Homemade indexable wheel on lathe how many holes?

Thriller

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I was inspired to make an indexable wheel for my Craftex CX706 lathe that goes into the left side of the headstock. I was thinking that I wanted it for cross drilling some holes. Went to YouTube and was looked at how one fellow made one but put 100 holes in his. What would that many holes be for? I saw other ideas where they had more of an indexing plate that gave even more options.
 
I was inspired to make an indexable wheel for my Craftex CX706 lathe that goes into the left side of the headstock. I was thinking that I wanted it for cross drilling some holes. Went to YouTube and was looked at how one fellow made one but put 100 holes in his. What would that many holes be for? I saw other ideas where they had more of an indexing plate that gave even more options.
100 holes would be needed if you are going to be making dials with 100 divisions. I would do the indexing plate form if possible (and actually just turned a lathe gear with a boss to be able to use indexing plates for my heavy 10 rebuild - still yet to cut the gear teeth). It depends on how much work you are planning on. Making index plates will be time consuming. Even a disc would work with a pointer that you could glue a paper to with markings.

joe
 
I have heard of using a saw blade. I bet the spacing is pretty close on those.
Joe
 
It all depends on how many divisions you want to make. 100 holes won't let you make 6 divisions. If yo wanted to make 7 divisions, you would need some multiple of 7 holes.

One of the how-to videos that I saw used a 100 tooth saw blade, hence 100 divisions.
 
I must have watched the same how to video with the saw blade. I do have room to make multiple hole patterns. I guess if I start with a 12 hole pattern I could do 2,3,4 and 6 hole patterns to start. Just have to decide on the cross drill attachment style I will make first. I run an AXA style toolpost so was thinking of one that uses the boring bar tool holder. What do you guys use? either bought or homemade?
It all depends on how many divisions you want to make. 100 holes won't let you make 6 divisions. If yo wanted to make 7 divisions, you would need some multiple of 7 holes.

One of the how-to videos that I saw used a 100 tooth saw blade, hence 100 divisions.
 
My Atlas/Craftsman 6x18 came with 60 index holes on the bull gear, along with an indexing pin.

At some time in the far distant past, I made a dial for the tailstock with 62.5 divisions. (The lead screw has a 16tpi pitch, hence .062"/rev.) I laid the pattern out on graph paper and glued it to a backing plate that I mounted on the spindle. The marks on the pattern were then visually lined up with a pointer and a scribe was dragged across the dial being made. Not totally accurate but it is close enough that any scribing error is less than the ability to read the dial. This was long before there were any CAD programs. Now, I would lay the pattern out in a CAD program, print the pattern, glue it to a backing plate, and go. Here is an example of that dial pattern.

Tailstock Dial.JPG
 
My Atlas/Craftsman 6x18 came with 60 index holes on the bull gear, along with an indexing pin.
An elderly Stark lathe came with two rings of holes, 60 on the outer and 48 on the inner, as well as a four-hole
pattern on the nose. That facilitates square-through-hexagon patterns, plus 8,10,12,15,16...
 
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