Setting up the DRO:

Of course, YADRO's DRO needs some setup. Compared to simple DROs, there might be some steps more. But there is a setup-program, that does the complicated part, as long as it is for a lathe or a mill. If you need other configurations, you will find a lot more details here. But in most cases, you should have success with this step by step instruction.

You will find complete packages preconfigured in the download section.

Connecting Scales:

Depending on what cable-kit you have and whether you intend to use a connector or not, the connection is different. But still not complicated.
You have to connect pins 1 … 4 of each connector on the PCB (SV2 … SV5) 1:1 to the 4 connectors of the scale.

Connectors on the scale.

Connectors on the PCB (SV2 … SV5, showing SV2)

Connectors on the PCB (SV2 … SV5, showing SV2) when a 4-lead ribbon-cable is used. Note that the cable is crimped such that pin 5 and 6 are left unconnected.

The connector on the PCB has +5V on pin 5, pin 6 is NC.

Step by Step:

1. Mount the digital scales to the mill/lathe/tool. Cables should have the right connectors soldered onto and the proper connection double checked (minus, clock, data and plus).
2. Mount the DRO:int4 close to the scales to keep the cables between scales and interface short. The sequence and what port you use is not important. Setup will rearrange the ports and axes. If you want, the standard would be X, Y, Z going to port1, port2, port3 (leaving port4 unconnected).
3. Connect the DRO:int4 to your PC or laptop through a serial cable. That cable must be a x-over-cable.
4. Install all the software on the PC. (Don't forget: The OS has to be DOS, not Windows. Don't let the software run in a DOS-box)
5. Connect power to the DRO:int4 (the green LED should light up)
6. Start the setup-program
7. Follow the steps in the setup-program. How the axes are named and what their positive direction is, look here.
8. When successfully finished, the setup-program has written all necessary include-files.
9. When you have configured a lathe, start the DRO-software with ddisp -f:lathe.cfg. With a mill, use ddisp -f:mill.cfg
10. ddisp will ask you whether to initialize the devices. To accept, press <Return>. Answer the following questions with a <Return> too.

A word to the last step:
Initializing the scales should be done after each power up of the DRO:int4. It first sets the scales to zero at the current position. Next is to switch the scales into fast mode. This way, the datarate is about 15 times the normal rate. If ddisp has been terminated, but the power not been removed from the int4 you should not initialize the scales. If you initialize them a second time, they will switch to an other mode than fast mode. If this happened by incidence, exit ddisp, disconnect power from the int4, wait some seconds, power up int4 again. Then start ddisp and initialize this time.
Some scales need to have power for about 15 seconds before they can be switched to fast mode. So either leave the power to int4 connected, or power up int4, start the PC, assuming that the start will take more than 15 seconds.
There is a little hint in the upper right corner of the ddisp's screen. It shows a "spinning wheel". If in fast mode, the characters changes very fast, in normal mode, it is quite slow.