Indexing

Hello Mark,

I'm not certain where you can find instructions on using indexing. However, the indexing head on a lathe is designed for addition of decorations after the turning has been done. It is used to hold the turning in a particular position while flutes are milled into a spindle with a router attachment. Holes are drilled at a particular spacing around a turned item. Flutes are cut into a bowl. Basically, for any project where added decorations need to be spaced equally around the turning.

If your lathe doesn't have an index head, you can make one that is installed behind your chuck or faceplate or can buy an add on index head. Robert Sorby did make one. Normal lathes that have indexing use 24 or more positions and generally a have a pin to lock the spindle in each position.

I had a Nova Ornamental Turning Attachment that allows a great variety of indexed positions. I once use that to hold the gear blank while milling gear teeth on a set of wooden gears.

Hope that gives you some idea what indexing is and why and how it is used.

Fred Holder

Hello Fred, You wrote "had" and I don't believe The Nova ornamental attachment is currently available. Would you discuss your experience with it a little? I hope others chime in too. I had thought about making a knockoff from a XY vise, but I wonder about its advantages. TIA, Arch

Fortiter,

You are correct Arch. Teknatool has discontinued the manufacture of the Nova Ornamental Turner. I considered this a sad thing, because it was such a fine piece of kit for the woodturner. Unfortunately, there was simply not enough customer interest for it to warrant continued manufacture.

In essence, the Ornamental Turner is an indexing system for doing decorations on a turned object. It also has the ability to rotate and move the object mounted on its spindle so that a thread cutter mounted in the headstock spindle could cut threads. They provided three different metric thread sizes. It cut threads very well.

The unit is essentially a very precise cross feed vise designed to mount to the Nova 3000 bed ways and could be fitted with different optional items. The indexing and thread making option was the one that I used the most. There is however an option to mount regular metal cutting cutters and to do some pretty precision turning of metals such as brass and aluminum.

As I say, the unit is no longer being manufactured; however, there may still be a few units on store shelves or in woodturners shops that are not being used. I do not use mine very often, but I would not part with it for any amount of money.

Hope I've answered your question Arch.

Fred Holder