Ellis Dividing Head Restoration

I need a dividing head for an upcoming project, so I found the crustiest looking one on Ebay and restored it. This is an old Ellis Dividing head, and it came out pretty nice if you ask me.
I used Anchor Lube in this video and I'm excited they're now a supporter of the channel. Check out their product here:
www.amazon.com...
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/ jeremymakesthings

[@DavidPlass]

Love the frequent stops. "Hold on..." while wire-wheeling the latest victim.

[@K_Shea]

Jeremy, yes, that took a lot of work but ended up being a very nice dividing head. You deserve a higher subscriber count.

[@RedDogForge]

Watching someone who's obviously still learning and growing with a strong understanding of the fundamentals is giving me hope :)

[@willisedkopic3553]

I'm 68 years old and after watching you work, I now consider my life wasted. LOL. Great job.

[@TomassAfastass]

its not as glamorous as it looks. Im sure with all the mistakes and in between scenes cut out you might reconsider.

[@dumitrutocila5807]

Eu am 60 de ani și nu cred în ceea ce ai zis , sănătate și viața lungă

[@cooperised]

I didn't really have time to watch this video, but I thought I could put it on in the background and get something else done at the same time. I was wrong - I watched every second! Great job, great video.

[@RotarySMP]

Cool. Casting parts in the middle of the video. Love it Jeremy. Do you have a sand muller yet? Best addition to a home foundry ever.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

I don’t, and I think that would solve a lot of my issues with getting my sand right.

[@jdmccorful]

@@JeremyMakesThings Temperature, also. Thanks for the fun.

[@Rustinox]

And from junk to gem again. Really nice job, Jeremy.

[@danceswithaardvarks3284]

Thanks for showing that "warts and all" restoration. I am just on my 4th attempt at making something, so watching this after 3 fails made me feel better about myself. Also it made me realise how much work can go into restoring a dividing head. Good job.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Mistakes are part of the learning process. It’s only failing when you give up.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

I also didn’t show blowing the dimension on the bore of the direct index plate and having to weld it up and re-bore it. Twice. 🤷‍♂️

[@danceswithaardvarks3284]

ouch

[@WekaWindows]

Hi Jeremy - word to the wise. Easiest way I've found is to measure moisture % is find a consistency that works, then tamp down a known volume and weigh it. Another way of ensuring a uniform water content is mulling, but those machines can be a bit of a headache to find as I'm sure you're aware. A cheap alternative that works nicely is a big baking sheet and some non-porous sheet on top of it. Pour the sand on it, roll it with a rolling pin, then just fold it in half with the sheet, and repeat.

[@TradeWorksLLC]

While I can appreciate getting lost in scraping I wanted to bring something to the forefront that people often forget: When you’re scraping an item that isn’t a large chunk of cast iron that will have an opposing sliding surface you need to take into account how it’s final install position will affect things before investing a ridiculous amount of time making it flat/parallel/perpendicular/square. For instance the little rabbit ears on the sides of a rotating base will more than likely act differently than the large base when tightened down to a table, while said base will also experience some contact from being pulled into the table… basically scraping parts independently that will get clamped later will most likely NOT provide any real tangible gains for the time & energy. However if it’s purpose is mostly done for practice, looks, or cuz I feel like it then you are actually my long lost brother and I say Keep on Keeping On!

[@melgross]

That’s very true. I remove burrs, because old equipment always has them. Scraping isn’t a panacea. You can get into a lot of trouble scraping. It’s not one of my favorite things to do, and it’s mostly unnecessary.

[@onsecondthought4174]

The cross hatching is for holding oil. Not making it fit.

[@MyLilMule]

I used to own an Ellis dividing head. Nicely made tool, for sure.

[@DangerousSportsForSeniors]

Connecting a Smart electric motor to an old Jeep transmission probably requires a custom shaft . Another excellent video. Thanks for sharing

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Shhh…..don’t tell anyone.

[@the_real_randall]

As an owner of an Ellis dividing head, I have enjoyed mine. Very nice tool.

[@brianwalk108]

Just found your channel, but I gotta say, your level and talent and knowledge combined with your sense of humor and sarcasm come together to make some really enjoyable videos. Subscribed!

[@KW-ei3pi]

A great project. Nicely done! The big problem with disassembling one of these, is knowing how to get them apart. A real time disassembly with explanations would have made this a much more valuable resource. Some "beauty shots" at the end would have been nice. I looks like it turned out very nice. Regards,

[@yeagerxp]

Excellent work 👍👍👍. Thank you for sharing. Be safe 🇨🇦

[@GilmerJohn]

Love the ending: 7 sides bolt!

[@WestHamBubbleBoy]

Great video. Thanks for showing us 😉🇬🇧🇺🇦⚒️

[@FliesLikeABrick]

What a beautiful outcome

[@PioneerRifleCompany]

Well, in my world I use my dividing head nearly once a day, especially when making tooling. Great restoration and that was definitely a good find!

[@barthanes1]

Nice! Battleship gray is one of my favorite tool colors.

[@macdrew77]

Casting seems like such a useful skill for a machinist to have. The handle turned out really great.

[@Telephonebill51]

There's a dude in Australia (Cutting Edge Eng) that melted some scrap to make a couple of billets for a rotary welding ground. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHrOeaePjKqBn6M

[@CrimFerret]

Great video and now that old dividing head will have a new life of helping make parts.

[@shawnmrfixitlee6478]

❤ the 7 sided bolt .. LOL ! Great job works and looks great , ENJOYED !👍👍

[@michaelleduc219]

I just bought a Republic dividing head that is very similar to the Ellis. This video has been very helpful as I get the Republic dividing head tuned up and ready to go. Thanks for the effort to put this video together.

[@nelson00-qk5ef]

One of the best channels on KZbin!

[@rille47]

Ahhh good one, that 7 side bolt at the end :) love it

[@jobkneppers]

Jeremy, shortening bolts with a nut like you did is simple if you use a boring bar, reverse the spindle and cut it from the back to the center. Now the bolt just becomes tighter when you turn. Best! Job

[@patric3917]

now you just need to make a wrench that handles a 7-side bolt! .. Ultimate "Don't borrow my tools" moment ;)

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Proves that a gem can be found with patience, effort and skill. Thank you for sharing such an inspiring restoration. 👏👏👍😀

[@riddle672]

Used to work with dividing / index heads almost 2 decades back.. miss all those wheel selection calculation and trying not to get distracted when rotating index head . Tricks to bring back to previous point in case distracted during indexing. But CNC have made life easier

[@jasonbell5905]

A for will power! And you have that , keep up the good work.

[@jobkneppers]

Jeremy, a quality piece from the past restored to it's former beauty! Much better than re-engineering Chinesium castings to become a useful tool. I always think of the people who made it back then and try to make them pride again. This is a quality piece from the past which found it's way to Jeremy who appreciates it and restores it as good as new. No shortcuts here. Let's cast a new brass handle is something I wouldn't do because of the location of my shop. I would silver solder a few brass parts to get to a similar result. Thank you for sharing your work! Best, Job

[@jeffo881]

randomly showed up in my feed today, stopped to check it out, I subscribed.

[@DanelonNicolas]

Amazing job! I love the "hang on" before cleaning the scews haha

[@georgebrown8312]

That is awesome. I have never seen a device like the dividing head machine. It looks much better and it works like a charm too. Excellent work.

[@be007]

nice bolt ! cheers ben.

[@paulinmt2185]

Nice work. Years ago I scored an odd-ball dividing head from a used tool dealer. It too had but one plate and no crank assembly. I custom-made the additional two plates along with the crank arm and detent pin. I still need a tail stock for it. Love the way you just cast a part you needed. Cheers!

[@624Dudley]

Another nice equipment refurb. 👍

[@TomChame]

Very nice job! Well done, thanks.

[@julias-shed]

Like what you did with the bolts very neat 😀

[@NixonWyatt-e5v]

Nice! Battleship gray is one of my favorite tool colors.. That was really good work, well done!.

[@radusodehnal8623]

Matěj důležitější jsou tvoje zprávy v tvém podání, to studio je až na posledním miste, jinak dobrý 👍👋❤️🌹🇨🇿

[@mftmachining]

Excellent job. Top.

[@jamest.5001]

Try lost foam casting, you make the part from foam, coat it in plaster, allow it to set, put it in dry sand to pour, No moisture problems!!

[@joeo6378]

can hear discord alert at 16:38 and it make me jump to check who messaged me lol. Cool video. It is clear you put in a ton of effort into your projects, video, sound. Thank you for sharing.

[@terryreynolds1366]

Jeremy you are a smart person just found your videos dang i really enjoy it thanks

[@jeffanderson4979]

Incredible transformation

[@plang42]

You have great comic timing 😁

[@guye7763]

That was really good work, well done!

[@jamest.5001]

That would have looked awesome painted that mint green hammer tone old Tool boxes and tools were painted with!

[@lumotroph]

I love these “hang on…” moments 😂

[@jimsvideos7201]

Very well done, the project and the video.

[@barthanes1]

Well, it looked like an anchor when you started, but now it's damn fancy.

[@Koptokaf]

As always really interesting video. The shot placement and framing is superb now that you have your camera boom incorporated. it truely shows. Good stuff.

[@skeeton5772]

Awesome stuff, I've always found machining interest and I am starting to try my hand at turning on a manual lathe

[@VincenzOmaha]

Excellent video. Thank you!

[@Galerak1]

7-sided bolt heads will be the next great thing, you just wait and see 👍

[@williamogilvie6909]

Very nice restoration job. I have the same dividing head; bought on eBay for $320. It came with a 3 jaw chuck and was unpainted with no rust. I think the seller bead-blasted it. At some point it must have taken a tumble because the 15/8" 8 tpi thread was dented. The 3-jaw chuck will only screw on part way. I was able to use a faceplate from my South Bend heavy 10 lathe, which is 13/4" 8 tpi. It works really well. Except for the thread damage, it is ok. I clawed back $50 from the seller, a good guy.

[@RedDogForge]

That reamers awesome :)

[@dannywilsher4165]

Jeremy makes nice things!!!

[@rickpalechuk4411]

Love the purple degreaser, works great. Nice resto/upgrade Cheers

[@guerreroa85]

Very cool! Subscribed!

[@parnuzutech]

Extraordinary 👍

[@wanpengqian]

Now you have to make a wrench that will fit you bolt😊

[@billdoodson4232]

Anchorlube seem to be going all out with getting the name around on KZbin machinist channels at the moment.

[@Tasarran]

Somehow, I knew you were going to make a seven-sided something! I'm psychotic! ;)

[@melgross]

I hope you checked parallelism of the sides while you were scraping. I bought one of these with a broken foot. Making a new toe with ductile iron and welding it back one wasn’t too much work. These are very good heads when they’re cleaned up properly. The second lock screw hole is used on some versions because they’re made to reverse the spindle. It’s easier, and cheaper, to just make all of the bodies the same. Don’t lock the rear part of the spindle. It will knock it out of spec.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

I didn’t check parallelism because 1)I didn’t take enough off to really change it (much) and 2) it doesn’t really matter here because any parallelism error will be taken out when the tilt of the head is clocked in. I guess the one time it would matter is if I had the head vertical and was cutting across it, but I think I’d be more likely to use a rotary table for that.

[@petergdk]

0.15...0.15...0.15......0.25.... VERY relatable :) Awesome video. Can't believe i just only found your channel. Very funny, and your skils are impressive :)

[@lark_ch1]

Did you go pass the hole with handle ? It will create error. Its one time error, it doesnt add up, but some holes might be shifted.

[@Beef4Dinner22]

Now you need to make a hept- wrench to go with your new bolt.

[@ronwilken5219]

So who's going to get theseptagonal headed bolt in their Christmas stocking this year? Neat rebuild and adaption of random bits to make it more useful. Thanks for the video.

[@RedDogForge]

I've got a 1928 south bend and a 1953 atlas. Weird noises are DEFINATELY the norm lol

[@williswalker1294]

And thats why i bought that set of 7 point sockets before Sears went under

[@lundysden6781]

nice work!

[@davidsorkin]

Thanks for making this great video. It really has it all! Machining, scraping, forging, casting - very entertaining and informative. I found it and your channel (now subscribed) because I am restoring my own Ellis Dividing Head that I picked up at an auction. How did you get the spindle out? You showed it very quickly and it seemed like it just came out with a little persuasion. Mine is not coming out and I'm afraid of just using a bigger hammer. Also, any tips on getting the chuck off? It's stuck on pretty good. Thanks again! David

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Once the lock ring on the back is off, the spindle gets driven out the front. As far as getting a stuck chuck off, I had to do that when I got my lathe. I chucked a piece of hex stock in it and used an impact wrench. Brutal but effective.

[@Bakafish]

LOL, scraping always goes out of hand. That head looks quite nice though, I have a B&S style, that one is new to me.

[@joell439]

PERFECT!

[@johnnym1320]

turned out great! one thing to be aware of, if you pass the index hole you should not just backup into the hole, you need to backup past the hole to take the backlash out first.

[@MarkATrombley]

Are the plunger holes in different dividing head plates all the same size? I could see one plate having metric holes and another imperial. Or one manufacturer using a slightly different size holes than a different manufacturer even if both use metric.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Both of the plates I had were 1/8”, the plunger I used the parts from was slightly smaller, but since I had to shorten it anyway, I just cut off the smaller diameter.

[@oldschool1993]

The reason there is only 1 set screw is that overtightening that extra one could easily crush that sleeve.

[@jimmyfleebot]

I subscribed because you ended the show with a seven sided bolt... Only thing left to do is to throw it into a parts bin at work and wait for the mayhem.

[@petemclinc]

Nice restoration Jeremy or better yet a reconstruction, you went all out. At 1:18 I see that the worm pivots on a pin thru the main housing, can you explain why that is. I'm considering buying a similar Ellis unit but the pivot movement seemed excessive, I thought it might be damaged. Your thoughts please, thanks a bunch!

[@JeremyMakesThings]

It’s so you can disengage the worm to use the direct index finger plate without having to crank the handle (imagine if you were making a bunch of hex bolts, it would be easier to turn the spindle by hand). There are two set screws on the top, one on either side of the pivot to dial in the engagement o the worm with the worm wheel or to disengage it. It’s a pretty slick design.

[@MurlWatne-io2bo]

You are knowledgeable in machining. Did you go to engineering school or tool n die apprenticeship?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Nope, self taught.

[@lolcec81]

Комментарий в поддержку канала и ролика, а также труда мастера

[@TgWags69]

Caustic soda/lye/sodium hydroxide....makes an awesome paint stripper/degreaser. Usually much much cheaper than bottled stuff. I keep a fifty pound bag in the shop for all kind of stuff like electrolysis, drain cleaner, oven cleaner, geopolymer experiments etc. Of course it probably would've taken the paint and script of of your tags, and it is pretty harsh on aluminum so you have to watch.....but when you need the big guns, there's no comparison.

[@shannonstratton3164]

Can you elaborate more on exact ratios of the recipe?

[@shannonstratton3164]

I may have a set of stray dividing head plates out in the barn. I dont know what they came from, but they dont fit mine.

[@shannonstratton3164]

Jeremy, I just checked some stray plates I have. They are 3-hole plates, and I have 2 different plates. They measure 5"od, 1.125id, 0.25 thick. The 3-hole pattern circle is about 1.810" diameter. One plate is 37-49 by twos and the other plate is 21-33 by twos. Let me know if your interested.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

@shannonstratton3164 that sounds like what I need. I’ve got the 37-49 (plus 54), but the other one is the plate I’m missing. Shoot me an email and we’ll talk details: [e-mail]

[@shannonstratton3164]

@@JeremyMakesThings I'll take some pics and send you an email tomorrow!

[@shannonstratton3164]

​@@JeremyMakesThingsI sent an email, did it go through?

[@ethanmiller5487]

Did you check parallelism on your base plate?

[@jonathonworner360]

What's a dividing head part of, and it's purpose? I watch videos like these because I like seeing mechanical things getting restored

[@hairymcnipples]

It's not a part of another tool, although it is used in concert with a machine tool - particularly a mill. It's used to create circular patterns of features divided very accurately, and it's particularly useful because it's very flexible. Consider that you want 60 holes evenly distributed in a circle, or a 220 tooth gear. The dividing head can be used to turn the part by a very accurate fraction of a full revolution.

[@NeMoC53]

What brand of rattle can is that? I really like that color gray. Really nice work on this!

[@JeremyMakesThings]

It’s rust oleum charcoal gray. I really like it too.

[@chuckh.2227]

Would have been nice if you explained what a dividing head is

[@waynepennington2769]

What is this used for anyway.

[@deeiks12]

How do you align the hex head bolt with the collet block?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

I used a 30-60-90 angle block.

[@wanglydiaplt]

Hmmm Anchor Lube looks a lot like some stuff called West Lube. I really liked that stuff but it disappeared! Same thing??

[@robertpeters9438]

What sort of training have you had to be able to do these projects?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Watching a lot of KZbin and then learning by trial and error.

[@martinschroederglst]

"Perfect!"^^

[@oxwilder]

What is that hissing noise every time you cut?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

There were a few things going on in the audio on this one, I tried to clean them up the best I could. There was a hiss in the beginning that I have no idea where it came from, just some sort of recording artifact. Later in the video, there was various background noise in some of the clips (ultrasonic cleaner, cnc router, etc.)

[@josseman]

Is your wrist okay? I noticed you wore a brace

[@JeremyMakesThings]

It’s a thumb injury. It’s not shop-related, but I’m going to do another video on that because it’s going to slow me down for a bit. I tried to hide it in this one because it happened so late in the project, but I slipped up in that one shot. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@JohnThawley]

Not bad for an afternoon’s work. 😆 But seriously, how many weeks/months did that take?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

It was about 3.5 months, but it was off and on while working on other projects.