Sure there is. It is the center of the head. Look on the back, you will see a C-ring. And see the split at the top. See the spring-loaded pin on the right (with front view) or left (with back view). This is a hub with one of 30, 36, 40, or 48 notches. You loosen the clamping bolt through the split, half pull the pin, and count as you feel the notches go by. When you get the proper count, release the pin back in and tighten the clamp bolt. Make your cut and repeat.
The standard one came with a single hub. I forget which, but suspect 48 notches as that does well with four and three divisions and useful multipiles as well. The others were extra-cost options. A proper full kit includes a set of pin pliers to remove the C-ring so you can swap hubs. (In the auction you pointed to, there are listings of the divisions possible with each hub.)
The hubs are hardened and ground to final dimensions.
The number of divisions is stamped on the back of each hub, so you can see which one is present in the body at the present.
It is not as flexible as an indexing head with gears and plates, but still produces quite a few common divisions. Not what you want for making serious gears but nice for equally divided holes or for milling hex flats on something.
That is perhaps two and a half times what I paid for the whole setup *new* from a model shop when the DB-200/SL-1000 (mine was the SL-1000) was new. (Maybe even more.) That price almost tempts me to put mine on eBay. :-)
All of the Unimat parts have gone up insanely. The problem is that it has ceased to be a *tool*, and become a collector's item. :-)
FWIW -- I don't remember the extra drilled and tapped holes around the OD of the faceplate which came with it -- just the T-slots.
Pull the detent pin out part way, and hold it to feel and count the notches go past.
For that matter -- how do you know with a standard 40:1 dividing head? You count the number of full turns of the crank, and then move to the second arm to drop the pin into the index hole. No indicator on there for full turns -- just the final part of a turn.
I was wondering if you were going to jump in and help us solve this problem. :-)
I was also thinking about putting a bit of spring steel in the slot to get kind of a ratchet effect. That way you would get both audio and tactile feedback.
Of course you would also need a bit of rubber to hold it in place and allow the clamping effect of the screw.
Then there's that other possibility that seems attractive. I can just sell of the whole machine to someone with better eyes that likes to look down the slot of the indexer, small flashlight in hand.
Know anyone with three hands that would like to buy it? :-)
Thanks for the help everybody. As I like to tell people, this group is way better than Home Shop Machinist fer learnin.
Sell ... the SL-1000 was my first home lathe and mill (apartment back then), so I have lots of experience with it.
Hmmm .... not likely to generate enough sound to be worth the trouble.
You don't *need* to look down the slot (I have never even tried looking down the slot) -- just pull the detent out far enough to allow some turning, until you feel it touch, then keep a light pull on it until it passes over the crest, and count that. (It is not really a gear -- V-shaped notches to match the shape of the detent pin, so the feel is pretty good compared to what you would get with gear teeth in the same place.)
Two hands are really sufficient -- one to feel the detent pin and the other to roate the hub with whatever you have mounted on it.
Try it!
You could mount the faceplate shown in the eBay auction or the three-jaw chuck, or the collet chuck. With only three threaded holes, I believe that you could not use the four-jaw chuck made for the Unimat.
It does have the advantage of not having to go out in the cold to consult someone. :-)
Sorry -- that first word in my reply should have been "Well ..." not "Sell ...". Too close together on the keyboard, and since the result of the typo was another valid word, the spell checker did not flag it. :-(
Mine has saved my butt and paid for itself. Of all the Unimat silliness I have (and I have most of it), the dividing head is the last thing I'd get rid of.
It's easy to run out of headroom if you're using a conventional dividing head, 3-4 jaw chuck and a drill chuck in the mill. The little tiny guy lets me do stuff that wouldn't ordinarily fit in the mill.
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