Measure Dimension
Turning to a diameter means checking the work between cuts, and a caliper or micrometer is the tool that does it. The instrument is small, its display is smaller, and reading it usually means finding your glasses or getting the light right.
The "Measure Dimension" function moves that reading onto the tablet. A caliper or micrometer wired into the scale adapter appears as a full-size readout with its own zero, its own coordinate system, and a button that copies the measurement into the X axis as a diameter. This is a lathe function, and the "Caliper/Micrometer Input Settings" screen that enables it is only offered on a lathe machine profile.
Setting Up the Input
The instrument connects to the adapter the same way a scale does, and TouchDRO treats it as one more input. It is not one of the machine's axes, though. It has no resolution setting and no calibration, because a digital caliper reports its reading in real units rather than in counts.
To turn the input on, open "Caliper/Micrometer Input Settings" in the application settings and switch on "Enable Caliper/Micrometer Input". The "Measure Dimension" button will appear in the function strip once that setting is on, and it is hidden entirely while the setting is off.
Prefix
The prefix identifies which of the adapter's inputs the instrument is plugged into. It defaults to "w".
Invert Readout
Reverses the sign of the reading. Use it if the instrument counts in the opposite direction to the one you expect.
Opening the Dialog
To open the "Measure Dimension" dialog, press the "Measure Dimension" button in the function strip. The dialog stays open while you work, so you can take a measurement, close the caliper, and take another one without reaching for the tablet in between. Press "Close" when you are done.
The Reading
The dialog shows one readout, labelled "Measurement", with its units beside it. It follows the instrument live, in the same way the axis rows on the main screen follow the scales.
The reading has its own zero and its own absolute and incremental coordinates, separate from the machine axes. Zeroing it on a gauge block, or on the closed jaws of the caliper, does not disturb anything else on the screen.
The Buttons
Four buttons sit under the reading. The first three behave the way their counterparts on the main screen do, applied to the caliper rather than to the axes.
- "Zero Set"
- Zeroes the reading where it stands. Press and hold to set its absolute origin instead.
- "Abs/Incr"
- Switches the reading between absolute and incremental coordinates.
- "Inch/mm"
- Switches the reading between inches and millimeters. This is the dialog's own setting, and it does not change the units the axis rows are displaying.
- "Set Diameter"
- Copies the current reading into the X axis, treating it as a diameter measured across the part.
"Set Diameter" is the reason to wire the caliper up in the first place. Measure the diameter you have just cut, press the button, and the X readout is set to that diameter without a preset dialog and without arithmetic. If the X axis is in radius mode, TouchDRO will halve the measurement before writing it, so the readout is correct either way. The "Radius/Diameter" button is what selects between the two modes.
The value lands in whichever coordinate system the dialog is showing. With the dialog in incremental mode it sets the incremental position of X, and with the dialog in absolute mode it sets the absolute position.