YADH - Yet Another Dividing Head

[EclecticNeophyte]

Thank you Ken for the info. I'm surprised that your 282 oz.in. motor has enough power to move your monster indexing device.
Therefore, the one that I selected with 360 oz.in., should be more than enough to move my table. Given my blissful ignorance in these electronic matters, I decided to go big to avoid trouble and the price difference is minuscule. Regarding construction, the idea is to gather all the components first and then to start fabrication and assembly. What I could do to lower cost, is to buy a driver such as the one mentioned in your response, and then find someone to write the program for me to run the contraption because the "All in one" controller/driver that I intended to buy is expensive. Despite my lack of knowledge of electronics, I would never run the motor with the crank and the unit being connected. The purpose of the crank is have the ability to move the table manually if needed as an option. Additionally, I figure that to avoid "backlash" or free play, one simple option is to run the unit in one direction only or take up the slack in a manner similar to what we use with machine tools if reversal of rotation is required. I wonder how the guy that makes the controller that I mentioned, accomplishes the feat?
By the way, do you have or built, a tail stock to complement your indexer? I'll be looking into that too.

Jorge

I think it largely depends on how you intend to use it. If you plan to rotate a part while machining it, then the size of the part, depth of cut and so on, would dictate the size of stepper motor needed. Since (to date) I've only needed to turn a part, lock it in position, mill, then turn, repeat, etc; my stepper motor has more than adequate power (perhaps more than I need?). My primary goal was to cut spur gears, consequently my dividing head setup is pretty simple.

I have not yet built a tail-stock for it... It's good that you asked however, as I was just thinking of that just the other day. So you have reminded me of yet another project!

One final note... Because my lathe chucks thread on, I can't easily reverse rotation during a cut, or cut in such a way as to force the chuck to 'unwind'. So compensating (in software/firmware) for backlash or gear play hasn't been a big concern.

Best regards,
-EN