BROWN & SHARPE UNIVERSAL DIVIDING HEAD

I may have at least some of the 14P cutters extra, although likely cutters that small would have 7/8" arbor hole; I'll have a look. Wouldn't you like to have every accessory for your mill seen in the B&S book?
Besides the dividing head, I have the slotting head and most of the rack milling attachment and the short lead attachment.
 
I better pull in my reins just a tad. Just adding a NMTB50 7/8" arbor to this is............
I haven't even finished my drawbar or run power to my mill. Seems senseless to be worried about an indexing head while in process of sorting out the mill. Often a smaller project such as the B&S 2 will fill the time while ramping up to the bigger projects. I am such a newb though. At present I am not trying to be focused on any 1 project or goal. What is currently at hand? I have to get an Aloris type of quick change. Then I can get the center bore completed on my drawbar nut. It's an old axiom: put it in service & you will never have time to get it set up the way you envisioned. Drawbar, Dividing Head, Tail Stock, Sump Pump (& attachments), The overhead stop/start arm. Lots to do. I refuse to be overwhelmed. In the pic are the 2 parts of my drawbar. The bushing part fits beautifully. On the B&S2 The (706) Spindle Stop needs better than what I tried, so I wrestled up an old brass bolt to make my 'bullet' from.

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I forgot to add: Of course having all the attachments would be Glorious!
 
Yes. it would; anything worth doing is worth doing to excess! Seriously, 'tho, I doubt it is possible to accomplish; so many accessories, so little time!
 
Since this forum features a specific dividing head, the Brown & Sharpe Universal, I thought the following pictures of a graduating job using the dividing head to space the graduations being cut into a brass blacksmith's hook rule that I just made for a local artist blacksmith, Lowell Chaput, of Rohnert Park Ca. As can be seen in the pictures, the dividing head spindle is geared to the table screw and the worm shaft is rotated 10 turns to equal graduations of 1/16" and each graduation is cut in turn using a sharply pointed tool held in the fly cutter arbor, the spindle being prevented from any turning by the flat bar clamped against the overarm support; the length of the graduations is determined by four lines scribed on the brass blank and a rule is laid behind the one being cut to remind me which length lines to scribe in turn, the saddle hand feed is used to do the scribing; using this setup, it took approximately five minutes to graduate each inch of the rule, After graduation is complete, the burrs are removed with abrasive cloth, the inch number markings and the owner's name are engraved with my Gorton 3-U engraver; I used a "Roman" font for the numbers, and the "Spencer" font for the owner's name

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Incidentally, the extra long crank on the dividing head was a B&S item, but I have never seen it in a catalog, I just happened on a picture in a B&S book on screw machines, where it was used to provide more leverage when rotary milling of cams for the screw machines; I had a number of them laser cut with a view to sell them on E Bay, but never got around to it; If anyone wants one, I will sell them for $15 each plus postage. Contact me at york@napanet.net The large hole is so that the device may be slipped over the index plunger knob, and the long slot is so that the index crank may be used in any hole circle with the device in place.
 
I was hoping to see your ruler setup! I'm happy with my laser cut handle.
 
I was hoping to see your ruler setup! I'm happy with my laser cut handle.
I was pretty proud of the fact that I was able to take and post the pictures without my wife's help! Maybe I just got lucky! Practically any odd graduation can be made down to infinitely tiny ones using that setup and the tables in "Practical Treatise on Milling and Milling Machines" by B&S. Incidentally, B&S made an automatic graduating machine I think in the late 1850s, which was given by them to the Smithsonian in the mid 1960s, noting it had been in use in their plant for over one hundred years; what that statement did not say was that there were still a bunch of them STILL running in their plant much later. These machines did not cut actual graduations (I think), but just scribed through an acid resist, and the actual graduations were, at least for the most part were acid etched as they are for machinists and patternmaker's rules.
 
Finally got the Spindle Stop Pin Pinion (706) hot enough to allow the set screw for the handle to come on out (no part numbers for these 2 parts). The only logical reason for the handle to be mounted from the wrong side is that the rack & pinion (707 & 706) were not meshing smoothly. Even with a stiffer spring set on the 2 parts, this feature was not working as it should. By turning the pinion (706) 180 degrees out of phase, it must have been hoped that the lever action would be smooth again. With careful deburring & polishing that lever action is just about as it should be: decisive & positive. Once these parts are smooth & functioning properly, should I just go ahead & completely blue them for rust prevention & hardness?

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I think the original blackish finish of B&S parts was niter bluing; a 50/50 mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate was heated (and melted to a clear liquid) to 600 deg. F. for only perhaps 5 minutes; color desired can range from blue to black depending on time in the bath; this the U.S. Armory method of bluing. Just heating to blue does not provide nearly the same protection from rusting.
My B&S dividing head does not seem to have a spring behind the plunger, but I have not looked to see if it had one or if it is there and broken; keeping the plunger engaged on the rapid indexing plate under cutting conditions does not seem to be a problem, as the slight taper of the plunger and hole in the plate hold quite tightly when engaged; also I do not note any evidence of the detent bullet in the "feel" of the plunger when engaging or dis engaging the plunger, perhaps I need to take it apart and have a look?
Somewhere on Hobby Machinist, I posted the entire American Machinist technical article on U.S. Armory method of bluing ( with express permission of American Machinist) It bears reading if you can find it. I had a B&S #2 universal mill of about 1906 vintage; I used it in my machine shop for about 30 years, then restored it to take with me in retirement; well, along came a 1942 model with more features and the universal milling attachment ( all angles), so I sold my restored machine, but as part of the restoration, I blackened all the bare steel parts for rust protection as they were originally and it really does a good job at preventing rust. It works on cast iron too, but it takes much longer and does not give the intense black finish as it does with steel. Chemical "gun blue" is nearly worthless for rust protection and the selenium based "cold black" solutions are also quite poor. The only drawback to the Armory method and the "torch blue" methods is that both draw the temper of hardened articles to the "spring temper" level, that is, I think, in the high 30s Rockwell C range of hardness.
 
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