06-14-2016, 11:54 PM
As I mentioned elsewhere, I've given up the idea of picking up an original Elliott universal dividing head while we're in the UK this year as the shipping is a killer.
This came up near me on eBay and I went in hard. Wish I could say it was a bargain, but it was not. Someone else wanted it nearly as much as I did.
It looks very similar to the Elliott but is of Italian make. I stripped it down last night, left most of the bits soaking in solvent overnight and spent much of today cleaning, lubing and reassembling it.
Above the nameplate in the photo above can be seen the date 1951 stamped into the unit.
The azimuth and index mark for inclination is nice and easy to read with the red enamel in the stamped numerals.
There is a direct indexing plate on the spindle, engaged with the yellow knobby thing. 16 divisions on one side and 36 on the other, the chuck adapter plate has to be unscrewed from the spindle nose to swap it over- I'm yet to unscrew this, I was worried about putting strain on the worm but it occurs to me as I type that I can disengage the worm and try unscrewing the chuck adapter with the spindle locked via the lever on the back, will give this a try.
The chuck is a Pratt Burnerd, it's soaking at present and will be stripped down as time permits. The spindle has a Morse 3 taper in the end.
Has a handy chart affixed to it
The second part of that chart in particular may as well be in Italian for all that I understand of it. I think I have some reading to do to figure out how this all works.
It's a different centre height to my other so the tailstock won't suit (good news for Darren) so perhaps my first casting project has come along.
Missing the chuck key as well so will have to make one of those. Also missing the spring clip that holds the fingers still on the dividing plate.
Goes without saying that the gearset and banjo for driving off the table are also missing. I am yet to see a universal dividing head on the used market that actually has the gearset with it.
Anyway I'm happy with this, purchase price was roughly the same as it would have cost just for shipping if I had bought one in the UK. Seems to be a quality unit although I don't know anything about Italian machinery (the old timers used to say that their tanks had 1 forward and 24 reverse gears, that would have needed good manufacturing equipment, right?)
One project on my list is to make the 127-tooth transposing gear that is missing from my lathe, this thing has compound indexing capability so if I can just acquire said capability myself this should then be possible.
This came up near me on eBay and I went in hard. Wish I could say it was a bargain, but it was not. Someone else wanted it nearly as much as I did.
It looks very similar to the Elliott but is of Italian make. I stripped it down last night, left most of the bits soaking in solvent overnight and spent much of today cleaning, lubing and reassembling it.
Above the nameplate in the photo above can be seen the date 1951 stamped into the unit.
The azimuth and index mark for inclination is nice and easy to read with the red enamel in the stamped numerals.
There is a direct indexing plate on the spindle, engaged with the yellow knobby thing. 16 divisions on one side and 36 on the other, the chuck adapter plate has to be unscrewed from the spindle nose to swap it over- I'm yet to unscrew this, I was worried about putting strain on the worm but it occurs to me as I type that I can disengage the worm and try unscrewing the chuck adapter with the spindle locked via the lever on the back, will give this a try.
The chuck is a Pratt Burnerd, it's soaking at present and will be stripped down as time permits. The spindle has a Morse 3 taper in the end.
Has a handy chart affixed to it
The second part of that chart in particular may as well be in Italian for all that I understand of it. I think I have some reading to do to figure out how this all works.
It's a different centre height to my other so the tailstock won't suit (good news for Darren) so perhaps my first casting project has come along.
Missing the chuck key as well so will have to make one of those. Also missing the spring clip that holds the fingers still on the dividing plate.
Goes without saying that the gearset and banjo for driving off the table are also missing. I am yet to see a universal dividing head on the used market that actually has the gearset with it.
Anyway I'm happy with this, purchase price was roughly the same as it would have cost just for shipping if I had bought one in the UK. Seems to be a quality unit although I don't know anything about Italian machinery (the old timers used to say that their tanks had 1 forward and 24 reverse gears, that would have needed good manufacturing equipment, right?)
One project on my list is to make the 127-tooth transposing gear that is missing from my lathe, this thing has compound indexing capability so if I can just acquire said capability myself this should then be possible.
Lathe (n); a machine tool used in the production of milling machine components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.