyundai my nephew drives keeps blowing head gaskets". In practice this is a non-issue. Bluetooth as a protocol is as close to bullet proof as you can get. It has level of parity checking and redundancy. In every office building there are hundreds of BT keyboards, mice, headphones, etc. and they all just work. Properly build BT devices (with correct protocol implementation, antenna design/location and proper firmware work VERY reliably. You get problems when manufacturers try to get the cheapest parts they can find and give them to a bunch of "amateurs" to implement their device. Bluetooth 2.0 doesn't have enough bandwidth to stream audio, but if you look at the cheaper devices, that's what they use. They get oversaturated and either loose packets (so you get weird artifacts), or simply crash. TouchDRO uses name-brand BT certified module (ESP32) that has enough bandwidth and processing power to run about 20 DROs (with displays and keypads). Even if it dropped BT connection (which it doesn't), the position is still stored in the adapter, and when the connection is restored, it will be sent to the app. The app monitors the stream, and if it detects loss of data, it will pop a message. I don't know how many tens of thousands of TouchDRO installations there are (according to Google Play Store, the app has been downloaded over 400K times), but I sell thousands of these per year, and this year (so far) I had 3 units with issues. One had a cracked Micro-USB solder joint (from mechanical stress), one had a blown voltage regulator due to defective part, and one is dead but still en route to me, so I don't have the root cause. Regards Yuriy
The imly time I've had issues with BT is when I reach the limits of its range. Bluetooth to my mouse and keyboard, to my car stereo, has never been an issue.
hi shadon, i like your videos. i have a question about vevor scale and touchdro, how did you set it up to work pin wise i tried ttl w/o z pin and it doesnt work. did you use the adapter that came with vevor?
@@ShadonHKW thanks , so i did it rite but something else is wrong with the scales or app its happening with both scales from vevor but not the other brand. this is the error im getting its a long one. the number of encoder step is to small between the first and second edge of calibration block
@@ShadonHKW what im experiencing isnt in anywhere on the website even in trouble shooting, i was just able to post on their forums now explaining the whole thing and got a reply from yuri im not the only one getting a error like this so it maybe a bug
i solved the issue, turned out to be 2 things, 1 was the program not having enough info on the meaning of the error or no info on website, 2 the pinout i had the was wrong mainly do to the manuafactures epoxing/resin the electronics and you dont have acess to trace wires and somehow i traced wires wrong so 5v,a,or b were wrong. the wire pinout was exactly the same as the yhsino pinout that i put on x axis and was correct, i think what threw me off was the fact i couldnt see the electonics & manual pinout between the two then the messup on the trace. also in my case or others the jumper color does not match any of the manufactured pinout so it can be confusing to. shadon i thank you for your replies, keepup the great videos
Hi Stan, this is the most detailed TouchDRO overview I've seen to day. I wasn't even expecting this to be a video; wanted to send you a few units as a thank you for great content (I learned a ton from your channel over the years). Thank you for going into so much detail, and hope you like the unit. Please let me know if you have any feedback/suggestions. This is very much a community-driven design, and I take feedback and critique very seriously.
Hope you have a great party, and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
I’ve been using a TouchDRO for several years now on a vertical mill and have found it to be completely reliable. I really appreciate its graphic clarity and configurability. I recently bought another one to install on a lathe but have not yet bought my scales, so I’ll be very interested to follow any future installments you share. Thanks for posting this Stan.
Nice product. The next step would be for TouchDRO to provide a documented API so that users can write their own customized apps.
Thank you Stan. I appreciate you taking the time to let us know about this great tools.
Good video Stan. Today I got my X axis installed and calibrated. My touchdro box had the nine pin connectors wired, but I had to research the pin outs. I just dropped the pins in without the permanent blocks, but all three axis work fine. I used the 3” gauge block and 1um scales and it’s something less than a thou. I have a combo mill lathe, so configuring should be fun.
glad to see a fresh fideo on this thing. I just got a bridgeport and I'm really keen to put this setup on it. Pretty much no videos with glass scales and the touch dro on youtube. I'm planning on combining this with a bluetooth numpad placed at the perfect angle with a wrist rest to punch in numbers. Already know thats gonna be cumbersome on the touch screen.
G'day and happy new year from Rodders in Melbourne, Australia
The TouchDRO is a thing of beauty.....
I'm wondering if it would be a lot of additional coding to allow increasing the font size displayed? those X Y & Z would start to look pretty small to many of us with aging eyesight!
Great review, thanks. I have my unit on the way and am looking forward to the installation and the mastering of the TouchDRO app. Cheers 🙂
There’s specific tools for removing those pins from the D-sub 9 housing; and the “DuPont” 0.100” pin housings have a little tab on them that can be gently pried up to pull the pin out. It helps if you have a microscope to be able to see the little tab.
Great video, thank you! I was hoping to watch the glass scale cutting video but can’t seem to find it. Robrenz? No luck. Please point me in the right direction.
Very nice review, Stan. Well done. Merry Christmas.
My accurite DRO is acting up again I need to look into if I could use this with my existing scales. I am pretty sure it is ttl so i don't see why not.
I bought the Touch DRO several years ago and I think it's a great product.
This is flat out awesome! Thanks Stan!
were your vevor scales advertised to have a Z channel for a home position? I ask because mine were, spent days trying to clock a signal, never found one.
This is really state of the art Stan. I see a great advantage being able to set at a shop table or deck, too put in all the required commends and not having to lean over a machine where the DRO is mounded on a swing arm :)> . On the blue tooth function, how does it work? I am very interested, and will be looking into this more after the Holidays for sure. Thx for taking the time out to show this, Bear. Cheers for the X-Mas Party to all.
Thanks Bear, have a great Christmas.
Hi Stan,
I was wondering if there is a 1/2 function.
Slappin the Cheerios out of DRO Pros mouths. It is pretty slick though
Good One Stan. Yuri does a nice job with Touch DRO.
Is the Christmas party a private event or public like the bash? Pretty cool party prizes for sure!!! Merry Christmas Stan to you and your family.
Public, I sent out an invite a couple of videos back.
@Shadon HKW dang! I can't believe i missed it. thanks Stan. Merry Christmas to ya'll.
Is a 2Amp USB charger good enough for 1 scale.
Thanks for sharing
I dont trust bluetooth enough on a part to not mess up and skip a number ....
Yeah... it can barely sync my number of steps
If they did it right; the tracking of the position should be done in the module (it looks like an ESP32) and it should be continuously streaming out an absolute position, not the relative motion over Bluetooth…
I see comments about Bluetooth being horrible pretty much under every TouchDRO post or video. The story usually goes like "BlueTooth sucks because my shower speaker keeps disconnecting". It's sort of like saying "I will never use a car to run a business because the 1993 Hyundai my nephew drives keeps blowing head gaskets".
In practice this is a non-issue. Bluetooth as a protocol is as close to bullet proof as you can get. It has level of parity checking and redundancy. In every office building there are hundreds of BT keyboards, mice, headphones, etc. and they all just work. Properly build BT devices (with correct protocol implementation, antenna design/location and proper firmware work VERY reliably.
You get problems when manufacturers try to get the cheapest parts they can find and give them to a bunch of "amateurs" to implement their device. Bluetooth 2.0 doesn't have enough bandwidth to stream audio, but if you look at the cheaper devices, that's what they use. They get oversaturated and either loose packets (so you get weird artifacts), or simply crash.
TouchDRO uses name-brand BT certified module (ESP32) that has enough bandwidth and processing power to run about 20 DROs (with displays and keypads). Even if it dropped BT connection (which it doesn't), the position is still stored in the adapter, and when the connection is restored, it will be sent to the app. The app monitors the stream, and if it detects loss of data, it will pop a message.
I don't know how many tens of thousands of TouchDRO installations there are (according to Google Play Store, the app has been downloaded over 400K times), but I sell thousands of these per year, and this year (so far) I had 3 units with issues. One had a cracked Micro-USB solder joint (from mechanical stress), one had a blown voltage regulator due to defective part, and one is dead but still en route to me, so I don't have the root cause.
Regards
Yuriy
The imly time I've had issues with BT is when I reach the limits of its range. Bluetooth to my mouse and keyboard, to my car stereo, has never been an issue.
@@TouchDRO hard pass on bluetooth for me ....been machining for 27 years and 2 wires have never been a problem yet...
hi shadon, i like your videos. i have a question about vevor scale and touchdro, how did you set it up to work pin wise i tried ttl w/o z pin and it doesnt work. did you use the adapter that came with vevor?
I did not use the adaptor that came with the scale, the touch DRO website has some good info on the hookups, that is your best resource.
@@ShadonHKW thanks , so i did it rite but something else is wrong with the scales or app its happening with both scales from vevor but not the other brand. this is the error im getting its a long one. the number of encoder step is to small between the first and second edge of calibration block
@@ThomasFlannigan-c1q That sounds like something in the settings, read the scale calibration instructions on the dro website.
@@ShadonHKW what im experiencing isnt in anywhere on the website even in trouble shooting, i was just able to post on their forums now explaining the whole thing and got a reply from yuri im not the only one getting a error like this so it maybe a bug
i solved the issue, turned out to be 2 things, 1 was the program not having enough info on the meaning of the error or no info on website, 2 the pinout i had the was wrong mainly do to the manuafactures epoxing/resin the electronics and you dont have acess to trace wires and somehow i traced wires wrong so 5v,a,or b were wrong.
the wire pinout was exactly the same as the yhsino pinout that i put on x axis and was correct, i think what threw me off was the fact i couldnt see the electonics & manual pinout between the two then the messup on the trace. also in my case or others the jumper color does not match any of the manufactured pinout so it can be confusing to. shadon i thank you for your replies, keepup the great videos
Also, excellent advice based on hours of research by me.
Merry Christmas Stan
Is tom lipton still alive?
Hiya Stan