Putting slots in a 5C indexer?

[RVJimD]

i would like to put two slots in the base of my 5C indexer to make clamping it to the mill table easier. Does anyone have a picture of how you held one of these to mill the slots? Mine is a small one, but it will still be about 5" high when held upside down on the table. It is a odd shape and outside my clamping experience!

Thanks,

Jim

 

[RVJimD]

Well, here is what I decided on...

I didn't like how tall the assembly seems, but it felt solid.

Jim

 

[benmychree]

I would have removed the spindle and clamped the body in a vise; I especially do not like the wood blocking, hardly precise, the key slots may be not at 90 deg. to the machined surface, could cause binding in the tee slots.

 

[fradish]

Check out how Brad (BasementShopGuy) is holding his in his vise...

Update: Not advocating holes instead of slots, just a video of how to hold the
indexer in the vise.

 

[benmychree]

This is as I suggested in my earlier post; an improvement would be to use a sheet of paper between the indexer and the vice jaws to increase holding power; I do not think the holes he drilled are particularly handy, as the indexer is more used in the position where the spindle is parallel with the table slots; of more value would be the milling of slots along the indexer's axis and at 90 degrees to the axis, located in the center of the lower surface; these would be the same width as the table slots and about 1/8" deep and keys would be made to fit them about 5/8 thick; they would have drilled countersunk holes centered on them for Allen head screws to fit into tapped holes in the fixture at each side. The fixture can then be located accurately on relation to the machine's axes and clamped in place on the table. If odd angles were needed for particular parts being machined, of course the keys can be removed. Personally, I do not own a spin indexer at this time; I had one and never really found a good use for it, I use a dividing head for such work.
Most of what I saw on the videos seems unnecessary for practical purposes. Before I viewed the videos, I supposed that he was going to mill key slots, hence my earlier post that was not completely germane to the situation as later revealed in the video.

 

[benmychree]

Jim D's milling of bolt slots in his indexer makes much more sense that the drilling of holes as Brad suggests, much easier to mount by sliding bolts in place as one does with a vise base, and they can be combined with keys also, just inboard of the slots. Another thing to make setups of fixtures more convenient is to make T bolts the proper length for the thickness of the fixture with nuts and washers that are left on the bolts; no hunting for Tee nuts, studs and hex nuts, just grab and go.

 

[RVJimD]

I made the slots deep enough to fit the slots on my table. And they fit the bolts that I use on my vise also which is very handy! Not very often do I make a tool, fixture or mod a machine and then actually use it the same day!

Here is a U joint that I'm making for another of my radio control projects, a tonka dump truck conversion.

Jim

 

[rgray]

Looks good. I need to do that to. I did manage to grind the sides of mine square, and it will fit in my vice. It usually ends up in the vice if i have to use it. But tie down slots would be handy if ever the need was to use it with a tailstock.