Dividing head attachment

[Eliza BrumlParticipant @elizabruml24083]

I have recently acquired a dividing head with two plates for a Myford Super 7b. I have searched high and low for clear instructions how to install and use the head to no avail. A good YouTube video would be amazing. I am sat looking at the attachment with absolutely no idea how to use attach it – I don’t even know if I need more bits! Anyone able to point me in the right direction? TIA

Edited By Eliza Bruml on 06/07/2022 21:04:12

[Eliza BrumlParticipant @elizabruml24083]

Installing and using a dividing head of a Myford Super7

[speelwerkParticipant @speelwerk]

You will need a vertical slide, fixed or swiveling. Niko.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

You can also fit it to the rear of the headstock!!!

[Adrian NicolsonParticipant @adriannicolson]

Hi there Eliza,

Niko suggests (above) that you will need a Vertical Slide, fixed or swivelling…

…so, can I just say…not necessarily…

Have a look at page 250, of the book Workshop Techniques by George H. Thomas, where he starts describing (in detail) how to make a simple packing piece (aka Raising Block) to allow you to fit a Myford Dividing Head onto the Cross Slide of the lathe…The following pages then show how to machine this block…and also show photos of it fitted onto a cross slide, with the Myford Dividing Head.

I also would like to quote from the relevant page: " a simple alloy raising block, which is so machined that the Myford Dividing Head, when fitted to it and then to the cross slide, will always be exactly at right angles or in line with the centre line of the lathe and at the same time centre height. This is done by default".

Considering that the majority of uses will be catering for by either fitting the "Raising Block" either in line…or at right angles to the lathe centre line…then surely this alone, would satisfy the majority of a users requirements…just by making this simple Raising Block.

Personally…I can thoroughly recommend making this simple little raising block…and in use…it is much quicker to fit & set…than the use of a Vertical Slide…

…just my personal view…so…like everything…"your mileage may vary"

One last point…

If you have access to early Model Engineer magazines…then look for an single page article by T.B. Rose titled " An Adapter for the Myford Dividing Head" published in the Issue dated 29th October 1959…page 339…and you will see where George Thomas may have got his inspiration from

Both variants work in the same way…and are (IMHO) quite simple to make.

Enjoy…

Best Regards,

Adrian

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

Eliza

And on the purpose made raising block – endless possibilities! I have the original sheets and instructions such as they are. PM if you would like a copy.

Robert Butler

[Eliza BrumlParticipant @elizabruml24083]

Thank you for your replies – But sadly I am none the wiser😥 I also have the milling attachment (is this what I need..??) does anyone have a pic of the set up, ie the dividing head attached to the vertical slide set up on a Super7 or better a video of how to set up and use… I am a beginner. TIA

Edited By Eliza Bruml on 06/07/2022 23:11:13

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

I will try to copy some myford pictures to you that show it in use. It very nuch depends what you want to do as to how you use this attachment, or what other attachments you need eg, swiveling vertical slide, raising block, Etc I may also have some instructions. Best wishes Noel.

[Alan CharlestonParticipant @alancharleston78882]

Hi Eliza,

There is a manual here:

https://store.lathes.co.uk/print/md396

and a video here:

Not sure how much help the video will be.

Regards,

Alan

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I have never owned a Myford dividing head, but I have “studied them from afar”

It appears to me that the ‘design’ is most unusual [possibly unique] and much less satisfactory than using the headstock as the dividing mechanism and putting the cutter in a separate attachment.

Look, for example, at the way Schaublin does the job

There are some nice clear photos of the Myford contraption here: **LINK**

http://www.myford-lathes.com/accessories6.html

I have no idea who was responsible for Myford’s original design, but it appears to me that they must have been “special”

MichaelG.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

You can use the dividing head to divide the headstock Michael which is what I generally do.

regards Martin

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

To cut anything other than very small model gears, you have to raise the vertical slide on a raising block to get the gear blank above the cutter as shown

Or alternatively, for mid-sized gears you can get away with using a swivelled vertical slide set at an angle, as shown halfway down this page here LINK on lathes.co.uk. It also mentions the Myford dividing head was "inspired by" a Tom Senior design.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Martin Kyte on 07/07/2022 07:54:54:

You can use the dividing head to divide the headstock Michael which is what I generally do.

regards Martin

.

Yes, I know that thanks Martin

… It appears that most users of the Myford Dividing Head choose to avoid the “clever” over-arm configuration, and instead use this complicated attachment to perform a very simple function.

The old joke “if I were you, I wouldn’t start from here” springs to mind.

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Hopper on 07/07/2022 08:05:11:

.

It also mentions the Myford dividing head was "inspired by" a Tom Senior design.

.

Thanks, Hopper … I was not aware of that

I always thought the designer must have been suffering a “Senior moment”

MichaelG.

.

Edit: __ Whilst the Myford lathe can be visualised a reorientated vertical mill; its compound slide makes a very weedy X-Y table … and that is the fundamental weakness of the preferred configuration of Myford’s contraption.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 07/07/2022 08:45:56

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Yes I cut the small 60T gear for my versatile dividing head using the overhead method with the angled swivel vertical slide, but without the raising block, and it was flex city all over the place. Would not even bother with something like DP20 change gears on that set up.

On the other hand, if you are going to index the main headstock spindle, most of it can be done without a dividing head by using the change gears and compound gearing with a dentent plunger. The tables of gears are in some of the old books somwhere so you don't even have to calculate it. I did it to graduate the 100 divisions on my resettable cross slide dial etc.

No idea how to get rid of that underline!!

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