Hello,
I just purchased a Vertex BS-0 Dividing Head with the 1-1/8”-12 BSW Myford spindle nose from Rotagrip. Wanted the capability to transfer the chucks and other spindle tooling from my Myford S7 to a dividing head directly. Because I live in the USA and returning this would be very expensive, I emailed and spoke with Rotagrip directly to make sure this model would have a Myford spindle nose. They assured me it does indeed.
Upon inspection, it does have the correct thread and a spot on 1.250” register diameter. Spindle is heat treated and the threads and register are ground. Threads need to be deburred at both ends, but everything is in order. Except the distance from the end of the spindle to the register shoulder. The Myford lathe spindle is a nominal 1” length and the dividing head is 0.865” or approximately 1/8” shorter.


The problem with the missing 1/8” of thread is that the Myford Burnerd chucks, faceplates, etc. only engage 2-1/4 turns. With a thread lead of 0.083”, that is only 3/16” of thread engagement. With a hardened D/H spindle thread and cast iron chuck backplates, that could be a potential problem with cracking or failure of the cast iron internal threads.
My questions to other BS-0 D/H owners: Are your D/H spindles 7/8” long and has this ever been an issue for you?
Another odd thing with this unit is that it came with a lathe dog, I am guessing, instead of a proper dog driver. See photos below. The 2MT center has the short parallel diameter to attach the dog driver. Not a big deal to make one, just curious that it wasn’t included. The blank chuck backplate has a 1.250” register diameter that is too short to be mounted on the Myford lathe spindle but it doesn’t have a slot to drive the supplied lathe dog. Any work dog would need to be held captive on a D/H, so that probably isn’t what was intended. Have other owners received a proper dog driver?
Ian at Rotagrip told me this model of BS-0 (Model T) has been discontinued and he believes this was the last one he had in stock. I wanted to ask of others experiences with this model before contacting Rotagrip.
Thanks for taking a look.
Regards,
Mike

