# basic dividing on a Chester Comet lathe



## wheeltapper (Jun 28, 2010)

Hi
I thought I'd show you how I do this.
this is my lathe, it's a Chester clone of the sieg c4.

CAUTION turn the power OFF before you start anything like this!!







here is the inside of the drive housing




to start off I made this fitting, it's a flat bar with a square piece with a cross hole and a clamp screw bolted on.




remove the two bolts shown with allen keys





and, using longer bolts, fix the fitting







I then made an expanding sleeve to fit the lathe mandrel






fit this in the mandrel





and then fix a change wheel to the end and insert the detent pin so it engages with the teeth




the expanding sleeve can also be used with a handle




a close up of the drive pin on the handle





very useful for screwcutting short threads, the lathes lowest speed is 100 rpm, a wee bit too fast for my liking.

and that's it, I hope I haven't bored you too much :big:

cheers
the demonstrating side of Roy


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## SAM in LA (Jun 28, 2010)

Roy,

Thanks for sharing. The photos explained your method well.

SAM


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## ozzie46 (Jun 28, 2010)

Very timely. I have been thinking about do this very thing Thanks for the info,

 My Grizzly 10 X 22 doesn't go below 150 rpm. and you're right it's down right scary threading at that speed.

 Ron


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## Deanofid (Jun 28, 2010)

Not boring at all, Roy. That's a handy way of doing things, and a clean way to mount the indexing
stud. 
I use a similar expanding sleeve in the spindle of my small Atlas for cutting metric threads. Works
great!

Thanks for sharing.

Dean


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## Twmaster (Jun 28, 2010)

Oh my. Not boring at all. You just gave me a great bit of food for thought on making a dividing tool for my mill.

A click of applause for your post!


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## jmshep (Jun 29, 2010)

Roy
I too was thinking of how to do some dividing on my C4 so thanks for your post.
What do you use at the sharp end - I was going to make a toolpost mount for a Dremel.

Is that a rear mounted parting tool holder I see in the photographs?
If so could you share details of that as well please.

Regards John


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## seagar (Jun 29, 2010)

WOW !!!! It's easy to see why I read this forum every day.So many great ideas,so much talent. th_wav

Thanks to all contributors on here.
Regards ,Ian (seagar)
Coffs Harbour,
Australia.


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## wheeltapper (Jun 29, 2010)

jmshep  said:
			
		

> Roy
> I too was thinking of how to do some dividing on my C4 so thanks for your post.
> What do you use at the sharp end - I was going to make a toolpost mount for a Dremel.
> 
> ...



Hi

I made a small drilling spindle that fits on the topslide ( compound) tee slots.

I'll take some pics of that and the rear post tomorrow, It's bedtime here. 

cheers
Roy

BTW thanks again all for the feedback.


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## wheeltapper (Jun 30, 2010)

Hi
Me again ;D
as promised, pics of my drilling spindle
this is it, the flywheel by the pulleys gives it a bit more grunt.





here's the back, showing the tee bolts





and here's where it sits ( only sat on there for pic)





it's driven by an overhead motor fixed under a shelf on an old piece of aluminium shelf upright so I can slide it along to line up with the pulley depending on where the saddle is positioned






.


the rear toolpost was given to me and it's just a steel block with a large hole in it, split and fitted with a pinch bolt to grip a piece of round bar .





it wasn't high enough so I used another block of steel , fixed it to the cross slide with two tee bolts and fitted a length of studding in the centre that passes up a hole through the round piece.

it was the biggest piece of bar I had and it still wasn't high enough , whilst looking for something I found the aluminium ring you can see in some of the pics. its part of a video recorder head.
it was exactly the right thickness so in it went.

total bodge up really but it works.
thats it , if you want any more pics give me a shout.

cheers
Roy


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## jmshep (Jun 30, 2010)

Roy
Many thanks for taking the trouble to add photos of the spindle and rear toolpost- if Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then you should be well pleased - Your mods are just what I need.

Regards

John


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