L-W Chuck Co. DIVIDING HEAD DISMANTLE AND CLEAN-UP

Brain Coral

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Hello all,

I started a thread about this dividing head already, but somehow I posted it incorrectly, so I will attempt to re-post it.

I had been looking for a dividing head for some time now and finally found one locally. I paid $275.00 for it and feel that it was a fair price, considering they don't show up very often around here.

Here's a couple of pics of it after a cursory cleaning with varsol...

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I decided that I would tear the dividing head down in order to properly inspect and clean it and to ensure that all of the oiling passageways were clear and everything was working properly.

After removing the handwheel and indexing plate, I then removed the chuck. I wedged a peice of hardwood between the jaws and gave it a sharp rap with a steel hammer and freed the chuck...

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I then removed the auxilliary gear drive from the base and then the cast iron gear cover plates from the main gears...
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The next step was to pull the two gears from their respective shafts...

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I then removed the cast iron gear housing from the main casting...

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After removing the large through bolts and nuts that hold the main casting to the base casting and protractor, I freed the main casting and was able to drive out the two gear shafts...

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I'm not sure if I'm at my limit for pics, so I will post this and continue...

Cheers...

Brian

- - - Updated - - -

Here's a couple more pics of the shafts, including the main spindle....

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I'm gonna try and post a short sentence, to see if it will be seperate from the original post, as it seems that I can't edit photos the second time around...


Brian
 
Ok, Here it goes...

The worm gear shaft consists of an outer eccentric shaft that is adjustable to take out the backlash between the worm gear and the main gear. It is held in place with a split collar...

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Here's the start of the clean-up and painting... I might scrape the top of the letters "L-W" clean....

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Bare casting...

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Main casting just about cleaned up...

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A few more parts painted...

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I have a bunch more parts sitting in de-greaser that I will take out today and clean up.

Cheers...

Brian
 
Nice work Brian. This is the stuff I love to do as it gives you a sense of pride when your done and the equipment is all tarted up with a fresh coat of paint.

Paul.
 
Hello Paul,

Thanks... I think that I enjoy taking stuff apart, fixing , cleaning and painting as much as I enjoy machining. I also benefit from gaining "inside" knowledge about how everything works and gain more confidence to fix things.

Here's a few more pics of parts fresh from the de-greaser...

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The spindle gear has had a repair that looks like it was done rather well. I can't even begin to imagine what could have happened to involve this many teeth...

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The locking handle has seen better days. I think that I will turn a new one. I have this peice of plastic that might do the job, but would rather it be black....

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Here is the auxilliary gear assembly before going into the de-greaser...

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Things are starting to go back together...

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Installing the spindle, spindle gear, eccentric shaft, worm gear and bearing assemblies all at once took a couple of tries until I got the sequence just right. Upon assembly, I adjusted the backlash in both the worm gear shaft as well as the worm gear to spindle gear mating. I found that the repair on the spindle gear is slightly larger in radius than the rest of the gear, so I opted for a slightly tight backlash in that area and an easy turning the rest of the way. Hopefully this won't affect the performance of the dividing head too much.

I will work on the rest of the parts tomorrow.

Cheers...

Brian

Oh, I almost forgot....

I am missing a couple of 1/4" brass ball oilers for this dividing head. I know that this subject has been beat to death, but so far I can't find a source. If anyone knows where I can pick some up, I would appreciate the tip.
 
Hello Brulow,

Yes, that's what I'm looking for, but the last time I checked, McMaster- Carr won't sell or ship to Canada.

Maybe things have changed and I don't know about it. If I could get my hands on real brass ball oilers, so much the better, but I'm not stuck on them.

Brian
 
Hello Brulow,

Yes, that's what I'm looking for, but the last time I checked, McMaster- Carr won't sell or ship to Canada.

Maybe things have changed and I don't know about it. If I could get my hands on real brass ball oilers, so much the better, but I'm not stuck on them.

Brian

Brian, have you tried this outfit in UK. They will ship worldwide. http://www.thenippleshop.co.uk I have really enjoyed your clean up journey.

Regards
David
 
Hello David,

Hahaha... "The Nipple Shop"... try googling that and see what you come up with... :yikes:

No, I have never heard of them. As soon as I reply to this thread, I will go and have a boo. Thanks very much for the link.

Thanks... I really have also enjoyed my clean-up journey. I didn't really keep track of the time that it has taken, but around 10 hours. It has been worth every minute.

Brian
 
Hello, again David,

I had a look on "The Nipple Shop's" website... teehee... but among the list of countries to ship to... Canada isn't among them. I could be mistaken... but didn't see it there... I will look into this further. I will also contact McMaster-Carr to see if they have changed their policies.

Brian
 
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