What do you use a Spindexer for?

A week or so back I got a simple email from an old friend, he asked "do you want a spindexer?" I said perhaps, what is it for? He says it clamps things in a 5c collet and spins them so I replied sure, thinking it was something like a speed lathe or something.
Well it showed up yesterday, shiny new in the box with all its stuff, I see them for sale but not much about what to do with it.
Who is using one and what do you use it for?

I clamp parts in a collet then index them via spinning.

Hex flats and clocked set screws, commonly.

Programmed via Mazatrol

Necking down endmills is one use or undercuters. Making pins is another.
Want to make special size drill or reamer out of a standard?

I bought mine new from Enco around 1980 because it looked useful. The only job that I can recall doing on it in 40+ years was to clamp it on my vertical mill and engrave a few fine lines at 1 degree intervals on some cutter grinder attachments I made. It was just the right tool for that job. The spindle lock is not robust enough for serious milling. Anyway, I have real dividing and indexing heads for the heavier milling jobs.

I have never had occasion to use the spindexer on my surface grinder, though I could imagine it grinding a pilot on a reamer or similar work.

Larry

I was kind of thinking special cutters on a surface grinder would be the main thing, I didn't realize in could index, I recon I had best open it up and look at it better. Believe it or not I have done most of that in a dewalt cordless drill to get me by until the factory ones show up.
thanks

I use mine on the surface grinder for grinding flats. Clamping is not really very good for any but very light milling.

We are a company with three toolmakers, and we have two spindexes.

We use them to make form punches, pierce punches, blankout punches, grind in buttons and many more things.

They are VERY accurate, if you wish to make stuff that is concentrically perfect. Our spindexes hold very tight tolerances.(.0002 on concentricity).

Don't use this device with coolant, it will ruin it quickly. Also, store it in a place devoid of moisture to prevent rusting. I also recommend removing the belt until you need it.

I've got a couple of the cheap ones. I used to do a lot of 5C work, and the spindex went along with the mode.

They are great for drilling two holes at known angles to one another. Or milling features on round work. Little knobs , handles and the like.
If you have a good election of 5C collets, you will find the device useful.
If you don't have a complete set of collets, the thing will just gather dust , ...until that one job comes along.

Thunderjet said:

We are a company with three toolmakers, and we have two spindexes.

We use them to make form punches, pierce punches, blankout punches, grind in buttons and many more things.

They are VERY accurate, if you wish to make stuff that is concentrically perfect. Our spindexes hold very tight tolerances.(.0002 on concentricity).

Don't use this device with coolant, it will ruin it quickly. Also, store it in a place devoid of moisture to prevent rusting. I also recommend removing the belt until you need it.

Click to expand...

I think you're referring to something more akin to a Harig Grind-All, yes? I have one of those too, it's a lot more sturdy and accurate than a regular spindex. At least the cheap imports anyway. I have one of those cheap imports and a nicer one made by Path Industries. That one I'd actually trust to do some pretty close work.

The $50 cheap-os should be looked at as KITS.

"Some user modifications required for best performance" ;-)

30 yrs ago I used it to make pun hes for prog dies.

Now it mostly gets used to modify std drills into specials.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

A bit outside general shop use but I cut a "V" on the end/face of a round pin (Tantung G) I had to clamp small parts in. I could then swing a target radius when inserted into the spin-dex. This worked for putting a crown on a punch (stamping dies) that didn't have a slug eject pin. It could also be used with a diamond to dress a concave/convex radius on the wheel in a SG. All of these are a bit of a kludge but it's what I used before getting a Harig head and a Clearview dresser if the shop didn't have either. Most of the spin-dex I've seen aren't very stable for milling but they are useful for flats or what others have already posted.

I have 3 5C spin indexers. I rarely use them with a 5C collet though. Instead I have two 3" chucks. One 3 jaw scroll and one 4 jaw independent that I use on the indexer. I use this combination to cut wrench flats on items I make. They are fast to set up and use. I also have an 8" super spacer for bigger jobs and differential dividing heads for greater accuracy.

i have been debating to slit the body and add clamping screws on mine.

Like this^^^^^^^^^^
I use ours every day in the surface grinder. (again, no coolant!)

I also have a grind-all but that is for different work, such as ovals, also extremely accurate.

I got ambitious and opened the box, it has a nice quality feel to all of it,

You could use it to attract Spinderella. Does it vibrate much?

kustomizer said:

I got ambitious and opened the box, it has a nice quality feel to all of it,
View attachment 340355View attachment 340356View attachment 340357View attachment 340358

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That's a good 'un. No worries about quality with Harig. That's a right nice friend you've got.

GregSY said:

You could use it to attract Spinderella. Does it vibrate much?

Click to expand...

I did not plug it in yet, Wonder Woman and I have the cooties and have the head full congestion thing going on, we may be a few days yet before we get back to feeling like something more than goo on the floor.

It has a chrome knob that needs pulled to let it spin and it is stuck harder than I can pull at the moment, I imagine some old grease or the like so I decided a day when the thinker works at least half assed again.

Ah Harig, much, much nicer than the inexpensive import 5C Spindexers that we usually think of.

I've got two of the cheapies (long story) and would agree that poor clamping of the spindle is the big weakness. Mine will get a nice split cotter clamp when the roundtuit stock levels get back over minimum.

Maybe 30 years and waiting.

Mostly used for hexes, squares, spanner flats, cross holes bot plain and unthreaded. Got a small, inexpensive, import 3 jaw on a 5C shank as well as imperial 5C in 1/64 ths and metric in 0.5 mm increments.

The import 3 jaw is way better than its price and design implies. Guess I lucked out with a good one.

As my small lathe, a Smart & Brown 1024, has a 5C native spindle the small chuck is handy for jobs that need to start in the lathe, have milling or cross driiling type work done and go back to finish off.

I have better gear but the spindexer is smaller and lighter so comes out often for the incidental jobs. Often just plopped in a vice. Trimmed the sides of the base dead nuts parallel to the spindle so accurate registration is easy and the vice gets a firm grip.

Got a tailstock too which pretty much never gets used.

Another example of when "good enough is good enough" so easy to handle trumps better quality.

Way, way back there were plans to turn one into a pukka dividing head G.H.Thomas / Tom Senior et al style using the accessory dividing plate kit sold for Vertex rotary tables at not too silly money. Got the plate kit then an Edgwick Cincinnati clone dividing head appeared at a wallet came out smoking price so the project died. Having the extended range plates for the Edgwick / Cincinnati makes for good bragging rights!

Clive