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Indexing Wheel / Division Plate

Overview

Indexing Wheel

Indexing wheels (also known as an division plates or a indexing plates) get used for a number of operations on the rose engine. As with traditional lathes, indexing wheels are used for cuts which need to be at set angles around the circle : say, every 15°.

A common use for indexing wheels in ornamental turning is for phasing. Phasing is changing the relationship between the rosette and the object being turned. For example, to make a basket weave pattern:

1. the ornamental turner cuts a pattern on the object, one complete revolution.
2. the ornamental turner then rotates the object some pre-determined direction and number of degrees (say, 15° clockwise)
3. the ornamental turner repositions the cutting head a pre-determined distance (say, 0.050" towards the lathe headstock)
4. the ornamental turner then cuts the same pattern on the object, one complete revolution.
5. Steps 2-4 are repeated until the object is completed.

Indexing wheels like the yellow one shown to the right can be made with 3D printers, or they be purchased. I purchased an aluminium one from Alisam Engineering.

Additional pictures of this device

More Information

Published Articles

• Phasing Fundamentals by Jon Magill describes phasing in better details. American Association of Woodturners' magazine, "American Woodturner", Fall 2008, pg 62.

Books

• The Art of Double-Counting on the Lathe - Whereby a Variety of Patterns in the form of Ellipses, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and Octagons, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8-Looped Figures, Besides Others of a More Complex Character may be produced by means of the Common Eccentric Chuck used in Combination with the Division Plate and the Eccentric and Elliptical Cutters. With 60 Illustrations (1857), by Captain James Ash (inventor of the Elliptical Cutting Frame).

Presentations

• Spiral Fluting an Ornament on a Rose Engine, by Gary Miller. This YouTube video shows a number of things, including the use of an Alisam index wheel (around 2:35 into the video).