Indexing pens

[toys]

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for building a "homemade indexer" I have a spare stepper, with a gear box, I could use and was wondering if anyone has found an inexpensive way to get into turning. I need to make a bunch of pens and would need to keep the homemade indexer cost under $400.00. Any ideas? Would an inexpensive lathe be easy enough to attach the stepper to? Any thoughts on how to mount it, or pitfalls to avoid? Eventually I would like to make some three-d figureens that were turned.

[grandpas@ix.netcom.com]

Not sure I can help you on the indexer...... I have been a pen maker since 1982 and have always done it on a mini lathe. Have had a friend who set-up on the Phantom engineering machine which is an indexer and router system. moderate success,if you want scroll or flutes. Cutter bits were expensive and pen barrel blow out was a problem. You could use a small lathe bed for your indexer and run it by motor. I run my lathe at 2000 rpm for pen turning and sanding. Your still going to have to remount on a lathe or some other unit for sanding and finishing. Just make sure the mandrel mounting on both units are centered the same or here comes egg shaped pens and is a problem. E-mail me off-board or call me if I can help on the pen program. Just got thru turning 200 units for customer. Have about 500 roller ball kits for sale if interested.

[billp]

David,
A number of 'Botters have started with the indexer motor and made a coupling to connect it to the rear of a standard lathe headstock. By doing this you can use all of the standard lathe chucks, etc. This lets you use the Shopbot software for indexer files, and run just about everything the same way as you would on the "real" indexer. You would have to do as others have and rig your own sort of "T track" (or slotted mounting board..) to move the tailstock back and forth. If you disconnect the belt which drives many multi speed lathes your indexer motor becomes the drive source. If you then disconnect your indexer motor and re-connect the drive belt you can run the lathe at higher speeds for finishing sanding... A couple of people are doing this now, and maybe they'll post some pix where you can see their setups..

[toys]

Any recomendations on lathes to attach? There seem to be a lot and prices vary dramatically.
I'm thinking that I would want to just set it on the shopbot table so no major modification would be necessary.

[kerrazy]

I have a metal lathe that I am considering using for turning pens.
I figure i can set the depth of cut and engage the feed and voila in seconds I am turned to the right size.
I came a cross mine from and old school program sitting in a cupboard. it is a small 18" model and thought it would be perfect for pens
Dale

[billp]

David,
I know one 'Botter is using a Jet mini-lathe, while another is using a multi speed from Harbor Freight. I think just about any of them will do the job as long as you can rig the connection from the headstock to the indexer motor..