Athough usually used with lathes and mills with face plate or chuck, they can be mounted anywhere, with extension bars fastened, to layout accurate angular objects. Dividers are very useful in making custom square or hex head screws, regular polygonal shapes or accurate spokes for wheels and stall tracks.
A less expensive Unimat divider, using a set of spur type gears (30, 36 or 40) and sprung, taper fitted, stop pin; can divide circles into equal parts of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 30, 36 and 40. The 40 stop could be used to layout a complete circle roundhouse with 40 stalls spaced at 9 degrees. At the price a some accuracy , one of the angles may be bisected and the divider realigned, to double the divisions to 60, 72 and 80. It can be mounted vertically or horizontally and clamped to avoid movement and stress on pin during machining. Fairly accurate gears can be made, if hobs are available. A major drawback is that you must count teeth or use another means to find the approximate angle.
Note: Adjust brightness and contrast for optimum viewing.
UNIMAT DIVIDER.
Left: Face view showing accessory mounting holes.
Right: Tee nuts and gear teeth on lower left.
More expensive is the Emco C-5 combination index and divider using a disk with circles of (36, 48, 56 and 60) precision, drilled holes, can divide by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 28, 30, 36, 48, 56 and 60. Unfortunately there is no 13 for Pennsy spoked drivers. The index dial is divided into degrees with a vernier for 1/6 degree or 10 minutes. This should be accurate enough for turnout frogs. The clamp is built into the base. The dial helps locate the dividing angles which are multiples of the quotient of the divisor into 360. To zero the dial with the divider, the vernier must be unglued and reglued in alignment.
Note: Adjust brightness and contrast for optimum viewing.
EMCO INDEX DIVIDER
Left: Accessory mounting holes and dial with vernier at lower left..
Right: Plate holes, pin and holes for selecting ranges.
A very expensive and bulky, 4" indexing table, by Sherline, can be set to .1 degree = 6 minutes. These are ideal for making jigs to fabricate precision , odd angle frogs for crossings and turnouts, if you opt to afford one. A calibrated wheel with 50 divisions of .1 degree drives the table through a 72:1 worm gear to yield 5 degrees per revolution. The rim of the table is marked in 5 degree increments to match. Adjacent to the wheel are the adjustable rim scale pointer and a set screw which locks table. A grooved ring around the base accommodates the Sherline ell clamp for mounting. A more substantial plate permits the use of other tee nuts and screws for different make tables along with a vertical accessory bracket with truing screw.
Note: As with all geared screw machine feeds, all settings should be made in the same direction to avoid backlash play errors.
Note: Adjust brightness and contrast for optimum viewing.
SHERLINE INDEX DIVIDER
Horizontal: Tee slots and alignment rings. Rim and wheel markings barely visible.
BACK TO SQUARES, BEVELS & MITERS
BACK TO ALIGNMENT AIDS
BACK TO TOOLS INDEX
