Thread: indexing a wood lathe

Sounds good idea a heavy magentic break might be the go.

I have an alli one with holes for a pin.

Do you mind if I pull up a chair next to you to see how the collective grey cells will answer your very good question? I made up a ¼" (6mm) flat wheel with 24 holes and a pin that screws into the hole. Yes it works but even selection 8 holes out of 24 kept me checking and rechecking as I made some flats with the router. I was making a sample chisel handle aka English design. I intend to make handles for the HSS chisel set coming from Thumbsucker.
When I look at the hole sets on a dividing head it makes me very envious but how do you decipher which set of holes to do what?

I've made one out of wood segments then covered with Aluminium Sheet.
Here a link to the Video, it's in Italian but easy to follow. it as 3 rings with different Holes 32-33and 48.

Indicizzatore - YouTube

Cheers Tony.

And a photo of it at work.


Open Segment 2013 (8).jpg

Nice Tony thanks for the pic. I cant view vids atr work but i will check it out when I get home in the AM.

I am going to horse around with some designs tonight if time permits. I purchased a disc brake calliper for a go cart. there is a small (.005) bit of play in the guide shafts but if it is locking down on a 10" dia wheel It would be negligable for most applications. I think I can take the play out if I am a little creative.

I would like to attatche it to the spindle in my case in the middle. The drive is at the rear outboard and I have other things i want to do off the nose area. I will scribe the degree marks in typical fashion: 10 degree increment lines the longest and include numerals. Divisions for five degrees shorter and the last 1 degree increments the shortest. I will place an indicator peice just inside or outside of the marks so that they can be read as a vernier and include marks for 0,1/4,1/3,1/2 2/3 and 3/4 degrees to line up with. I may use a peice of plexi for this and look through it. when the degree is where I want it I will lock down the caliper and perform the operation. That is my take on it mabe over kill but unlimited. Still looking for other input.

This is the indexing head I used for cutting teeth on clock wheels and also for wheel making. I have made several discs that go on the back of the Vicmark chuck. I took the cover off the back of the chuck drilled 2 holes and tapped 1/4in threads to hold the discs. Any combination of pattern can be used. The back of the wheels are numbered , the adjustment is by the spring loaded clip at the back.
The base the drill is fixed too has a sliding unit which can be positioned at any angle, will also take a router. John.

hi guys,
another idea is a robert sorby indexing system ,i had one on
my old lathe and it worked very well,it seemed to get in the
way on the chuck side so i made a hand wheel and attached
the indexer to that,it has a adjustable ''pin'' which swivels in and out
hope this helps
cheers smiife

P82A0049.jpg



Here is one of two index rings I have been working on. This one uses a disc brake froma a go cart and a homade index wheel. I had to grind out about .030 from each side to get it to fit. the other hweel is two piece and mounts outboard of the rear of the headstock. A rosette attatches to it and it will phase the rosette with the spindle.

P82A0055.jpg
Here is a picture of the outboard end of the phasing index ring. the four bolt holes provide a means of attaching a rosette to the ring.the ring with the window in it here is attatched to the ring with the four bolt holes. This assembly turns freely on the hub untill locked in place. the center hub attaches to the spindle.
P82A0056.jpg
here is the reverse side of the first picture it also has a window and index markings.
P82A0057.jpg
here you can better see the window and markings 360 marks.
P82A0058.jpg
here is the assembly mounted on the lathe the large sprocket cam be removed but even at 2700 rpm has caused no vibration issues.

P82A0059.jpg
lastly a side view of the assembly. In this way I can Phase the rosette to the spindle for rose engine work. the picture shows the drive in 350-2700 set up. with the jackshaft i can get down to 35 rpm and for rose engine a dc gearbox drive will drive the sprocket down to 3 rpm.