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Its a topic that will endless answers as different things matter to different people so you may end up more confused that before asking .
One area I'm really confused on...is the dividing plates. I've never understood the reason for that when you can rotate to whatever degree you want.
Quote from: zeeprogrammer on July 11, 2018, 01:06:45 AMOne area I'm really confused on...is the dividing plates. I've never understood the reason for that when you can rotate to whatever degree you want.I agree, mine doesn't have plates....but I divide with a dividing head which does. Plates are needed for gear cutting among other things when you need accurate (and convenient) division into numbers that don't readily go into 360 degrees, i.e. a 28 tooth gear.
I mostly use a dividing head for dividing and an RT for cutting arcs, there's reason to prefer that, but if you didn't have a dividing head, I'd want dividing features on the RT; way to mount a chuck, can take index plates, take a centre and has a tailstock and can used horizontally or vertically.
The only reason to keep the Myford one is it mounts vertically = another option but never used.
Is this mainly because you have a selection of dividing heads and horizontal mills. For Zee who is on a budget one that mounts vertically will be far more versatile.
This may be out of your price range but I would highly recommend the Sherline CNC rotary table. It’s short you can mount a tooling plate or a chuck and it will do dividing as well as angle cuts. Best of all it’s digital so you don’t have to bend down to look at the markings. The dividing feature will help you a lot if you ever decide to cut your own gears.https://sherline.com/product/8700-cnc-4-rotary-table-indexer/Tony
Another vote for the Sherline RT. Very well made and can be used vertically or horizontally. If I were doing it again, I would probably go for the CNC version but have been very happy with the manual version over many years.Bill
Quote from: crueby on July 11, 2018, 02:19:37 PM Yes. My apologies. But well worth it. I learned a bunch and hopefully this helped others.
Jo, I hope your not lifting that 10" Table without assistance, I find my 5" Vertex is hravy enough, and I have a hoist to move the 8" chucks for the lathe.Ian S C
As you now have spare money burning a hole in your pocket Zee can I recommend an indexing head
Are those indexing heads the same idea as a spindexer? (Attached pic is mine.)
The spin indexer does have the advantage of being able to do any number that will divide into 360, but an indexer can only do spacings that divide into the number of holes for instance I doubt Jo's will give you a 10 hole spacing You can even rotate them to round over parts again can't do that with an indexer. Oh and my indexer takes ER32 with minimal overhang. Can't think why Jo gave it to me
I thought being newly retired means you have lots of spare money and time
Part of my reason for asking these questions is that I have a cylinder to make that is partly round and two flats.Starts from a rectangular block of material.I wasn't sure if the spindexer could be used (possible if the angles are right) but I'm thinking on two other methods...1) Kozo used a method where he drove a lathe carriage back and forth to shave off the curved sides. Then filed to final shape.2) I've seen others use a rotary table in a vertical position and then mill and rotate to get the curve.I'm leaning towards the 2nd method (which probably means I need to get a chuck for the RT and make up a mandrel).Sigh. More money. Time to play the game of what budget item I can steal from.
JBWelder: I read 5C on that collet.Jo
Standing it vertically in a vice won't give you that crisp joint where the curve meets the flat you will get a fillet the size of the cutter radius.Also you would need a long series cutter as your cylinder looks to be about 1.5 long
Quote from: Jasonb on July 11, 2018, 08:49:40 PMStanding it vertically in a vice won't give you that crisp joint where the curve meets the flat you will get a fillet the size of the cutter radius.Also you would need a long series cutter as your cylinder looks to be about 1.5 longThats why you put it horizontally in the vise, use a rod down the bore as a hieght spacer, and make a series of cuts with the bottom of the end mill, rotating the part in the vise between cuts.