I would fit the DRO on the tailstock side for sure, too muc going on att he chuck side. I fitted on eon my Monarch and was also concerned about the tailstock fouling the scale but I got over this by using a stop bolt which stopped the tailstock just short of striking the DRO scale or reader.

Since you have to allow for the odd shaped cross slide, the lock screw for the compound and the gib adjusters I would use a couple of stand-offs to mount the scale and use a cut-down key to make any adjustments. You may have to do what I did and drill/tap for jacking screws for the reader head mount if your casting is not flat enough to keep it all square.

You WILL lose some travel and tailstock motion doing this though, no getting around that but you can reduce the penalty by fitting a slim scale, or look into perhaps fitting a magnetic strip scale and reader on the underside like they do for the Myford 7. The DRO more than makes up for this for me I would not be without it. Mine also has a taper function which you can use not only to measure a taper but to dial in your attachment for cutting them.

Baldric,

I have not had any real problems with mine. I do occasionally drip cutting oil onto the cable, but that has not caused any problems. I have sometimes also bumped inot the cable with my hand or my jar of cutting oil, but that's not a problem. What you can't do is move the slide at high speed, as the electronics can't catch up. The display alerts me by flashing, and I reset it. So that is occasionally a nuisance as I tend to lose any reference position.

The big plus, for me, is that the counter/display unit has 9 different Datums, so, if I am using a four-way toolpost, I can set a Datum for each tool, then press a button to call up the Datum for each tool as I use it.

Marcus