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Small direct indexing head identity

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Titanium
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Location
Oregon coast
direct.jpg

I got this off ebay, there is no makers mark anywhere on it. It's direct indexing only and uses a 3-C collet. The index wheel has 60 degree V's cut in it's periphery, 48 of them.
The angular degrees are nicely stamped and it's obviously not a "shop built" head.
The index wheel has three screws holding it on so probably different wheels could be chosen for different angles or divisions.

I'd like to find any extra wheels if they exist, but a search of google images showed nothing like this.

If anyone knows who built this I'd love to know.
Thanks,
parts
 
It's a Burke indexing head, or one of the many exact copies of the Burke. They were an accessory for the little Burke mills, and had a matching footstock. You'll see pics of them in this PM thread -
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...ed/cincinatti-burke-dividing-head-f-s-212371/

Once in a while you can find some indexing plates for these on ebay. Most of the indexing heads used a 3C collet, but I have one that uses a B&S #7. I'm not sure the name was marked on the indexing heads. It was cast into the dividing heads. There are two versions of the indexing head, as shown in this photo of my indexing heads. There is more info on these over in the Yahoo BurkeMills group. You have to be a member to view the Files section where a manual that shows the indexing and dividing heads, and Photos section.

Irby

Burke indexing heads.JPG
 
Thank you so much Irby, and yes that's a ringer, though mine has nothing burkish cast anywhere, it's otherwise the same exact thing. Maybe I can find out now what the other 4 plates needed are, now that I have a name to go on.


The fellow I bought this one from put it into a flat rate box, padded it with newspaper and sent it.

You guessed it. It came broken. I spent some time today silver soldering a piece of ductile iron to the fracture after milling it flat and keying it to fit, and found that black flux and silver solder foil does a great job of joining cast iron! I wish I'd learned that 30 years ago. The solder line is so thin!

But I hope my bad experience can be of use to members when they send cast iron objects through the mail. If the object has thin sections sticking out as this does it should be boxed with tightly stuffed mewspaper, and then after taping the small box put it inside a larger box and pad that one too.
Only an ape can break a small cast object packaged that way.
As the weight goes up the inner box should be screwed together plywood, it doesn't need to be pretty, but it should be stout.
 








 
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