indexing plates

Re: indexing plates

Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL

>Scott,

Call Pat Johnson, a woodturner and machinist in the Montgomery, AL area. He has made some with good result, I am going to have him make one for my new Vega 2400.

Is number is: 334-567-8412

Mark

Re: indexing plates

Fred in NC

>Mark:

I am interested too, for the same reason. Only mine would have to fit my Jet mini.

Some possible solutions have been going through my mind. All the indexers and dividers I have found in my searches are for metal work, and they are designed for milling machines. Also, these dividers and indexers are high precision devices with verniers wich ovbiously are of no use for me.

One homemade solution that I might give a try is to get an inexpensive rotary table, since it can be secured on my drill press table. Then I can custom drill indexing plates for different number of holes or divisions. Cheapest rotary table is from Grizzly, about $109.

All I would need then is a supply of metal disks of the proper diameter, with a 1" hole in the middle, that I can drill for different setups.

And, of course, a bracket for the lathe to hold the pin that goes in the holes.

Just an idea I am toying with at this time. I will give your friend a ring too. Thanks !

Best regards,

Fred

Re: indexing plates

John Lucas

>The vicmarc chuck has indexing on the back. I used that for a while but when I got the powermatic I send the handwheel to Bestwoodtools and had him index it. I don't remember the price because I bought a whole bunch of stuff from them at the same time.

Re: indexing plates

Scott Hogsten

>There was an article in the AAW journal a couple of months back about making your own indexing plates out of MDF. Can someone check their back issues and see what issue it was for Scott ?

Scott Hogsten

Re: indexing plates

Richard Allen

>Hi Scott

Sorby makes an indexing system.

It's a steel plate that you place on your spindle behind your chuck or faceplate. There is also an arm that attaches to your lathe bed. It is 24 position. I used this system on my first lathe and it worked as expected.

I think that there are some interesting ways that you could, with two discs, make 1/2 degree of finer indexing

Good luck

Richard

Sroby Indexing System *LINK*

Fred in NC

>A Google search revealed this link:


Sorby Indexing System

Sorby !! My index not working !!

Fred in NC

>

Re: Sroby Indexing System

Fred in NC

>I am working on a simple indexing plate and fixture that can be easily made with the lathe and a drill press. All materials should be available at the local borg.

Pics will be posted as I progress on this project.

Best regards, Fred

(tinkerer at heart hehe !)

Re: indexing plates

Scott Thorburn

>Thanks all for the information. I am looking at getting one machined. I am just trying to decide on the number of index holes.

Number of holes

Fred in NC

>I was looking at that too!

For woodwork, I am starting to think that 24 holes is a good number, since it can be used for 4 - 6 - 8 - 12 sided turnings. The number of holes should be a multiple of 6 and 8 which are common shapes.

Re: indexing plates

Tug Fork Bob

>My 1442 Jet has (theoretically) 36 positions built into the spindle. However they do this by using a tapered pin that threads into the spindle housing and seats into 12 detents in the spindle itself. The spindle housing has 3 separate threaded holes that are NOT spaced uniformly 10 degrees apart, so if you try for more than 12 index positions on the lathe they not end up spaced uniformly. I am mulling over making a more accurate index plate by using an inexpensive skillsaw blade with 36 teeth but haven't gotten serious enough yet to work out details.

Bob Achenbach