Garvin universal dividing head "accessories" ???

IrbyJones · Dec 7, 2018

I know several folks here own an old Garvin universal dividing head like I have -

I need to use it to cut a spiral groove in a part, so I need to make a banjo and some gear adapters to drive the dividing head from the table feed screw. I've seen examples of how this is done, but never a closeup of a Garvin dividing head like mine in use. Since I'm going to make up these "accessories", I might as well have them look similar to the originals if possible.

Sooo, does anyone happen to have an original banjo (or whatever they were called) and the adapters that went between the gears and the banjo for this Garvin dividing head - that I can get pictures and dimensions from? Or even a good detailed picture of them from an old ad or book? All I can find in the old catalogs are pictures like these, which don't show details.

Thanks!
Irby

enginebill · Dec 7, 2018

Irby, I will take some pictures of my parts this weekend and hopefully they would be similar to what you need.
Bill

jhruska · Dec 8, 2018

Here is a resource that can be downloaded as a pdf or black and white pdf.
Milling machines and milling practice : De Vries, D : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Pages 103, 131-Spiral Milling, and 146-examples may be helpful.
Some related illustrations:

The early B&S indexing head and this Garvin spiral head share design elements.
Backlash can be reduced by making an adjustment to the worm wheel. The wheel is made of two parts that can be rotated to change the circular pitch. The Garvin wheel can be seen when the brass nameplate is removed.

John

jhruska · Dec 8, 2018

Here are some photos of a Garvin spiral head owned by another member of PM.

IrbyJones · Dec 8, 2018

Thanks, John. I had downloaded "Practical Treatise on Milling and Milling Machines" by Brown & Sharpe to use, and will look at the book you linked to also. Hey, the milling machine in the first picture you posted is exactly the one I have! And I have nearly all the accessories pictured there with it, except the spiral milling gears. I even have the neat wooden indexing/spiral milling "chart". I knew about the worm gear in my dividing head, and after seeing the other fellow's nice looking dividing head, I need to get mine cleaned up and painted. Thanks for those pictures, too. Also need to retrieve my indexing plate from Tuckahoe Gas & Steam where loaned it to Archie years ago (before he moved to California) as a guide to make some plates for their Garvin dividing head.

Irby

jhruska · Dec 9, 2018

You betcha Irby! Got the goose neck overarm. Can't lose the arbor support with that one

Do you have the plate? What is it for? Sub plate or riser?
Have the chuck and does it mount to the spindle? Just curious.
John

IrbyJones · Dec 9, 2018

jhruska said:
You betcha Irby! Got the goose neck overarm. Can't lose the arbor support with that one
Do you have the plate? What is it for? Sub plate or riser?
Have the chuck and does it mount to the spindle? Just curious.
John

The plate I was talking about is the indexing plate for the dividing head, with all the holes in it. For the universal head, there's a row of holes that a locking pin on the head engages to lock the indexing plate in rotation to the head when it's used as just a dividing head. I don't have the sub plate or whatever it's called shown in the picture. I do have some sort of sub plate for a vise, though.

And yes, the chuck also fits the nose of the mill spindle. Thanks for mentioning it - I hadn't thought about that.

Neat!

This mill also has the long, weighted on the end, rod that's used to drive tooling out of the spindle taper. One is shown in the picture of the mill without an overarm that I posted. I had wondered what a hole in the feed pulley bracket on the back of these mills was for and then realized it was to hold that rod.

Irby

enginebill · Dec 9, 2018

I own the dividing head from John's post and here is what I have. Unfortunately the head that I have is too small for my milling machine so I can't do spiral cutting. I have a 10" head and the mill came with a 12" head. The bracket for the gear train would mount to the dividing head.
On the dividing head itself there is a spring loaded washer that puts friction on the stop fingers.

enginebill · Dec 9, 2018

More pictures.
Let me know if you need any more info.

jhruska · Dec 9, 2018

Ah, thought that weighted rod was for a draw-bar.
That large plate looks like a riser for the head and could be used to set the head C/L at an angle or parallel to the spindle.
Put three flats on a piece of bar stock and weld a tool to the end. Insert into the chuck and its a flycutter.

jhruska · Dec 9, 2018

enginebill,
You have the best copy of a Garvin spiral head I have seen. Thanks for sharing.
John

IrbyJones · Dec 9, 2018

That's great info, Bill! So the bracket for the gear train fits the 12" head, right? Do you have a picture of that head? Does it look like the 10" just larger? I'll have to go look through all my old Garvin catalogs again. I have the spring loaded washer and the rest of the hardware for the indexing plates. I just need my indexing plate back, and have started towards that. Now that I see how the bracket looks, I'll see about making myself a copy that fits my dividing head. Do you have the adapters that go in the gears to attach them to the bracket and to each other when using two gears together? I'd like to see what they look like too. Thanks for these pictures!!

Irby

enginebill · Dec 9, 2018

Irby, Yes the bracket is for the larger head. I do not have a good picture of the bigger head, my catalogs do not show a large view. My 1905 catalog says the actual swing is 11 1/2" for my 2A machine.
Bill

IrbyJones · Dec 9, 2018

Well, I went and looked in my 1916 Garvin catalog and found the two sizes of dividing heads that look like mine and Bill's. The ones we have are the No. 2 size. They made one even larger, which was called the double-geared dividing head.

And the section on universal milling machines mentioned that the double-geared dividing head was standard on the No. 1 and No. 2 Universal Milling Machines, so that was probably the one on Bill's machine. The illustration for those mills shows the same gear carrying bracket that Bill has, now that I can recognize it.

And I found a section at the back of the catalog under "Spiral Setting on Our Universal Milling Machines" that shows the gear carrying bracket, which only makes sense after seeing Bill's pictures.

Getting there on finding pictures of the original parts. Thanks again, Bill!

Irby

Robert Lang · Dec 9, 2018

jhruska said:
That large plate looks like a riser for the head and could be used to set the head C/L at an angle or parallel to the spindle.

That is what that plate is for.
The larger end with the curved slots bolts to the table, with the long end hanging out over the table toward the operator.
The head then bolts on to the long end parallel to the spindle.
You can slide the head in or out to gain room for machining a part.
Brown & Sharpe had plates for their universal mills too, although not as long.

Rob

IrbyJones · Dec 9, 2018

That plate you pointed to, Rob, is just about like the one I have. Came with a Garvin #13 mill vise attached to it.

244041d1544395973-garvin-universal-dividing-head-accessories-img_3363.jpg

Irby

jhruska · Dec 9, 2018

Some more for the Garvin extravaganza!

IrbyJones · Dec 9, 2018

Hey, John, where did you find that picture of the big Garvin head on a mill? I'm pretty sure that picture shows the head that came with Bill's mill was the big, double-geared dividing head. The locking bolt for the bracket on that head (shown in your picture) is directly above the input shaft, like it is on the bracket Bill has. The bracket shown in the diagram I posted (for "Spiral Setting on Our Universal Milling Machines") has the locking bolt down and to the right of the input shaft, just where the hole for it is located on the head Bill and I have

Cool!

Irby

enginebill · Dec 9, 2018

My mill would not have had the double geared dividing head, my mill matches the cut in my 1906 catalog. Here are scans of the 1906 catalog which shows a larger dividing head in the style that Irby and I have.

IrbyJones · Dec 9, 2018

You're right - I'm wrong. I got carried away! But I wonder if the bracket with your machine went to the larger head? If you try to swing it around so the clamping bolt on our heads fits into the slot on the top, it seems to put the gears in the wrong position. Who knows, though on machines that have been around for about a hundred years. And i'm assuming the larger head like ours was built the same, just larger.

Irby

Garvin universal dividing head "accessories" ???

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