Indexing Wheel???

[John Terefenko]

First let me state my lathe is a jet midiVS. My desire is to drill evenly spaced precise holes in some turned pieces. I have seen this done with pens, bottle stoppers, urns and such. Then these were filled with differerent medium. My question is can I put an indexing wheel on my lathe and if not then is there another method I can use to do what I would like to do. If another method is the way to go please be specific and if you could post pictures would even be better. They say pictures are worth 1000 of words. Thanks in advance for the replys.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John....I'm interested in the replies you get as I have the JetMiniVS lathe.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John....I just got a crazy idea......I've made a donut chuck for my JetMiniVS. I roughly cut a circle from plywood and attached it to my faceplate. Then I turned it perfectly round. I use a pen madrel with a #2 MT. I wonder if you do the same thing..Then drill a hole in the middle of the plywood circle the same size as the hole in the faceplate.......make a stop block that would clamp to your lathe bed...drill a hole in the stop block and holes at a regular anglular intervals around the plywood circle and pin it to the stop block...insert your mandrel through the hole in the plywood and faceplate.....You could also make a plywood frame to hold the drill on the lathe bed and allow you to slide it forward to drill.....Is this making sense?

[David Epperson]

I've seen it done. Easest way would probably be to hook up a gear reducer directly to the spindle. Choose the ratio to fit your needs. If you're looking for 5 or 10 holes evenly spaced, get a 10 to one reducer - then each 180° of reducer input shaft movement is 1/20th of a rev at the spindle - 5 holes would be 2 complete revolutions of the input shaft.
If you're looking for 6 or 12 evenly spaced holes, a 12,24 or 36 to one would work better. This can be a rather small gearbox since you will not be transmitting any real torque or horsepower through it - and as you can see the larger the ratio the more versitile it would be.

[Dick Strauss]

John,
I don't know if this will help you but I saw this item the other day. It is an indexed 4" faceplate (24 segments) available at PennState. You may be able to run your mandrel right through it.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/cf4xj.html


Let us know if it works for you!

Dick

[Jonathon Spafford]

This is a REALLY expensive idea and I am reluctant to mention it... but, have you tried masking tape :D

Wrap it around the piece until the ends meet and then divide it by the number of holes you want... just an idea!!!!

[Dario Octaviano]

John....I just got a crazy idea......I've made a donut chuck for my JetMiniVS. I roughly cut a circle from plywood and attached it to my faceplate. Then I turned it perfectly round. I use a pen madrel with a #2 MT. I wonder if you do the same thing..Then drill a hole in the middle of the plywood circle the same size as the hole in the faceplate.......make a stop block that would clamp to your lathe be...drill a hole in the stop block and holes at a regular anglular intervals around the plywood circle and pin it to the stop block...insert your mandrel through the hole in the plywood and faceplate.....You could also make a plywood frame to hold the drill on the lathe bed and allow you to slide it forward to drill.....Is this making sense?

Ken,

Yor idea surely will work. I've seen something similar...not sure from which forum now but I know someone offered some for sale basically using the same idea.

[Mike Vickery]

I do not have one but was considering it before.
http://www.ironfirellc.com/shop/
at $20 it seems pretty economical. I have also heard of people using bandsaw blades mounted on mdf disks to make there own.

[Jason Hallowell]

I've seen a full index kit for mini-lathes listed on e-bay before for as little as $30. The only ones I see now are listed at $80, which seems pretty steep to me. For that price I would rather just buy the plate for $20, and make the rest myself. Here is a current one on the bay- http://cgi.ebay.com/Lathe-Index-Wheel-1X8-spindle-mini-laathe_W0QQitemZ170014470661QQihZ007QQcategoryZ840 12QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

[Frank Wilson]

I've thought about getting one of these. Indexing attachment link (http://alisam.com/page/14g9e/Woodworking_turning.html)

They look pretty well made. I thought they used to be more expensive. I don't know if they went down in price or if I'm just loosing my mind. Probably both. Hope this helps. I think I might order one soon. I'd be interested in hearing any comments about these if anyone has one.

[Jonathon Spafford]

I know we are not allowed to post links to other forums so I won't... but if you go to the AAW forum and click on the Tips/Tecniques sub-forum you will find a post on making your own indexing wheel! Might help a little!!!

Mods, feel free to delete if this post is against the rules!

[Jim Ketron]

I've thought about getting one of these. Indexing attachment link (http://alisam.com/page/14g9e/Woodworking_turning.html)

They look pretty well made. I thought they used to be more expensive. I don't know if they went down in price or if I'm just loosing my mind. Probably both. Hope this helps. I think I might order one soon. I'd be interested in hearing any comments about these if anyone has one.

I think a setup like Frank shows in the link looks well made and the price is right too!
Thanks for the link Frank!

[John Terefenko]

The link that Frank gave is the same company that was selling them on ebay and I emailed him yesterday and he told me he is out of them and being they were so popular he will be making more but it will about a month before he gets them in stock. it does look like the thing I am looking for. Now I have to come up with a drill holder for the tool rest. I see Craft Supply carries one but is $99.

[Gary DeWitt]

I'll be ordering one from Allison myself for my new(er) lathe. I couldn't make one for that price, even at $10/hr. My usual shop time goes for $25 and up.
I made one for my Delta midi, took about a day what with all the measuring and drilling.
They work very well as long as all the holes are exactly the same distance from center.

[joe aiello]

a few years ago I made as an index device for a old lathe. I used an old (used) 24 t 7 1/2 " saw blade;had the center bored to 1 1/2" at a machine shop,mounted to the outboard side of the head stock fastened with the appropriate threaded nut;then build an appropriate slide bolt(spring loaded) to catch the tooth.For quarter turns color the tips every 6th ,i.e. red. great if you want to mortised on work mounted, using a router with a mounted slide attachment..... WARNING...dismantle the indexer when the lathe is in use ------ total cost $5.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Joe.....Your idea gets my vote for idea of the year award!

[John Terefenko]

Well does anyone have pictures of their setups??? What about some pictures for tool rest adapters for drills and routers??? Come on let us see some pictures. Picture is worth 1000 words.

[Dick Strauss]

Guys,
What am I missing here? The indexing plate from PennState is $30 and will do the same thing as those others listed. Why consider an $80 solution when a $30 solution exists?

[Scott Pearson]

These folks have index plates that are made specificly for the Jet Mini. They do not have any posted right now as I think the auction ended yesterday. That does not mean that they do not have them instock.

You can either watch there auctions or send them an email. I am waiting for one right now.

Link to ebay removed.


Scott

[Joe Melton]

There is a guy in our local club selling these setups for the Jet Minis.
http://ppwoodturners.org/sale.html
I've not seen them.
Joe

[John Terefenko]

Just want to clarify something. The one the guy is selling from a turners club if he is the same person that emailed me, his is a 24 hole single row of holes. The one that was on ebay and is the link Frank gave is a 5 degree holes which comes out to I think 42 holes or something like that but has two rows of holes. It comes with the attachment for the lock and all and for $40 it is worth it in my opinion. But he is out of stock right now.

I will get back to my second question does anyone have any pictures of drill set up or router set ups for the lathe.??? Does anyone know of any articles or tutorials anywhere on the net of such devices in use???? I see work that uses routers on their lathes but do not know how this is done.

[David Epperson]

I will get back to my second question does anyone have any pictures of drill set up or router set ups for the lathe.??? Does anyone know of any articles or tutorials anywhere on the net of such devices in use???? I see work that uses routers on their lathes but do not know how this is done.
I visit a home gunsmithing/building site that has a lot of home built machinery - mostly for metalworking lathes and mills, but I'm sure with a small amout of ingenuity it could be modified.
http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/ib3/iB_html/uploads/post-8-79493-MVC_001S.JPG