No definative descripton because the manufacturers insist on calling them different names.

Universal dividing head 'should' have an drive shaft on the head that can drive the input shaft where the division plates fit.

The idea of this is so that the table can be geared to the head so it can do helical indexing.

It can also be fitted with a stand alone gear setup so that as the input shaft is turned it can turn the index plates so they finish up in a different position. This allows you to do what is known as differential indexing where you can do prime numbers that the plates on their own, cannot do.

Plain dividing head is the type that just has the index plates.

Very hard choice whether to have a rotary table or dividing head, both do much of what the other does but both lack all the features of both.

Many people start off with a horizontal / vertical rotary table with the optional index plate set. That will do everything a plain dividing head will do except tilting to do angular work but in some cases what can't be done on the top of the work can be done on the side

I have been considering getting either a small dividing head or rotary table.

One of the options that I think will give the best of both worlds is to purchase a rotary table that comes with or can easily be fitted with a stepper motor, such as for example one of these from Sherline or ArcEurotrade although neither are particularly cheap.

Adding a digital controller such as the DivisionMaster or one of the other designs found on the web will then add a comprehensive dividing capability without resorting to counting holes.

Clive

Edited By clivel on 10/02/2013 02:49:08

Re rotary tables, I used to have a Vertex one [200 mm] t was probably me but I never got on with it. It had quite a bit of play in the drive and although the bore was true running and everything was flat and square I decided to purchase a Bison 250mm rotary table and the difference was quickly noticed. [but so was the price, and the weight] . I would suspect that there are loads of model engineers out there that have Vertex ones and find them very good , they are one of the more respected far eastern brands. Like I said it was "probably me" but I never took to it. The Bison one is very ,very rigid probably more so than my Chester Lux mill , and very accurate,

Regards, Raymond.

I would expect a universal dividing head to also be able to tilt, for operations like cam milling, and have provision for a gear train to drive the spindle directly for low lead spiral milling.

Although I have a universal dividing head, when I needed to cut spur gears with numbers of teeth that couldn't be done with the standard division plates I found it easier to make a special division plate, rather than set up the gear train for differential indexing.

Regards,

Andrew

The meaning of the term ' Universal ' has always been a bit iffy in the history of machinery . Just take the example of the ' Universal ' miller – at least three definitions :

With horizontal and vertical capability .

With table which can be set ( in horizontal plane ) at an angle .

With facilities to couple to dividing heads for spiral milling as mentioned above .

Michael Williams .

With my rotary table which has a thimble marked in deg,Min. it is quite difficult to set Sec. in between the 20min scale divisions.

Apart from a Division master is there an easy way of setting the deg/min/sec readings? As at the moment it is just guestimation.

I wish I could fit one of those decimal readers that I had when I was in the Army, they were fitted to Dial sights on the guns and were able to be read to seconds.

Never seen one since.

Clive