Which graduating tool?

I am looking for a graduating tool. Hemingway do two kits. One is the Radford design and the other is the Fallows's design at half the price. They both seem to have more or less the same specifications as regards graduating.. Can anyone comment as to why I should pay twice as much for the Radford design? I shall be using such a tool on a fairly infrequent basis, so maybe the beefier engineering of the Radford tool will be overkill?

Come to that, is there any other design that is available? I have not got the energy to design one myself!

Regards,

Andrew.

It's only the price of castings against bar stock.

I made the Hemmingway Fallows design quite a few years ago and although it has only been used half a dozen times it does all that is needed. I don’t know of any other designs available.

Thanks gentlemen. I suspected that there was little difference between the two designs in terms of performance.

Andrew.

Hi Andrew, Harold Hall has a design in his Workshop Practice book on Dividing No 37, ISBN 1-85486-238-3. I don't have this book but I am sure others on this site do and can comment.

http://homews.co.uk/page315.html

Dave

Hi made the cheaper one, the Fallows design, and for the amount of graduating it does it's fine.

Regards

Derek

Whichever design you go for, it is vital that the stroke be free of side play.

For the amount it would get used, I would put the time and work into a 4 position carriage stop and mark the lines with a scriber in the tool post.

I made the Radford graduating tool and the Radford head-stock dividing attachment (later revised by GHT) to go with it. It is very effective and a good exercise in rack and pinion cutting and ball turning. BTW, if you decide to make the head-stock attachment use the GHT calculations for the worm as there is a small error in Radford's specifications. No castings are required for either device.

Thanks everyone,

Looks as if I shall go for the Fallow's design,

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 09/12/2021 21:56:47