I visited their web site many times looking at their unit. The encoder boxes looked to big for my small lathe so I decided to do without. Then this last September at a Model Engineering Show in Rapid City, South Dakota, Shooting Star was there with a unit displayed on a small lathe. After considerable deliberation, I decided to purchase one. The installation did not look to be all that difficult, but did take two full days work.

The cross slide was drilled and tapped for a metal bar, which allowed the encoder box to be positioned behind the carriage. A piece of bar stock will be fabricated to protect the plastic from hot chips.

The x-axis rack is far enough under the way to protect it from hot chips. The x-axis rack is far enough under the way to protect it from hot chips. I still need to get some plastic loom to protect the encoder leads.

The readout is temporally mounted on the wooden shelf.