# Instructions on using an indexable lathe



## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

My Jet 1014 is the older non-indexable model (blue paint)
I've thought of selling it and getting the newer 1014 indexable.

Some 50 miles South of me is a Jet distributor that had recent craigslistings for the newer mode for $280 (some scratches on the paint).

Indexable? How do I find instructions on what this would gain me?

If it doesn't gain me much, I'll just keep the older one I have and drill the holes needed for screwing the extension onto it.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

The only thing I can remember seeing it used for is when Norm Abrams mounted a router sled over a spindle so that he could flute it. You could use a jig to put a finished spindle in to do the same job just not as accurate maybe but then if no one can tell then it doesn't matter.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

I use the index a lot on mine. I use it for drilling, making lines, etc. There are a lot of applications it can be used for. Wouldn't have a lathe without it. My big Nova also has indexing.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

These shots show why I had to make an indexing system for my then lathe (I've since got a new one but still not indexed) The pdf shows how I made the indexing system


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## idioms (Nov 14, 2013)

I think I stuck between the Men.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Ralph there are a lot of issues with indexing and Lathes, if you are making a three legged table then you need to be able to accurately hold the leg while you cut the three mortises, most cabinetmakers would make a jig to hold the leg at fixed stations 120 degrees apart when the cuts are done, you make a box for that and you can see one on my thread called "A DIFFERENT ROUTER LATHE or “A ROUTER STANDARDIZER” now if you want the box to be very versatile then you need to be able to change the indexing wheel to one where it will give you the fixed stations that the job calls for, now think about an indexing wheel with three stations, no good for cutting the mortises on any four legged table column, what about if you wanted to do six flutes? There are 360 degrees in any circle so what if you wanted to do 12 flutes? To do that then you would need fixed stations every 30 degrees, The box you see on that thread can be used to do many types of jobs other than what I use it for, I have been ill so I am still making a better one, these boxes work very well as you can sit a router up on top of it and do some work where the depth of cut is set buy how far the cutter is allowed to stick down, with indexing on lathes then you are limited to the indexing wheel and they don't allow that many fixed stations, Harry made his so he can solve those problems and thanks for the PDF Harry, however once you have the indexing wheel you want to use then what? You can use it to lock the work piece in place so you can set out a line that shows where your flute should be cut but how do you cut it? To set out the line then most wood workers would make a jig that rests on the lathe bed and slides along, you make it so that a pencil sicks out square and at the center line of the chucks and then you can draw a line by sliding the jig along, then turn the work piece and stop it at the next station then draw anouther line, do them all and you have the flutes sets out, but not cut, cut them by hand as that's been done before, instead of making a jig to set out the lines in pencil then you can make one that holds a router trimmer square where the pencil was and then set the work piece and run the suitable cutter along and cut the flute rather than draw it, you have an issue to solve about the cut depth, that can be done by adding a bearing to the jig so that when the bearing rests on the work piece then the cut can get no deeper'

Ralph the thing is that I find that this type of box is far more flexible than the indexing systems on the lathe itself, you can use them to lock the work piece in place for some of the many possible index stations, but not all, for this reason I find the indexing systems that come on lathes, to be next to useless, its hard to advise you as you did not say what cuts you will do with your index-able lathe, all that those indexing systems do is lock the face plate in some positions, any cutting has to be done with a shop made jig that slides along the lathe bed, everyone who reads my posts will know that I don't recommend someone buy anything unless you have a clear use for it so tell me what your plan is and what you want to use this index-able lathe for, I can tell you now that I will recommend that you make a box to do it and forget about index-able lathes. Neville


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Ralph I have had a chance to look at Harry's indexing wheel, from one wood worker to another then 'nice wheel Harry' the reason for the new post is this one, what if after you made your first key holder you did not like the spacing and you decided that you needed one hole less around the circumference? Or two less, the only way to do that is to make a new indexing wheel that set out those new stations as a 36 station wheel cannot ever, as long as this world goes around our sun, do 34 stations, there are some things that you can do like make an indexing wheel with 40 stations and then only use every second one, or skip two and only have one third of the holes, but how do you get 17 holes? This is the clear proof that the indexing stations that come on most lathes are next to useless, they never can do all the set outs that you may want, Harry solves it my making his own wheel, and I am sure that he could make a new one if he needed it and the odd numbers are the hardest like 19, even if Harry's lathe did have an indexing option then he would most likely have had to do it with a Harry made wheel anyway. And Harry my friend, you could have made a similar wheel to use on your drill press and drilled the holes that way, the holes did not need to be drilled via an indexing wheel on the lathe which proves my point about the useless nature of indexing wheels on any lathe. Neville


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

As you said,there's no reason to stick to 36 holes, make one like in this shot or make several different ones.
As for the error Neville, just count the holes in the disc and those that I drilled which appear to be equidistant, there IS a difference of two which no one so far has been able to explain. Fortunately the actual number of holes in the jewellery stand was of no importance. To have drilled the holes in the drill press I would have had to buy or make a complete indexing head and I'm sure that my skills would not be sufficient for that!
What about fluting, how would YOU do it Neville without an indexing system on your lathe?


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## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

Neville, I have no set idea about any project in mind. Lack of that is why I posted my thread. I have an opportunity to upgrade my mini lathe to one with indexing and I'm trying to get a grasp on what benefit that will give me.

I do know that indexing at various degrees is useful but I don't see many examples of it being carried out in wood working.

I'll search for the post you referenced.

The responses I'm getting are exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks!!


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

There are many you-tube videos.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Harry I will get back to you in a few days. N


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## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

I've seen a number of YouTube vids.

I did finally find neville's thread:
http://www.routerforums.com/jigs-fixtures/38681-different-router-lathe-router-standardizer.html

I searched for "DIFFERENT" by neville9999.

Having found it, now I have to read it.

Thanks,


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

harrysin said:


> As you said,there's no reason to stick to 36 holes, make one like in this shot or make several different ones.
> As for the error Neville, just count the holes in the disc and those that I drilled which appear to be equidistant, there IS a difference of two which no one so far has been able to explain. Fortunately the actual number of holes in the jewellery stand was of no importance. To have drilled the holes in the drill press I would have had to buy or make a complete indexing head and I'm sure that my skills would not be sufficient for that!
> What about fluting, how would YOU do it Neville without an indexing system on your lathe?


Harry I've been sick for weeks so this email got pushed far off the page and for some weird reason I was having a big problem getting onto the forum with the usual links, for the same weird reason that problem has gone away so, thanks so much for posting the nice image of the lathe bed router sled as this type of sled is a must if you are going to use your lathes index system and it is as I said in my first response, you can use the lathes index wheel to hold the chuck still as long as the index stations on that wheel are suitable for your project and if not then you can do what you did, make on that does suit, but how do you do the cut? I do have some images like this sled but I had to build a new computer and I did save all the images on the old one but they are on USB hard drives and not easy to find, the thing is that this type of box has to be made to do any 'actual cut' using the indexing system on any index-able lathe, unless you are going to do the cut by hand, which was the old method, I have been told that some more experienced guys did fix wires and pulley wheels onto their lathes and they used these wires to control the rotation of the lathe's chuck so that they could draw spiral flutes onto their workpiece using a pencil sled, they did get the correct spacing but they still had to do the cut by hand, I have never been able to get an image on any lathe that did have a 'wire & pulley' system fitted however my point is proved, you can use the index wheel that comes with an index-able lathe to 'draw flutes' on any item, like a spindle, but you cannot do the cut without a sled like this one and you are limited to the possible index stations that the lathes index wheel will give. In the situation of your nice key rack then I agree, the number of holes does not matter that much so you just pick any number that the lathes index wheel can do that looks OK and gives a reasonable spacing however you did make your wheel so anyone with any lathe can also make a wheel for themselves that does suit the project.

My problem has always been 'spiral flutes on irregular surfaces', the sled you have shown will work with any 'straight object', you do have a cutter depth problem however that can be solved, what you do it that you use a planning cutter fitted to the router to cut all your spindles to be exactly correct and all the same, because the diameter of the spindles will all be the exact same diameter then you could then change the cutter to the fluting cutter and then use the index wheel on the lathe to set the stations and do any straight flutes with no depth problem as the cutter will contact the all the spindles at the same depth, if you can rig a height adjustable tail stock, not your normal one but a shop made tail stock that does let you adjust the tail end up, then you could then do all of the same on any tapered spindle, this lets you do straight flutes on straight or tapered spindles, but not spirals and not on uneven shapes or table columns that are not all the same as they were turned by hand, which is my problem the only way to do that is to use a cutter that also has a bearing that rests in the work piece and also sets the depth of cut.

I looked very closely at many lathes, I studied the index wheels very closely and I could see that none of them will do what I wanted and that is why I decided that I had to make a much better index-able box, better than my Router Standardizer anyway, it's what brought me to this site in the first place, Dick and Bruce with their wonderful Router Lathe design. No one box or Router Lathe design can do all, I did see that even though you can do some cuts with this or that design then some other cuts get very hard if not impossible so my index box does do what it was made to do however it cannot do spiral flutes, my new index-able box does solve most of the problems and I am building a new workshop as we speak, it was impossible for me to keep working as I was and the new shop will let all of that be finished, the new box cannot do all the cuts so in the end then I will also build a versions of Bruce's Router Lathe as it's a very clever idea.

For me and with all tools then I think that you have to get a benefit that outweighs the cost of the tool, I gave up on index lathes as they could not do what I wanted and I saw that boxes and Router Lathes were the only way, however I have gotten back to where I started, if there was a project that was going to be done on the index-able head of the lathe that it could first do, and the project did justify the extra cost of the lathe with the index system, then buy it as there would be valid reason, for me then I could not see any way that the index lathe could do what I wanted and all I could see was a gimmick that was hard to get use out of, straight flutes and tapered straight flutes can be cut in a far more versatile way in an index-able box like my Router Standardizer. you always have my best regards Harry. Neville


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