Dividing heads

[studysession]

Anyone see the book:
Build Your Own Metal Work Shop From Scrap // The Dividing Head and Deluze Accessories (6)

If so has anyone tried to build this dividing head? I want a dividing head for making spur gears but do not have the money for one. I want to make some spur gears and need a dividing head to do it, but looking for a cheap solution.

I have this book infront of me and it looks very complicate to even try and make one of these. Anyone have experience with them and know where I can get a small dividing head for very cheap price?

Any help or guidance would be appreciated - thanks!

Attached is a picture of what I want to do. Cut gears on a mill like shown in the pic. But dividing heads are few hundred dollars and I just do not have that much to spend.

[Swede]

The cheapest imports new are ~ $250. Have you checked eBay? Some good bargains to be had.

If you really want to build one, that's cool but it will be a challenge and ultimately it will still cost a bit for materials and such.

Simple dividing heads can be made with nothing more than a spindle and a gear on the rear with a finger/plunger which allows indexing via the gear itself. It'll need a spindle lock to prevent movement during cuts.

For example, if you have a 64 tooth gear on the back of the head, you can do any number of divisions within 64, for example 64, 8, 32, etc (it's early and I can't do math). Swap the gear out for other divisions. It won't have super accuracy but might work for a number of applications.

I think ultimately an eBay buy would get you going quickest. Gear form cutters aren't cheap either, unfortunately.

[studysession]

Yeah - I have seen the 250 - 300 range online and think it is a bit expensive. Maybe I just have to wait a while.

It will be a couple months before having the cash flow to do much for a dividing head. Just trying to find the cheapest cost solution and figure out where to get the gear cutters I want. When I get it, I will want to cut Mod-1 and 48p gears. So will need the cutters for the different pitch and then for each # of teeth. The costs just keeps adding up. It is amazingly expensive.

[HuFlungDung]

Study,
Have you priced out the gear cutters you'd need? These are fairly pricey, and chance are you'll need a different one for every gear tooth number you cut, unless they are very close in tooth number. There are 8 cutters in a set to cut all gears of one pitch. You might not need them all, but you might need three or four, depending on what you are doing.

[studysession]

Yeah after all the reading and searching - I expect to need 2 or three different cutters for each pitch I want to cut.

Any link to places that have the Mod-1 and 48 pitch cutters? I am not sure how much they are. I have seen the dividing heads and they are expensive. But eventually I will get there, right now I need to learn more and need to price everything out to know for sure how much I need total for this.

Thanks!

[DareBee]

You also are looking to make gears for a high speed app (according to your website) and you just cant cheap out on equipment to make gears of the caliber you need.
You dont want to have little bits of RC gearbox going through your race machine like shrapnell.

[studysession]

True -
Yeah these gears are for a speed record breaking RC car. I would also make them for other cars as well. But right now my primary purpose if the speed car project.

So trying to figure out what are all the bits I need to make them - I would cut them on my mill. And how much is everything. I have seen the dividing heads but not the cutters on online shops.

Cheers -

[HuFlungDung]

I applaud your tenacity, Studysession. You don't know what you don't know until you find out

http://www1.mscdirect.com/cgi/nnsrhm
type in "involute gear cutter" into the search field. Then type in your various gear cutter parameters. You'll need to know the pressure angle, cutter Dp, cutter number (from 1 to 8)

[trilect]

Originally Posted by studysession Anyone see the book: Build Your Own Metal Work Shop From Scrap // The Dividing Head and Deluze Accessories (6) If so has anyone tried to build this dividing head? I want a dividing head for making spur gears but do not have the money for one. I want to make some spur gears and need a dividing head to do it, but looking for a cheap solution. I have this book infront of me and it looks very complicate to even try and make one of these. Anyone have experience with them and know where I can get a small dividing head for very cheap price? Any help or guidance would be appreciated - thanks! Attached is a picture of what I want to do. Cut gears on a mill like shown in the pic. But dividing heads are few hundred dollars and I just do not have that much to spend.

The guy writes pretty good books, I'm actually building a lathe from his first book now. The stuff really isn't all that fantastic, building from his plans is really about learning to me and its a little fun.

[studysession]

OK - I am at a point where I might be able to finally purchase one of these.

Need help know what is the difference about so many dividing heads and which one is the correct one for me. And the same thing goes with the gear cutters too.

The gears that I am going to cut are anywhere from 1 inch to 4 inches in diameter. I want to start with Mod-1 and 48p gears. Later I will want to do other mod pitches as well.

What is the correct dividing head or what options do I need to look for?

Thanks for the help!

[studysession]

Also what tool is to hold the gear cutter and how do I make sure I have the correct one?

I want to make sure I have EVERYTHING I am going to need to do this. I also need help with calculating the diameter of the blanks I will make for the gears.

[studysession]

I do not feel comfortable buying a used one off Ebay - As I do not know for usre it would be everything that normally comes with a dividing head so i am going to go new. For what I described above - I am hoping this one will do:

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...&PARTPG=INLMK3

I am going to call the company and see - has anyone used it?