Winner A Dividing Head By Wayne

[wayne.inspain]

I would have liked a nice round recess for the dial of the adjusting screw on the body but with no cutter big enough and not enough clearance on the lathe
I couldn't do it. When I made the dial for the adjuster I didn't intend recessing it into the body but then didn't like it sticking out but once recessed
the markings were difficult to see. Boring head next project!

 

[wayne.inspain]

The next step I decided to do was the spindle clamp the reason being when I bore through the main barrel I would like to bore out the clamp at the same
time, I didn't take any pics of this, pretty straight forward, Listen to me talking like I know something, cut the shape out drill the holes and the run an adjusted version of the prog that I did for the side plates for the pilot hole faced both sides with my patent applied for, not!fly cutter and the clamp was as finished. I also bolted the side plates on, what a chore!!! who would have thought that 8 holes would take so long. I should have taken a pic of this but thought it so mundane that it wasn't needed, I clamped all the parts together, the barrel, the 2 side plates and the base, turned them upside down, clocked them on the mill then drilled through the base into the side plates with 5mm drill 8 times then again through just the base with a 6mm drill 8 times then counter bored with a 9mm drill to 6mm deep to take the heads 8 times then put a 10mm cutter in the holes to flatten out the bottom of the counter bore and open to size 8 times then put the 6mm taper tap in the holes 8 times then the second cut 8 times then the plug tap 8 times then had a beer 8 times then got told off by the missus for being drunk for the hundredth time!!! lol.

As you can see from the first pic I decided to cut rebates in the base to have some kind of repeat ability when assembling in the future, the left rebate I made
really snug as the reference plate and the right one I opened out half a millimeter just in case I needed it, not yet completely confident with my abilities in this field. I got those hex head screws from an old motor bike I stripped down, nice in gold! One detail I felt important was to make sure the right hand edge of the spindle clamp had a shoulder to butt up against so not relying on the bolts for alignment and rigidity, not evident from the pic is the left hand side of the clamp clears the barrel shoulder but 2mm, I also opted, the same as Mark to go for a shim between the clamp and the barrel body for clearance, I have yet to cut the slot in the clamp, no slitting saw I will have to do it with the angle grinder, and drill the clamping bolt hole, that's the next job. I left the tops of the side plates square so that I could rest the assembly on these ends to drill the holes in the base. They will be cut into the same radius as the main barrel. When I work out how.

 

[wayne.inspain]

Yesterday I learnt a lesson in planning the sequence of operations, I started to cut the slot in the spindle lock and realized just before breaking
through with the grinder I didn't want to be doing this yet.
.

When I bore the hole in the plate the sides will flex, I will have to make a shim the width of the cut and tighten the clamping bolt. No biggie.
I haven't decided whether to bore the hole for the main spindle whilst it is mounted on the side plates or mount it directly on the mill, I am leaning towards
leaving it mounted on the side plates so I will make the clamping plates next. I decided to try to make a boring tool for this job because the other one I made
will be too big to go through the pilot hole. This tool can be simpler than the other because I have no fixed size I need to hit because the spindle bearings are not made yet. I have a piece of 25mm bar and a broken drill bit. I had looked at some simple designs on the net which used a grub screw to clamp the tool in a bar, this was the sort of thing I was aiming for but I don't have much space, I could turn down the 25mm bar to 20 or so but the tool still needs to be the same length to bore out to 45mm for my other tool to fit. I would also prefer the adjusting screw to be accessible with the cutter inside the bore of the work.

The broken drill was 12mm I clocked the bar in the vice center drilled and drilled out to 11mm then put a 12mm end mill through the bar, then with the angle grinder slit the bar.

Turned the bar through 90 degrees then drilled and tapped for m6 cap head screw.

Ground a cutting edge on the broken drill, cut to length and assembled.

 

[JimDawson]

Order of operation is important Good catch

 

[wayne.inspain]

The clamping screw grips the bit really tight even when it is further out of the bar, at also moves in and out smoothly with no possibility
of being marked by a grub screw. My thoughts on adjustment are if after a cut and the cutter pointing say along the x axis if I move the table on by
say 0.1mm move the tool out till it touches the work again then raise the tool up and put the table back to where it was I will have a 0.1mm increase
in tool length. It was this thinking that lead me to want the adjusting screw above the cutter. I will try it out at the weekend.

 

[wayne.inspain]

You are right Jim, think twice cut once!!

 

[wayne.inspain]

Talk about think twice and cut once I have just thought of a way of modifying the boring tool I have already got.
Obvious really, cut a slot on the bottom of the main body to the center then drill the tool holder from the bottom and the tool can
stick out the bottom the same as a commercial boring head. I will do that at the weekend as well.

 

[Mark_f]

You are doing an amazing job here.

 

[Bill Gruby]

I have been watching from a distance. You are really doing some exceptional work here. You passed the name Newbie a long time ago.

"Billy G"

 

[timvercoe]

I love creative minds, and watching them work. I hope someday to be this creative.............Tim