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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    melbourne australia
    Posts
    3,228

    Default Lathe Indexer for Hercus 260

    I bought a used indexing wheel off eBay and made an indexing attachment for my Hercus 260. It's an amalgamation of a few designs I saw on the web. The only "unique" part is the mounting bar for the indexing arm. This screws into the aluminium mount which screwed to the headstock. It must be removed to allow the side cover to be closed. Other than that part, this design could be applied to any lathe.

    The dividing wheel gives me: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21 & 24 divisions.

    I included the facility to add a handle for thread tapping or single-point thread cutting to a shoulder. The square part of the mandrel is 14mm square. I opened up the tapered square hole in the bike crank with a file to fit the mandrel. The local bike shop gave me an old pedal. I removed the shank and I turned it down to 8mm. The hand-grip is just drilled to 8mm and bored at one end to clear the retaining nut and the other end to clear the hex on the shank.

    Hopefully the pictures tell the story. I tried to place the pictures in chronological order, but no matter which way I arranged them in the "Manage Attachments" window they came out this way. At least they are all orientated the correct way.

    Now I just need to find a project to put it to use!
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Chris

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Healesville
    Posts
    2,129

    Default

    Thats cool and a nice job also, if you haven't got one already then l can see a tool post drill on the way.
    cheers, shed

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    melbourne australia
    Posts
    3,228

    Default

    Thanks Shed. I made a holder for my Proxxon die grinder to allow it to be mounted in the QCTP. It's great for drilling holes up to 3mm in aluminium. It will drill small holes in steel, but it puts a big load on the motor. I would like to make something with a lot more torque for drilling more substantial holes.
    Chris

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Perth WA
    Age
    71
    Posts
    6,458

    Default

    Nice work Chris!

    We could be playing Snap.

    2012-05-29 003 (Large).jpg

    One of my most used lathe accessories.

    Bob.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    melbourne australia
    Posts
    3,228

    Default

    Thanks Bob. And there I was thinking the square shank for the handle was my very own idea!

    I see you have nice long slits in the mandrel. I advise anyone making one of these to do the same. On my first attempt I cut the slits about 30mm long with the slitting saw. No amount of torque on the nut would make the wedge spread the mandrel enough to lock it in the headstock spindle. So I recut them longer, but I misaligned the mandrel in the lathe's milling attachment vice. The recut slits were a mess. It worked, but I couldn't bear to look at them. So I tidied them up with a 3mm end mill.
    Chris

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