Mount knee encoder read head on column vice knee?

I figured this has come up, but a search didn’t find anything.
I have a CNC knee mill with a Z encoder on the quill, I just purchased a knee encoder and wiring that combines the two Z inputs.
The power feed limit switches and stops are on one side of the column and the control cabinet is on the other. I can certainly design and fab brackets to make it work on either side, but it dawned on me that I could easily mount the read head on the Column and put the scale on the knee, vice the normal way of having the scale on the column.
I can’t think of a reason why this is a bad idea, and by having the read head stationary, the wiring is also able to be tightly secured, unlike when it’s on the knee.
Thanks for any input


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Hello RipperJ,

Scales should always be mounted with the opening facing away from any coolant spray or chip debris. From your description, It sounds like your preferred method accomplishes this by placing the reader head on the column and the scale on the knee. The only accommodation you will have consider is protecting the scale ends from being damaged as I assume they will be protruding above and/or below the knee. Other than that...go for it!

+1 on the opening orientation.
The reason you typically see encoder mounted to the column, is because most knees are too short to fit an appropriate size scale. If your knee happened to be longer than a scale, then it is not a problem. However, we would not recommend mounting encoder on a spar protruding past the knee. Even if it is not interfering with the saddle/table on top and not hitting the machine base at the bottom, the chances of accidentally damaging the protruding encoder increase exponentially.

It’s funny how sometimes the obvious eludes you.... until I looked at the distructions, I had never thought about mounting the encoder on the column facing the rear
Made a production of the read head bracket. I needed to clear the knee feed limit switch stuff. I could have rerouted the wiring and barely fit the bracket plate behind the encoder, but it would have been a pain.

Hardware is temporary








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