Need a right angled surface - what are the options?

================= Nomenclature may be a problem here, for example I am unclear what a vertical slide on a lathe is. Also what exactly do you mean by dividing head?

Angle plates are as heavy and thick as they are for a reason, i.e. strength and rigidity. Lighter plates will also be weaker and more prone to flex.

About the only information I know about building what I understand as a dividing head, and just as important, the index plates is by Dave Gingery.

see #1153 at bottom of page

google does however list other sites with"dividing heads" and plans. see The Commonwealth countries tend to have much more interest in home/nhobbyshop machining. See WE14 Milling & Dividing Attachment WE20 Dividing Head $42.00 MM147 Dividing Head $26.55 bunch more search on < plans OR schematics "dividing head">

for about 2600 hits.

Unka' George [George McDuffee] ============ Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.

A length of angle iron machined square?

Thanks for the replies.

@McDuffee: A vertical slide is an attachment which adds vertical movemement to a lathe, on top of the side to side and in and out. Here's an example:

With my dividing head, I'm not going for the conventional design which uses plates with holes drilled in it - I want to use an accurate stepper motor to rotate the chuck and this would be electronically controlled. So the chuck and motor would be attached to one side of the angle plate and the other side attached to the lathe. So as you can see, my design is quite different from conventional dividing heads.

@Tom: Yes, I'd be looking for something like that, except not too thick (ie less than 10mm thickness).

--Amr

Weld it. Add ribs for more strength and less weight.

Nick

I can't really tell if this is applicable to your application, but just in case:

One way of originating a right angle is to turn a pair of cylindrical squares, with threaded ends. Use the pair as you would an angle plate. There was an article in Model Engineers Workshop where they machined a rough casting of an angle plate, using a pair of cylindrical squares as the original reference.

Adam Smith, Midland, Ontario, Canada

============ Your application is clearer. It is good to see the application of the new technology. Will you be cutting clock gears/pinions?

It may well be that you do not need an angle plate. Have you considered using a 1 inch [25 mm] thick by 5 inch X 4 inch [125 X

100 mm] piece of aluminium with a 5/8 inch recess milled for the stepper motor?

If you have the lathe and the milling attachment [vertical slide you should be able to fabricate such a plate with no particular problems. Layout will be the hardest part and if you have access to a surface plate and height gauge use these rather than attempting to use a machinists square set. A very light prick punch rather than a center punch will be all you need to locate from.

I am sending you a possible mount as email attachment amr01.dwg in Autocad 2004 dwg format.

I am assuming a series 34-M stepper, as this is the largest commonly used by the hobbiest community. More than likely you will also want/need to design/fabricate a spindle clamp.

You can download a free autocad dwg viewer at

Best wishes on a most interesting project. Keep the group posted on your progress.

Unka' George [George McDuffee] ============ Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.

That'd be my answer too. For less weight, use aluminium angle.

I bought a couple metres of 150x150x12 steel angle many years ago for 'sacrificial' angle plates. Means I care less when I turn one into swiss cheese or need to weld a bit on somewhere. Just face off another piece in the mill. With a lathe only, I'd bolt it to the cross slide (overhanging the front edge) and use a single point tool in the faceplate if that's all I had.

PDW

Amr wrote in news:1178665605.957500.82420 @n59g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

Check at misumi.

in the automation components.