has anyone made or bought a spring loaded or easy to use indexing pin for the G0766 ? I was spoiled with the nova 2 midi lathe just pull and turn
Not hard to just place the pin into the indexing hole. On my former G0698 model, I tied the pin to a string so as to not lose it in the shavings pile. Now I have one of those magnetic parts trays from Harbor Freight, and it sticks there and I don’t have to worry about it rolling off into the shavings.
the pin won't stay in if I do some work on a bowl with the sander in one spot unless I screw it into the indexing hole it would benice if it was up top
The design is meant to screw in......that holds it all secure. How much actual indexing do you do......it seems most turners use the indexing on a fairly infrequent basis, and having to screw the indexing pin into the headstock seems a very minor thing to me. You may use the feature a lot, and think it is time consuming.....but it is the design. Not saying that there are not better designs for indexing out there, but you won't find a better value for a full featured large lathe than the G0766, so there are trade-off's I guess to get the price point.
Love the lathe just some fine tuning and I thought more people may use the indexing more that would have made something different I will work on something
Jerry, I have two thoughts about your comment about the indexing pin being on the top. 1. If you have the skill, interest and guts, you could remove the spindle and drill a new hole on the top. You might even get by drilling it with the spindle in place, but you would need to take steps to make sure that you were not accidentally drilling into your spindle. There are ways to do that. 2. If you can find a very wide rubber band or elastic band it would hold the pin in any of the holes. 3. I recall that the upper indexing hole is slightly above center (pointing downward slightly) so if you haven't tried using that, perhaps it may work. But if the hole and pin are tapered then too much sanding action may cause it to wiggle out. ...continuing...
part 2: 4. If you have the tools/skill set, you could put a groove and a small O-ring on the indexing pin that would provide friction to keep the pin in place. If you have a friend with the right equipment/skills, you could have him custom make a new pin with the O-ring on it. When I sand, I just screw in the pin (like Roger does).
Thanks for the thoughts I like the idea about a rubber band. We have a blacksmith down the road said he could make just about everything so I will give him a try when I get time
I, too, feared loss in the shaving pile....so I painted the pin fluorescent orange and keep it in a magnetic dish (belt and suspenders). I wonder if just sticking a large rare earth magnet to the pin hole boss would provide enough hold when indexing without screwing the pin in?
I just checked on the Griz site for purchasing the indexing pin. It is part number P0766028 and only costs $1.25. So, if you want to experiment with adding an O-ring to it or want a spare, there is no logical sense to trying to make your own. The next time I put in an order to Griz, I'm going to add an extra indexing pin.
