Discussion on all milling machines vertical & horizontal, including but not limited to Bridgeports, Hardinge, South Bend, Clausing, Van Norman, including imports.
Ahaha, thank god no MT 7. My eyes were rolling in the back of my head when I read the post thinking- oh great, now I will have 6 or is it 7 different collet sizes to keep sorted out for my raggedy collection of machines and tooling.
Actually my Utilathe takes an MT 5 dead center in the headstock and it is a nice big piece of iron to set up turning on centers. You can't misplace it, and it has a certain dampening effect on small work. At some point I hope to hit the lottery and actually buy a lathe that takes a taper that I already own...
Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum
Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge
Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
LOL yeah I know the feeling all to well Glenn. I started with a lathe that was MT 2 on the headstock MT 1 in the tail, moved up to a bit larger lathe with a 3 and 2, then again to a larger lathe with a 4 and a 3. Not real expensive for the dead centres. But buying good test bars and shanks for just my boring heads so they can be used in the headstocks adds up fast. Even worse, if I wanted to use my Narex B&F head in my largest lathe, a MT 4 shank that fits that head now lists at 448 bucks at MSC. Criterion MT 4's are $143. Buying good live centres, drill chucks and arbors for each one ain't real cheap either. Think I need to invest in a few MT sleeve adapters.
So Grizzly sells dividing heads that take either B&S7 or B&S9, but other than the dead center that comes with it, do they sell anything else with a B&S taper?
The school of hard knocks has taught me this: As a rough check with the thing in your hands, snug up the worm and then check spindle backlash at 4 places around. Just by feel is sufficient (unless you can rig something up). This tests the condition of the worm, the backlash must be equal. Also check the spacing of the drilled holes with a caliper - it isn't critical but tells you a lot about the quality and care given. I'd also walk away from one with any runnout at the spindle. And finally, I wouldn't buy one of these heads even brand new without examining it first. no no no
Good tips, Sunset Machine. Couple of days ago I exchanged the B&S-1 DH for the smaller one. Pulled it out of the box in the parking lot and checked it best I could. The spindle and gearing seemed very smooth. Disappointed in the cheap little brass arrow marker they put on with a screw in lieu of an indicator mark on the housing. Probably reflects a lack of precision in the manufacturing process. The little arrow looks like some guy cut it out of a sheet of brass with tin snips. But oh well, for $285, not a bad deal. And all the parts are included - full set of correct plates, and tailstock.
Got it home and fit it on both VN 12 and the Burke. FIts nicely on both machines.
Probably need a small chuck to mount up, although I have dogs and centers that could work...
Looking forward to using it and finding out how precise the indexing function.
Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum
Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge
Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
