# Dividing head



## 682bear (Aug 5, 2020)

I ordered a BS-1 dividing head from Precision Matthews last week... the brown truck dropped it off today...




Its pretty nice... and seems to be well made. The instructions are very basic, but I managed to figure it all out. I haven't used one of these since tech school, and didn't remember much about it.

I am going to use it to make a new gear for my Hendey lathe... or I'm gonna try... 

-Bear


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## DoubleHelix (Aug 5, 2020)

Good luck on the gear!

The dividing head looks decent enough.


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## GunsOfNavarone (Aug 7, 2020)

Interesting....looks exactly like the Morphon i got off Amazon, down to every attachment. Is it branded as PM? I'm pretty happy with mine, the only issue I find is there seems to be VERY little of area to indicate off of that's longer than an inch without an interruption of sorts. The pin with the lockout for the dial always seems to snap free when turning it, not sure if I'm doing it wrong or if there is some sort of adjustment? Solid and heavy chunk of steel!


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## jlesser27 (Aug 22, 2020)

GunsOfNavarone said:


> Interesting....looks exactly like the Morphon i got off Amazon, down to every attachment. Is it branded as PM? I'm pretty happy with mine, the only issue I find is there seems to be VERY little of area to indicate off of that's longer than an inch without an interruption of sorts. The pin with the lockout for the dial always seems to snap free when turning it, not sure if I'm doing it wrong or if there is some sort of adjustment? Solid and heavy chunk of steel!



Did you get the BS-0 or BS-1. I’m looking at the BS-0 for my Grizzly 1007. 


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## GunsOfNavarone (Aug 22, 2020)

BS-0 I have no complaints other than I can't find much real estate to indicate in on. It's the only one I've ever owned, so nothing to compare it to. So far I've been able to do everything I've need to do with it. $265 delivered on Amazon and I have a feeling all the Chinese ones are made at same factory, I can't see ANY differences with the units...MAYBE in the tail stock.


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## GunsOfNavarone (Aug 22, 2020)

This is the Mophorn Dividing head I bought....whatever that's worth.
Dividing head


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## 682bear (Aug 22, 2020)

GunsOfNavarone said:


> Interesting....looks exactly like the Morphon i got off Amazon, down to every attachment. Is it branded as PM? I'm pretty happy with mine, the only issue I find is there seems to be VERY little of area to indicate off of that's longer than an inch without an interruption of sorts. The pin with the lockout for the dial always seems to snap free when turning it, not sure if I'm doing it wrong or if there is some sort of adjustment? Solid and heavy chunk of steel!



It is branded as PM, but I think they are all probably made by the same factory in China.

I ordered it from PM because I wanted to know that I was ordering from someone with an established record for customer service if it arrived damaged or defective. 

I think I have everything I need to make the gears for my Hendey now... the gear tooth cutter arrived yesterday... so I'm planning to make my first attempt this next week...

-Bear


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## jpackard56 (Aug 23, 2020)

"I ordered it from PM because I wanted to know that I was ordering from someone with an established record for customer service if it arrived damaged or defective."
Seems to be more important than ever. Quickly comparing BS-1 prices the PM is right in line with several other options, BUT we know PM would handle any problems. Good choice !
The BS-0 seems to be higher at PM but what is our comfort zone for dealing with returns and adjustments thru Amazon ? My experience with Amazon stuff has been mediocre. (Others mileage may vary)
Good luck and keep us in the loop as you experiment on the gear production


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## kb58 (Aug 23, 2020)

I have the same one as the OP. Being ignorant, I thought maybe I could pivot it vertical and hold work on a vertical mill. Nope, not rigid enough for even small cuts. That was a disappointing, but I have nothing to compare it to as for whether any other brand would work any better.


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## DavidR8 (Aug 23, 2020)

kb58 said:


> I have the same one as the OP. Being ignorant, I thought maybe I could pivot it vertical and hold work on a vertical mill. Nope, not rigid enough for even small cuts. That was a disappointing, but I have nothing to compare it to as for whether any other brand would work any better.



This is good to know as I was thinking of the same possibility. 

I wonder if the reverse, a rotary table on edge would work?


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## jwmelvin (Aug 23, 2020)

I have an import BS-0 and have used it as a rotary table on my mill. Cutting aluminum, but it was fine for what I did.


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## GunsOfNavarone (Aug 23, 2020)

I've machined SS in both vert and horizontal positions with no movement. The diameter if the part I was cutting was 1" so not a lot of leverage/torque on the unit. Yours has 2 17mm(?) bolts holding the heads position?


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## 682bear (Aug 24, 2020)

Well... I think it may have been a success... maybe...

I machined a gear out of bronze... just experimenting to see how it would turn out before I risk ruining an expensive cutter making a steel gear. I figured if I made a mistake, the bronze might be a little more forgiving on the cutter than steel.




It turned out pretty good...







In the last pic, you can see a light punch mark at about 4 o'clock... I marked the last cut because I wanted to see how well it was spaced out from the first cut after I cleaned the oil and chips off.

Maybe tomorrow I will go ahead and bore the center out and put it on the Hendey to see how well it meshes with the adjacent gears.

-Bear


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## GunsOfNavarone (Aug 24, 2020)

It looks awesome!


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## DavidR8 (Aug 24, 2020)

That looks fantastic!


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## jlesser27 (Aug 24, 2020)

Thing of beauty 


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## 682bear (Aug 24, 2020)

Thanks! It came out better than I expected...

-Bear


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## Papa Charlie (Aug 24, 2020)

Looks perfect. What kind of mill are you using?


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## 682bear (Aug 24, 2020)

Papa Charlie said:


> Looks perfect. What kind of mill are you using?



Its an old Enco 9x49 knee mill...




-Bear


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## hman (Aug 24, 2020)

Very nice gear!  Shucks, bronze may well be all you need for your Hendey.  It's an excellent gear material.


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## NortonDommi (Aug 24, 2020)

GunsOfNavarone said:


> The pin with the lockout for the dial always seems to snap free when turning it, not sure if I'm doing it wrong or if there is some sort of adjustment?


Pull it out and give it a turn and it should lock in position.  Use the handle opposite to turn.


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## Papa Charlie (Aug 24, 2020)

682bear said:


> Its an old Enco 9x49 knee mill...
> 
> View attachment 334716
> 
> ...



Nice looking unit. Hope to find one like it when I get my shop set up.


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## 682bear (Sep 7, 2020)

I finished the gears for the Hendey this afternoon... 




I should have this project finished tomorrow and be able to run the Hendey again.

-Bear


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## tjb (Sep 7, 2020)

Nice work, Bear.  Interesting you made that gear out of bronze.  I have a chunk of metal down in my shop - not a clue where I got it - and I don't know if it's brass or bronze.  I've been assuming it's brass, but it's very similar in color to your gear.  I thought bronze would be a good deal darker.  How do you tell the difference?

Regards,
Terry


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## Cooter Brown (Sep 7, 2020)

tjb said:


> Nice work, Bear.  Interesting you made that gear out of bronze.  I have a chunk of metal down in my shop - not a clue where I got it - and I don't know if it's brass or bronze.  I've been assuming it's brass, but it's very similar in color to your gear.  I thought bronze would be a good deal darker.  How do you tell the difference?
> 
> Regards,
> Terry




Brass is very yellow in color but Bronze is usually more orange unless you have 863 Bronze which has a light yellow color... Brass chips are kinda like aluminum, while Bronze chips more like Cast iron.... Except for 863 Bronze those chips are just like 1045 steel....


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## tjb (Sep 7, 2020)

My material seems to be a little more 'crumbly' when I mill it.  Color similar to Bear's gear.  Also, it's very heavy.  Here are some pictures.  The lighting is not great, so color may be difficult to determine; chips are clearly visible in the photos.






What do you think?

Regards,
Terry


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## 682bear (Sep 7, 2020)

tjb said:


> My material seems to be a little more 'crumbly' when I mill it.  Color similar to Bear's gear.  Also, it's very heavy.  Here are some pictures.  The lighting is not great, so color may be difficult to determine; chips are clearly visible in the photos.
> 
> View attachment 336223
> View attachment 336224
> ...



It looks like bronze to me, but I'm no expert... it doesn't look like brass, brass is more yellow.

-Bear


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## tjb (Sep 7, 2020)

682bear said:


> It looks like bronze to me, but I'm no expert... it doesn't look like brass, brass is more yellow.
> 
> -Bear


Thanks.  I'm no expert on them either.


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## Steve R (Sep 13, 2020)

kb58 said:


> I have the same one as the OP. Being ignorant, I thought maybe I could pivot it vertical and hold work on a vertical mill. Nope, not rigid enough for even small cuts. That was a disappointing, but I have nothing to compare it to as for whether any other brand would work any better.


I was looking at ordering this BS-1 with my mill and I need to use it in the vertical position. Was the whole thing flexing?? Did you have the tilt locks tight?? Was there too much back lash in the chuck that allowed it to move??  Is there a way to lock the chuck from turning??


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## AllenHendey (Jan 26, 2021)

682bear said:


> I finished the gears for the Hendey this afternoon...


@682bear My gearhead 12x30 came with the feed screw drive gears missing, replaced by a toothed belt & pulleys. This works, but it reverses the rotation of the feed screw relative to the spindle, making my feed controls backward and making the automatic feed stop mechanism not work at all.
I'd be curious to hear how you decided to tool up & make your own gears vs. buying pre-fab (if available) or outsourcing the process as I'm still weighing those three options myself. I have a knee mill and lathe, but would need to buy a dividing head and cutter & arbor and some 3.25"ø stock—at least—before I could make the gears I need.


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## 682bear (Jan 26, 2021)

Boston Gear will make anything you need... but for a one-off gear, it is very pricey!  When I found the bad gear on my Hendey, I originally planned to pony up and just get them to make one... but then I realized that all 3 gears needed replacing... that would have cost more than the lathe is worth!

So... I ordered a BS-1 dividing head from PM... an arbor from ebay... and a cutter from Toolmex and gave it a shot... and it worked out nicely.

I couldn't find anything pre-fab... or used original parts.

-Bear


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## AllenHendey (Jan 26, 2021)

OK thanks. Perhaps if I'd already sought quotes for the gears I need I'd be on the same path now. If DIY is more fun and also less expensive—even after buying more equipment—then that's win-win.


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## 682bear (Jan 26, 2021)

You will still spend a decent amount of money, but when you get the gears made, you still have the tooling.

There is nothing wrong with having more tools...

You can't get too many tools!

Yes, it was an excuse to buy more tools!

I'm a tool junkie... lol!

-Bear


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