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| Fixing up an old dividing head |
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| vtsteam:
This is a dividing head I bought at auction several years ago. It came with a 3 jaw chuck and a tailstock. It weighs about 70 lbs with the chuck, and I believe it is a 10" head. It doesn't have division plates or an indexer, but I figured I could make those. When I rubbed some of the grime and surface rust away I was able to make out -- in very small letters -- the manufacturer's name. It was Kempsmith. It's rather large for my Enco mill drill, but a working dividing head would be better to have than no dividing head. So before I get rid of the electrolytic de-rusting bath I used on my mill vice, I thought I'd dunk this one. I could use it to make a 48 tooth change gear for my lathe -- that one is missing from my set. |
| RotarySMP:
Nice peice of iron. |
| Stilldrillin:
That's got character! Should clean up nicely...... :thumbup: David D |
| vtsteam:
I'm really glad to be fixing this up -- it has been sitting on the shelf for years in my house just asking to be worked on. When I first bought it at auction I didn't even own a mill. The auction was at an old pump manufacturing site, now out of business. Might have been a Hayward Tyler plant -- but I don't remember for sure. Seemed like it must have been closed for a decade from the looks of it. They had pattern making facilities, lots of screw making machines, etc. I snagged a barrel of bronze and brass scrap and another of aluminum in the screw machine room together for $75. Several hundredweight. This dividing head with the chuck and tailstock went for $50. I also bought a cast iron surface plate and cast iron straightedge for $25 each. I was basically out of money at that point and saw much more important stuff go all day long. Quite exhiirating to be there and just wander through the place, making bids sometimes I knew would lose. But wow! Anyway got this one apart as far as I could. It was kind of like a Chinese puzzle -- I'm still not sure how they got this thing together beyond the point I got to. |
| vtsteam:
After some searching online, I finally found a manual for a Kempsmith dividing head. Very interesting reading showing among other things, how it is used in a driven mode on a horizontal mill to cut spirals -- worms, threads, etc. This is one rugged unit! It also shows how they test them at the factory and the tolerances required. Great booklet! The publication date is 1916, but I think mine is similar but even earlier -- it's simpler, has 90 degree indexing shaft, not angled upwards, and doesn't have a quick release lever. I wonder how old this really is? I tried to upload the manual here as an attachment, but it exceeds the 10 mb limit for the pdf. file. But you can download it here: http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=5797 |
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