DEGREEING A BALANCER ON THE PATRIOT

[smallblock]

After verifying the accuracy of the spindle indexer on my crank, I decided to try a degreeing project. I found an old balancer that had split out on the keyway. Chucked it up and turned the OD to remove the original balance marks. Spray painted it flat black so my marks would show. I set up a carbide tool in the toolpost to draw it across the balancer for the degree marks and set my DRO to zero. Using the index pins, I first marked each 90 degree spot with a long line. Then every 10 degrees with the detent I marked a shorter line. The spindle indexer on the Patriot is marked in 360 degree increments, but only has detents each 10 degrees, so for the 1 degree marks I tightened up the spindle brake to hold the position and marked each one with a third shorter line. The spindle brake works in the neutral position, so just by shifting the spindle into hi or low, the brake releases and you can move the spindle. Once I got all the marks scribed, I sprayed the OD with flat black again and then spun the balancer and sanded it with emery paper, leaving the paint in the scribed lines. It came out nice, and I now know I can do balancers or even make custom dials if I need to.

[sharpshooter90]

Here is another project from the Shopmaster- its a rifle stand used to adjust the sights on target rifles.
How does the degree wheel attach to the Patriot? Do you think the assembly would retrofit to a Quadra lift machine?