Indexing

Gear Cutting/Gear Milling: It is a machining process carried out for cutting teeth of different shapes by
using form milling cutters or involute cutters. Indexing: Milling operations some times require the
rotation of workpiece, correct to fraction of minutes, for each groove, slot, gear teeth, etc., to be cut
evenly on the work surface. The accuracy of spacing b/w each cut becomes very important, and this is
accomplished by means of specialized attachment called indexing head. Indexing: This can be defined as
“ the process of evenly dividing the circumference of a circular workpiece into equally spaced divisions,
in order to perform certain machining operations such as gear teeth cutting, splines, grooves in reamers &
tap

Indexing Mechanism

The indexing mechanism is as shown in the figures, consists of 40 tooth worm wheel fastened to the
index head spindle, a single start threaded worm, a crank for turning the worm shaft and an index plate. •
Workpiece is secured to the index head spindle • Goal of indexing is to control the rotation of index head
spindle & hence the workpiece can be divided into number of equal division [any equal number] • Worm
shaft carries the crank at its outer end, which in turn supports a spring loaded plunger, Index plate is also
mounted on the same shaft, • The index pin works inside the plunger & can be adjusted to lock into
desired hole • By pulling the index pin outwards & rotating the plunger, the crank and hence the worm
can be rotated, this causes the worm shaft to rotate causing the worm to drive the wheel and consequently
the spindle head and workpiece to rotate

Simple Indexing

Simple Indexing: in this method of indexing, the workpiece is rotated by turning the crank. When the
crank is rotated , the worm shaft rotates causing the worn to drive the worm wheel & consequently the
spindle to turn. As the spindle rotates, the workpiece that is secured to the spindle by means of a suitable
holding device also rotates. The angle though which the workpiece rotates for each revolution of the
crank depends on the velocity ration b/w the worm & worm wheel.

To calculate velocity ratio

The worm has a single start thread & the worm wheel 40 teeth, one revolution of crank causes the worm
wheel to rotate through one pitch distance., i.e., equal to 1/40th of a revolution, two turns of the crank will
make worm wheel/workpiece to rotate through 2/40 or 1/20th of a revolution and so on • In other words,
40 revolution of crank will make the worm wheel/workpiece to complete one full turn or 360° revolution
thereby making the ratio 40:1 • Therefore, one turn of the index crank =360/40=9° • Thus it is clear,
larger revolution of the crank results in small rotation of the workpiece, therefore the circumference can
be divided into any equal divisions • For 2 division on work piece, the crank has to rotate = 40/2 = 20
turns for each divisions • For 4 divisions on work piece, the crank has to rotate = 40/4 = 10 turns for each
division • Therefore for N divisions on the work piece, the crank has to be rotated 40/N for each division

Simple Indexing To index 23divisions on workpiece

If the workpiece has to be divided into 23 divisions, the crank movement is calculated as follows: Index
crank movement = 40/N = 40/23 =1 17 23 , for each division. This means that, for each division on the
workpiece, the crank should be given 1 full turn, plus a fraction 17 23 of a turn. This is here, where the
circular holes provided in the index plate comes to use. In the fraction term, the numerator denotes the
number of holes to be moved in the index plate, while the denominator denotes the number of holes on
the circle to be used. Comparing the denominator with the counts available on the index plate the
denominator 23 matches with the count available in plate 2. hence plate 2 can be used for indexing.

Plate 1 -15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 holes

Plate 2- 21, 23, 27, 29, 31, 33 holes

Plate 3- 37, 39, 41, 43, 47, 49 holes

1.Calculate the gear tooth proportions.

2. The dividing head and the tail stock are bolted on the machine table. Their axis must be set parallel to
the machine table.
3. The gear blank is held between the dividing head and tail stock using a mandrel. The mandrel is
connected with the spindle of dividing head by a carrier and catch plate.
4. The cutter is mounted on the arbor. The cutter is centered accurately with the gear blank.
5. Set the speed and feed for machining.
6. For giving depth of cut, the table is raised till the periphery of the gear blank just touches the cutter.
7. The micrometer dial of vertical feed screw is set to zero in this position.
8. Then the table is raised further to give the required depth of cut.
9. The machine is started and feed is given to the table to cut the first groove of the blank.
10. After the cut, the table is brought back to the starting position.
11. Then the gear blank is indexed for the next tooth space.
12. This is continued till all the gear teeth are cut.