Which is better for cutting small gears- rotary table or dividing head?

[knifer-one]

So is a dividing plate absolutely necessary to make gears?
What would be the best thing to do as far as cutters?


I recently bought a 6 inch Phase 2 and I am still in the learning process as far as set-up and so forth. I have been practicing cutting some arcs and bolt circles. So far so good even with my long learning curve. I also got a tailstock with it. The dividing plates are around 150 bucks from Enco,but i have seen some on E-bay for much less. Anybody know if they would fit?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dividing-plate-...=BI_Tool_Work_Holding&hash=item2a0fdce08b

I appreciate all the help I get from you all on this forum.

 

[martik777]

Couple ideas I have been considering:

http://users.picknowl.com.au/~gloaming_agnet/cq9325rev7.html

I have also indexed off the spindle and mounted a dremel or angle grinder on the compound with a cutoff disc then filed the 20 degree angle on each tooth. Not perfect but it works reasonably well.

 

[cyrusb]

Here is a simple way I do brass gears and ratchets. Expanding arbor in the headstock accepts my dividing plates as well as Brown and Sharps. Whats neat about this method is that the blank can be rounded up and have its teeth cut without removing it from the machine, eliminating potential tolerance errors. But I can still find a way to make a lousy gear on it. Direct indexing has been around a long time, but is still very useful.