I think my dividing head makers needs....

hi chaps

Just got my nice new rotary table with dividing plates from one of the big suppliers (who shall remain anonymous until they reply to my e-mail ) attempted to fit the dividing plates and found the holes out of line see the piccy below.

Kind of ironic really

Now the question arises, is it the boss they screw to or the plates that are wrong?.

I would return it , no argument.

Brian

I think its the boss, not measured anything but it just looks wrong!

Is it possible that the holes are not spaced at exactly 120 Deg. on purpose so that it only fits in one position ?

Les.

hi Les,

I thought that might be the case so gave it a twiddle but tis the same in all three positions ( i also tried the other 2 disks) Dunc

Send it back! They will not quible as it is part of their "quality control" system - wait until the customer complains and then mollify them.

I bet they have two similar Products available, and you've ended up with parts from each.

Rotary Table from one, Plates from t'other. ... neither is wrong, they're just not a set.

MichaelG.

Send it back and they will send you another one with the same error.

These things usually run in batches and despite your repeated pleas, they never check the replacement before they send it.

“bet they have two similar Products available, and you've ended up with parts from each.

Rotary Table from one, Plates from t'other. ... neither is wrong, they're just not a set”

I suppose what Michael Gilligan posted could just be possible. If so it is very worrying because if the makers of a division plate & rotary table cannot accurately set out 3 equally disposed holes each and every time then what does it say for their production, quality control or integrity. The whole reason for a division plate/rotary table combination to exist at all is to give the ability to set angular positions accurately around a given point.

There seems to be an acceptance among a number of my fellow model engineers that certain UK importers/suppliers can provide inferior quality goods just because they are cheaper than products from quality suppliers. Every item sold by these suppliers should fulfil its intended function correctly even if the castings are a bit rough, the paint finish less than wonderful, the plating horrible etc. The latter defects can all be excused on a low cost basis but lack of correct function cannot.

Apart from Ketan Swali at Arc no one from any of the various UK suppliers has ever made any comment on this forum about their quality control policy concerning the customer at one end and their Far Eastern supplier at the other. I am sure they do read the forum! These suppliers have set out their stall to provide us with products that sell at prices well below those of UK or Western European manufactures. In doing so they have undercut manufacturers such as Myford and others to the point of extinction. Now we have to put up with indifferent quality items and are supposed to be grateful - and especially grateful when they exchange or refund us for a faulty product.

Don’t let them get away with it. Always send the item back with a clear written reason for complaint and ask what their QA policy is.

.

My point was that "Rotary Table" and "Dividing Plates" could both be [seperately] correct.

The Dividing Plates tend to be sold as Accessories, and presumably are in seperate packing.

To me ... it looks like simple error in the Dealer's StockRoom.

MichaelG.

Most of the suppliers that I have dealt with that sell Chinese or Indian products have replaced faulty goods but stress the replacement part must be checked before dispatch.

I have no connection to Arc Uero but a faulty product supplied by them was replaced immediately and they checked the replacement was all right.

Their service is exhalent and they try to keep their customers happy.

Paul

Edited By Windy on 13/05/2013 08:53:28

.

The fault isn't theirs, the fault is ours, insisting on cheap products. If we had not done so then Myfords etc would still be in business.

No one forced us to buy these goods, good or bad and the other side of the coin is what do we have available now that we would not have had available if we had stuck to British manufacturers.

Take the OP with the rotary table and dividing plates. I'm really struggling to think of a supplier of those in the past, in this size that you would have not needed a mortgage to buy.

Ivan Law / MES brought a range out just to fill this gap that you made yourself because there wasn't nothing.

Anyone fancy buying an ER32 collet chuck from Crawford Collets ?

Or more to the point anyone fancy ringing them to ask the price ?

And to emphasise what i have posted above has anyone seen a British ER32 [ or 16, 20 or 25 ] chuck past or present ?

John S.

Michael,

It should not matter if the division plate is an accessory or an original part my pointy is that the maker of a so called precision part should be able to get 3 holes aligned correctly. What would you say if you bought a set of alloy wheels for your car, found the hole were inaccurately placed and then the supplier told you as they were an accessory you could not necessarily expect them to fit….?

None of us must fall into the trap of being apologists for poor goods supplied by companies taking our money and not checking the quality of the goods properly. This is what we did in the 1950’s when British motor bikes leaked oil, had poor quality magnetos that made them hard to start in the wet, kick starters that almost broke your leg, centre stands that gave you a hernia etc. Then Honda began to supply their Dream model that never had any of these faults and worked first time straight from the box- everyone was amazed and the rest is history.

Unfortunately the makers of most far eastern model engineering products do not adopt Honda like quality control systems.

.

Just by way of illustration ... have a look at this page, and compare the spacing of the three mounting holes.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 13/05/2013 09:28:05

What we need is Which? to do a report on model engineering tools.

It worked for consumer electronics. I don't think there is a television, camera, Hi-Fi, or phone etc. that I've bought in the last twenty years that I've been disappointed with. What makes the difference, in my opinion, is that there is a source of independent information on how good a product is. Even ratings for books on Amazon are an improvement on what info we have for tools.

Gary

Edited By Gary Marland on 13/05/2013 09:41:25

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... or maybe Model Engineers Workshop ?

MichaelG.

I think foklks are missing Michael's point. There uis a very good reason why the holes may not be evenly spaced - so you can swap plates and put them back on in the same orientation without needing a key.

Both items could well be to spec, but not matched.

Joey

Michael,

I don't think an MEW review would be much use to us as they are unlikely to be critical of any supplier for obvious reasons.

I have noticed that Chronos and EKP allow online reviews by customers which might help. It certainly does for Axminster and Screwfix which some of us probably use occasionally. Trouble is most of us are unlikely to post reviews.

Gary

Thanks Joey

.

Hence the sarcastic "Smiley" in my post.

MichaelG