TouchDRO is the original tablet-based digital readout (DRO) for manual milling machines, lathes, and surface grinders. The DRO app runs on an Android tablet and pairs with a Bluetooth adapter that reads the scales, touch probe, and spindle RPM sensor on your machine.
TouchDRO gives you a sharp, easy-to-read touchscreen display. You can configure the layout for a milling machine, lathe, grinder, or combination machine, and set it up for the way you work. The display shows where the cutter is on the part as you move the handles. You can drop a CAD drawing and use it as a guide to machine more complex shapes, or take a photo of an existing part and machine a matching one straight from the picture. With TouchDRO at your fingertips, you will be able to do much more than you'd normally tackle on a manual machine.
Choose scales that fit your machine, or check whether the ones you already own are supported. Most modern and many legacy scales work.
Pick the adapter for your mill or lathe, or build your own from a DIY kit. See the comparison page to decide which one fits.
TouchDRO runs on most Android and Amazon Fire tablets. Use one you already own, or pick from our recommended models for your size and budget.
Great for Bridgeport-style and benchtop column mills. A 4-axis readout with quill scale summing for knee mills, touch probe support for finding edges and setting tools, and a spindle tachometer for chip-load and surface speed calculations. Works with the glass, magnetic, and capacitive scales you already have.
Shop Mill DRO
Great for mini lathes, small benchtop lathes, and larger gunsmith lathes. A 4-axis readout that handles carriage, cross-slide, and tailstock. Use what fits each axis: a glass or magnetic scale on the carriage, a magnetic scale on the cross-slide, a capacitive scale on the tailstock quill. TouchDRO reads them all into the same display.
Shop Lathe DROA few notes from the TouchDRO store and the Play Store: verified reviews from real shops.
This product is a game changer, especially on my mini mill. Forget about manual marking out, simply enter the data into TouchDRO. Fantastic.
Verified buyer · Mill DRO
Far better than the many cheap Chinese options. This system gives you the flexibility to build your own DRO based on what is important to you.
Verified buyer · Mill DRO
I would not use my milling machine without this software.
Verified buyer · Play Store review
Hooked up my existing magnetic readers and the calibration was within two tenths without any adjustment.
Verified buyer · Lathe DRO
Average rating: 4.9 / 5 across 59 verified reviews.
About TouchDRO
In 2012, we set out to create a capable, customizable digital readout that small shops and home machinists could afford. TouchDRO started as a way to get more done with our own manual machines. Today, it is trusted by tens of thousands of machinists around the world, from hobbyists to prototyping and production shops.
On a new machine or as a replacement for an aging digital readout console, you get a system backed by years of active development, direct product support, and practical feedback from machinists who use TouchDRO in real shops.
Scale compatibility
The most common new install: affordable, accurate, and durable. TouchDRO works with Ditron, Aikron, Sino, Electronica, and similar TTL/RS-422 quadrature scales. You can mix brands, scale types, and resolution to fit your machine.
Already have an Acu-Rite, Newall, Anilam, Sargon, or similar console? Don't throw away good name-brand industrial scales. TouchDRO supports most of these scales, including their reference marks, so you can modernize the readout and keep using your existing scales.
TouchDRO works with iGaging Absolute DRO and EZ-View DRO, Mitutoyo Digimatic, and similar capacitive scales. Add a readout anywhere a full-size scale won't fit, and sum the quill and knee positions on a Bridgeport-style mill into a single Z readout.