index head

[Glenn Brooks]

Richard, that looks like a good fit for the DH. Might be useful also on a Rotab. I haven’t yet quite figured out who if anyone sells a mounting plate for my RT. At some point soon I need to figure this out, as I’ve got a couple of key parts to make...

Glenn

[tornitore45]

Thanks Richard, you answered all my questions.

[tornitore45]

Only thing I wished they installed a 4 jaws independent rather than a scroll chuck.

Anyone knows what size of Morse taper is in the spindle?

[John Evans]

Anyone knows what size of Morse taper is in the spindle?

On mine not Morse but B&S 7 ! And I think that is what you will find on all those B&S copies.

[tornitore45]

I received mine.
Looks really nice. Good finish and smooth turning. The Index plates also fit my rotab, so now I have two sets.
Had to mill part way the alignment tabs to fit my mill slots.
The H part, the slotted crank and the alidades are cast aluminum, which is a cost reduction thing. Is OK bat not good for the H dog. I was pleasantly surprise that the spindle is MT-2 not a B&S-7, good thing because I have a set of MT-2.
Definitively a good value for the price.

[pete]

Might want to rethink that 3 jaw idea. Anything built while using a dividing head will most likely require a fairly good accuracy level. Gear cutting for example. My much larger swing Vertex universal head came with a 6" 3 jaw. Why I have no idea since if you want close to zero runout then shimming the correct jaws to get that is going to get real old real fast. Slower but much better would be an independant 4 jaw imo. I guess you could remachine the chucks back plate and drill / tap the 3 jaw chuck to turn it into a shop made set-tru type. That head you bought may or may not have the B & S taper and might instead be a MT. No way to tell for sure until you get it. As you mentioned these and the Vertex universal heads are most likely copied directly from the B & S heads. For years Vertex at least made them with the original B & S taper. Apparently they changed to a MT 4 on there universal heads shortly before I bought mine and I've heard at least a few of the Chinese built plain dividing heads were also changed since B & S tapers are a lot tougher to find than the MT tooling. I've no idea how true that is though.

Hmmm, guess I should have read page two of this thread before posting. Some of my information was it seems correct and at least some manufacturers have changed to the MT.

[Richard_W]

I was pleasantly surprised to see it's a dividing head with a tailstock. If it's of any quality at all, that's a pretty good deal, Richard. Make sure to give us a report when it arrives.

H

Well I had the index head for 1 day. As the story goes I told the shop lead-man that I bought one and was waiting for it to come. We talked a bit about it and he wanted me to bring it in. So the index head arrive one day and the next I took it to work. They liked it so much and saw the need it filled on the Bridgeport type machine. So they bought it from me. Aside from a few parts being made of aluminum which were made of steel on other versions it is a nice index head. If you would rather have steel parts those could be made real easy in a short time with mill. Most likely what I would do. So now I need to reorder another one since I still have the Bridgeport index head to use until it arrives.

It has been mentioned about the desire for a 4 jaw chuck. You can buy them and make the adapter plate to fit the head. Although for accuracy you would use a dog and mount between centers. Which this is already set up for. It always good to have the option of centers, 3 jaw chuck and a 4 jaw chuck.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-4-JAW-INDEPE ... Sw1lBbY4Ou


The company thought that since it was smaller you could more easily do small parts because of the smaller chuck. Also you don't need a crane to lift it. The other advantage is it is small enough to mount in a 6" milling vise. They have a large L&W index head which really needs to be lifted with a crane. The index head is small enough you could actually store it in a bread box to keep it clean in the shop. At least the bread box with the roll top door like we have in the kitchen.

Richard W.

[Harold_V]

Thanks, Richard. Sounds like a very reasonably priced piece of gear, and it's starting to appear as though quality is taking some large steps towards improvement on the import tools.

H

[spro]

I received one from a different seller. It was exactly as described; unopened, new. It still had the overseas packaging of a layer of foam over the box and thick black plastic sealed around it. So it arrived at my porch and it was etc. because it was a heavy package.
The important thing is that these are very good, if not excellent in fit and finish. I was amazed at how nice this set is. Mine has the YiYuan chuck and that company makes lots of...
Back to this one item; It is a peach of sorts but moreover you can't buy a tailstock/adjustable tailstock of this range cheap. The head came with the chuck attached. The parts look like serious attention to detail. The head, you can put on your lap and check it out. Well, not my lap but anyway it the right size and capacity between the smallest and heavy ones.
The seller advertised it as Semi-Universal, which is correct. I like a seller who is honest.

[spro]

As I post, the head with chuck are sitting upon my upper legs. I lift it up like 30 lb weight but very gingerly. I am still fascinated by this one new tool.
It is so cool, my fingerprints are all over it now.Each section had a thick plastic bag around them. Every piece was included plus the manual.
I see the evidence of fine work from a place afar. I also know that this is difficult. We are not the ones who build these things.
This can't last too long.

[tornitore45]

I like to be able to use it with collets. If you but a bolt as drawbar, the bolt head will not let rotate the divider head.
There is a easy solution, use a socket drive cap screw. There just enough space for the bolt head and the installation of a bushing.
The bushing looks like a top-hat the bolt head fits inside, the hat fits inside the spindle hole and the brim acts as a thin flange keeping it from entering the spindle. The available clearance is sufficient for the flange to be strong but thin enough to let the head rotate. Lots of words to describe a simple picture.

[spro]

Man! you got it but I will have to read ..again. How do you like it? $ 247. was big money not too long ago. Lots of reasons to read your post, Mauro.