Dividing head,what a great tool to have

I love my new vertex bs-0 dividing head. It opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me. I know this has probably been posted a gazillion times,but I feel like sharing.
Today I made myself a dovetail cutter using two
TCMT 16T308 MP NC 3225 inserts with a positive rake and 7degree relief angle.
I did not take enough pics for this post.....was enjoying myself too much.



What you don't see is, I've set my dividing head 30degr. out of parallel to my mill bed to get the right angle for the insert and tilt the DH 2degrees down to get a positive axial rake. I didn't want to go too big on that angle because of the 7 degr.
relief angle,I do not want the insert to drag.

The DH allowed me to machine the two insert landings at the same hight and depth 180 degrees appart.
The cutter angle is 60degr. and the shaft diameter is 20mm (the bigger the better.) The head is about 38mm OD and shaft about 75mm long.
I do not have a job for it yet and are eager to try it out. Maby I wil make a trial cut soon just to see if it works right. Thanks for reading guys.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post those pics Michael! That's a very clever setup. I have a rotary table but I've never really needed nor used it (since I thought it was just for cutting/drilling precise circles/arcs/holes and gears).

 

Any time, it is pleasure. I think a dividing head and even a rotary table are very versatile tools. Do you have dividing plates with your rotary table? Before I purchased my DH, I thought of getting a rotary table because of the price difference, but after thinking it through, I decided, (with my lovely wife's blessing ),that the DH was the better option,in my opinion, because of the tilting function. Hope I've inspired you a bit to pull your rotary table closer and make some magic .

 

Looks good. I have several projects that are waiting patiently for my dividing head to arrive, ( Canada Post claims today is the day ) So many jobs to be done so little time...

You are going to have a lot of fun. I am.

 

Congrats and good call on the DH, looks like it was a useful addition! Unfortunately, I don't have the dividing plates for my RT. The RT came with the mill along with a spindexer.

 

Congrats and good call on the DH, looks like it was a useful addition! Unfortunately, I don't have the dividing plates for my RT. The RT came with the mill along with a spindexer.

Well I think you can make some if you want to go that route. Good luck

 

Michael
That is a beautiful job you did on the dovetail cutter. I'll be looking for more.
Make some chips.
Nelson Collar