Van Norman Indexer

[Dave Otto]

Hi Everyone
While I have been busy on other projects and not getting much work done on the Pacific I thought I would share a few shots of a recently completed re-furb of my 7 1/2” Van Norman indexer. I purchased it many years ago a have put it to good use but time had taken its toll and it was getting pretty stiff, it’s paint was chipped and scratched and most of the bright parts were coated with surface rust (not from my lack of care).
What started this little project was that I need to use it to cut a couple gears and I’m missing one of the plates that I need. It originally came with three and I only have the one. So I decided what the hell as long as I was going to make new index plates I might as well freshen it up.
Someone had filled it with grease and that is why it had gotten pretty stiff. I’m pretty sure this is an oil nipple on top.
Other than being dirty and ugly it is in pretty good shape. The spindle taper 5V appears to never have had a collet inserted in it, it is absolutely pristine. It was all stripped down, cleaned and blasted. The castings were smoothed up a bit before heading to my friend’s body shop for paint. While waiting for the castings to return all the bright parts were polished and in some places a skim cut taken to remove the ugliness.


Here are the fresh painted castings with some assembly photos to follow.


It has a beautiful set of matched preloaded Timken bearings with felt seals to keep the dirt out.











The 24 hole direct index plate is a handy feature.


This is a real nice piece of quality made American Iron, I’m pleased to have it looking and working the way it should.

I’m searching for some missing parts; I would really like to find a matching tailstock for it. There also is a dog driver that fits on the spindle nose. I can make the dog driver, spindle nose cap and the draw tube for the collets. I scored 7 pristine Hardinge 5V collets on eBay today and I’m quite happy about that.

For the right price I would purchase another complete unit to get the parts to complete mine.

Anyway thought some of you may be interested in seeing it,


Dave

[steamer]

Regarding collets.....PM me.


Dave

[Don1966]

Beautiful job Dave she looks just like new. I do have a spare tail stock casting, so what is the center height of you dividing head? Of coarse you would have to machine it if your interested.

Don

[ogaryd]

Dave, that's a beautiful job you've done, I want it!!!!  Thanks for sharing with us.        Gary

[philjoe5]

Dave,
You've done a beautiful job restoring a very good machine.  My friend loaned me one of these so I could practice making gears.  It was old, but it worked perfectly and I made some good gears with it.

Cheers,
Phil

[Jo]

That's very desirable  I like the fact it has the rotating base. The gear looks very small relative to the worm what ratio is it?

I've got a bunch of spare tailstocks for dividing heads but they are not much use this side of the pond 

Jo

[Kim]

Very nice piece of equipment there Dave.  You've done a beautiful job on it!

You'll have some fun using that I'll bet
Kim

[fumopuc]

Hi Dave, a beautiful tool.

[IanR]

How fast do you have to do the indexing to make the roller bearings necessary?

[Dave Otto]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys,

Don, not sure exactly what the center height is;  I will need to measure it. I sure would like to find an original tail stock though.

Jo, it is 40:1 the size of the gears must just be a optical illusion

Ian, I'm sure the engineers at Van Norman had a good reason why they used the tapered roller bearings, the ability to add preload and still have things turn smoothly comes to mind. The earlier versions of this unit (from the thirties) had plain bearings.

Dave

[steamer]

Yes  Van Norman's were tool makers mills.   They were accurate and very rugged.   Old "Norm" not even breaking a sweat.



5/8 carbide end mill with a 1.5" width of cut in cast iron...1/2" deep climb milling........like a walk in the garden.


But at 1440 rpm max speed....not much good for aluminum!

Dave

[Dave Otto]

Cool Picture Dave

[Bill Libecap]

I am in the process of purchasing parts for one. Do you have any documentation to share?

Bill in Cincy