Rotary Head/Dividing Head Question

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Chucketn

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About a year ago I purchased a Vertex 4” Rotary Table without the accessories for dividing, or the tail stock. It was an expensive investment, and as of now, I haven’t used it much. I have made a copy of my lathe spindle nose, mounted on an MT2 taper and can mount the lathe faceplate, and 3” and 4” chucks on it.
I’m studying gear cutting, and dividing and such and realize I need to be able to index and divide accurately to make gears. I have found several examples of homemade ones, and priced the accessories made for my RT.
My dilemma is, do I Spend as much as the RT cost to get the indexing accessories, or make my own dividing head, al-la Gingery, or some other style? Do I make a tail stock? Do I really need a tail stock?
So, my question, plea, request is: Has anyone made their own dividing head, tailstock? Or has anyone made their own indexing accessories for their RT? Any plans out there?
Chuck in E. TN
 
Hi Chuck,As you've already got the rotary table, you can make your own plates! divide the 360 degrees by the division factors you want to get the right angles or print a pie-chart with your spreadsheet of choice, then print some circles of holes on your printer, stick to a temporary dividing plate and use these to drill a set of plates (count round the same number of hole gaps as your worm ratio in the rotary table) and the errors from printing will average out - if you're really keen do it twice or thrice with each improved plate and the errors will be "vanishingly small".

The sector arms and handle/pin assembly will actually be harder to produce than the plates...

Dave H. (the other one)
 
Hi Chuck

Its a hard call on this one. If your wanting to make gears, a dividing head may be better for you. You allready have the rotary table now, so buying the other is another expense. The plates could be made, yes. But I would look for the deals on evilbay first. The sector arms, and tailstock are probably easyer to make, but thats just my opinion. The tail stock you will no doubt need. If your cutting gears with your rotary table, the tailstock is usually used to support the arbour that holds your gear blank while cutting. Your also going to need a 4-jaw mounted on the R/T as well.
You should look around on e-Bay and see if you could find plates, and tailstock on the cheap. Sector arm, and the crank handle too. Making all these items are indeed possible./ But you have to look at how much time is involved do so. Then decide if its worth it to purchase these items, or go ahead and build them. Your time has to be worth something.

Paul
 
Chuck, I made a rotary table last year. You can see it at http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/2041-Rotary-Table
I made it with both the degree wheel (seen beside the RT in the first photo) and dividing plates with sector arms (mounted). You would need to work out the hole spacing based on the gear ratio of your RT. Mine is 60:1, so it calls for some interesting calculations. I could still make another plate to get some other options.

The plates are made from aluminum, so machining is pretty easy. You just need to see how to mount them on your Rt. It's all possible. If you see it as a project rather than an obstacle, getting there is half the fun.
 
Mayhem,
Fit and finish of the vertex is great. I did the usual disassembly and cleanup when I received it, and found the grease on the worm wheel and worm had dried out. After cleanup and regreasing, I'm pleased with it. I don't think you'll be disapointed in the Vertex. Mine is 4", perfect size for the X2 mill.
I made a copy of my lathe nose and mounted it on a MT2 taper to allow use of the lathe face plate and chucks. I have pictures but am having problems with photobucket this morning.

Chuck in E. TN
 
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Good information about gear ratios.

Chuck

Little machine shop has a very good tutorial on using dividing tables with charts showing what divisions are possible with the various sets. The gear ratio of your table is very important in determining what you can and can't do. I have a 4" unbranded PhastII table and it has a 72 to 1 gear ratio. 60 to 1 is mentioned above. I bought my set from little machine shop and have since gotten a 8" table that has a 90 to 1 gear ratio and will divide a circle into about any imaginable but not all divisions.
My set it their #1931 and if your interested I'll make you a good deal on the dividing parts and tail stock. Here's the set I have.
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1931&category=
Download and print the tutorial on using a table. Looking carfully you'll see the 72-1 is very limited.

Joe
 
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