Walter dividing head

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SteveM
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Walter dividing head

Post by SteveM »

Picked up a Walter dividing head at a garage sale today.

It appears to be MT3, as B&S7 is too small and B&S9 is too large. I need to clean out the bore to confirm - there's chips in dried oil in there. Too bad it wasn't B&S 9 as I have a bunch of arbors.

It has both direct indexing (I have one 24-position plate - have to go back tomorrow to check if there are more; didn't think about that at the time).

It's a 40 to 1 ratio and it has practically zero backlash.

Everything appears to be working correctly.

I only have two of the three plates.
63,57,49,37,36,29,24,22
59,51,43,39,31,28,24,23

Kind of unusual layout as most have the numbers in sequential order.

From a video on youtube, I was able to see the third one had
61,53 and 47, but couldn't see any more than that.

Anyone know what other numbers there should be?

Here's the video, which is a seven-part series where the guy disassembles, cleans, paints and reassembles one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noSwiw-5VWw

You can see the unusual way of mounting plates to it. Not sure why they went with that method.

Came with a nice 6" Buck 4-jaw chuck that looks almost new.

Steve
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WalterDividing (1).jpg
WalterDividing (2).jpg
SteveM
Posts: 7763
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:18 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Walter dividing head

Post by SteveM »

Went back to see if they had the other index plate, but didn't find anything. Didn't find the tailstock either.

Also, the direct indexing is done with replaceable plates, so while the one on it is 24, I can make anything I need if I had to do something like a production run of 17-tooth gears. I didn't find any of those plates there either.

It appeared that the rotary table on the mill was also a Walter and it had a plate on it, so I thought that was the third one, but it turned out to be the same as one of mine.

Steve
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4gsr
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by 4gsr »

Nice find. I can't help you on the missing plate. They do come up once in a while on eBay.
Ken
SteveM
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by SteveM »

4gsr wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 1:08 pm Nice find. I can't help you on the missing plate. They do come up once in a while on eBay.
There's not much to identify them (it's not like they say "walter" on them), so I'd have to watch every dividing plate that ever comes up :-)

I think it's time I actually USED my dividing head and used it to make the other plate.

I have a second smaller dividing head with the complete set of plates, I can do any divisions.

Steve
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4gsr
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by 4gsr »

There you go. Use the smaller set of plates with the correct plate to create the new one to. I myself, have a small set of plates for my B & S No. 0. Have a stray set of plates I picked up from a dumpster dive that went to a precision plate used by inspection. They didn't know what they went to and tossed them out. I have plans of using it on my 10" RT.
Ken
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by spro »

That's a really fine Index head. I've watched half of the videos and looking forward to the reassembly and test runs.
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by spro »

I have a set of plates which are 8 3/4" OD X 1 1/2" ID , four bolt circle 1 7/8" and 1/2" thick. Each plate is double sided, so I have A -F . There are 11 rows of holes on each side. Some are prime numbers and most aren't. For example, Plate E side has 191, 175, 161,149, 133,119, 103, 87, 73, 42, 26.
F side is 187, 173, 139, 143, 131, 113, 101, 83, 71, 38, 28 . This is one plate of three and has the 2" lock edge at one side. Usually that denotes a Cincinnati head but I don't know why they would split 187 by 40 = 4.68 . 28 by 40= .70 but it happened.
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4gsr
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by 4gsr »

I think Cincinnati had both styles of plates, single sided and double sided. I have three of the plates I've collected for future use if I ever get to it to use them. One of the plates has the 127 row of holes. I was thinking of mounting the plate on my B & S 0 dividing head. Yeah, I know, a far fetch of getting it to work. But that's what it's all about. I know I can get it to work. KenS.
Ken
spro
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by spro »

I think that my plates were called "special plates" at one time and used for direct indexing. Either that or for a different ratio dividing head. These are numbers which would take some cranking time for a spur gear.
spro
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by spro »

Plate A-B has 127 in row 6 of the B side. I was wondering if you have the same type plate but it would be too large for the B & S #0 dividing head. There is more to say about their use but that is a different topic.
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4gsr
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by 4gsr »

If I ever decide to adapt the plates I have to my B & S-0 dividing head, I'll start a new thread. Sorry to get off tangent here. KenS.
Ken
SteveM
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Re: Walter dividing head

Post by SteveM »

spro wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 7:06 pm Plate A-B has 127 in row 6 of the B side. I was wondering if you have the same type plate but it would be too large for the B & S #0 dividing head. There is more to say about their use but that is a different topic.
There is a direct indexing plate.

You can't see it in the picture but it is behind the chuck. You can see the lever that puts the pin in the hole.

The one on it has 24 holes, which does a lot of different spacings.

It's pretty simple and I could make more as needed.

Steve
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