DRO Mounting Bracket



Since this DRO doesn't come with any place to mount it, I decided I better make something so I could get it off my bench. I TIG welded the thing down at the welding shop for my class. It's made of some left over 16ga from the shop cart.

After I made sure I welded the ribs on the right side of the plate I sand blasted the parts. Never done that before so it was fun.



Prime it...


Paint it satin black...


Drill, countersink, locktite...I used four nylon standoffs to get clearance for the big hex bolt. I would have prefred to make the pivot at the center of the plate, but I was using stuff from the scrap bin, so tough luck. The plate is...much thicker than 16ga, I didn't measure, but around 1/4".


I used some fender washers in between as well as on top with a split washer and nylock to snug things up. It's plenty rigid to keep gravity from adversely effecting the DRO. I needed to mount the pivot close to the edge so I could get enough clearance around the front side.



Getting zip-tied into shape. I love those things.



Okay, enough suspense.


I decided to mount on the left side and angle it towards me since that seemed the most ergonomic choice as I spend most of my time standing near the front right corner and facing towards the controls and the chuck.