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Custom Indexer, Suggestions

839 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  hkinkade 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I am in the process of customizing my older Powermatic 90, more on that in a separate post later. Here's a question I thought the community may be able to help me with.

I am going to add an indexer. I have room for two indexing rowsin my design, each up to 100 holes, maybe as much as 120 holes. Currently I feel a 60 hole and 56 hole combination may be the best. This will give me these indexing choices:

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, 10, 12, 14,15,16, 20, 28, 30, 56, 60

Obviously it depends on what I am indexing that will dictate if this is the right combination, but for those who use indexing in their work what combinations do you usuallu use and would you suggest a different combination?
 
#2 ·
Using an index wheel all about degrees between holes depending upon what you want to achieve. Here is just one sample of homemade index wheel but at the end show some pretting outstanding photos on how to do things with more than an index wheel.

http://ocwoodworkers.com/upload/uploads/Indexing%20wheel.pdf

Other nice info:

Index - 20 different Even Combinationsby degrees.
(Even more options by skipping holes.)
2 hole pattern = 180° between holes
3 hole pattern = 120° between holes
4 hole pattern = 90° between holes
5 hole pattern = 72° between holes
6 hole pattern = 60° between holes
7 hole pattern = 51.4° between holes
8 hole pattern = 45° between holes
9 hole pattern = 40° between holes
10 hole pattern = 36° between holes
12 hole pattern = 30° between holes
14 hole pattern = 25.7° between holes
15 hole pattern = 24° between holes
16 hole pattern = 22.5° between holes
18 hole pattern = 20° between holes
20 hole pattern = 18° between holes
24 hole pattern = 15° between holes
30 hole pattern = 12° between holes
36 hole pattern = 10° between holes
48 hole pattern = 7.5° between holes
60 hole pattern = 6° between holes
 
#3 ·
I believe my Delta has a 60 and 24. In the instructions it tells how to use both for all kinds of combinations but I've never used them. My Nova has a 12 point index. Can't remember if my Craftsman had an index or not.
 
#4 ·
I guess I never really looked, but I'm surprised the PM90 doesn't already have indexing capability. The PM45 has an indexing wheel built into the headstock, and offers 60 positions. My little Delta has indexing holes built into the drive pulley and offers 60 positions on the outside row (6 degrees apart), and 8 positions on the inside (45 degrees apart).

Cheers,
Brad
 
#5 ·
Mr UNIX, nope no indexer fro the PM 90.

I'm now leaning towards a single row of indexing holes. I can put two rows in, but it's going to be some tight machining to do this. So my preference is a 60 hole option. If I need something else for a specific project I'll have to rig a add on feature. 60 hole seems to give a good selection of patterns:

1,2,3,4,5,6, ,10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60

I'm a little concerned that 7,8,9 segments would be useful for many applications, but my crystal ball is good enough to tell me otherwise with certainty ;-)
 
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