Wrong answer. You need a proper dividing head and tail stock to match. These
come with chucks and are quite stiff. An indexing table has no chuck. If
the gears are helical or hypoid the dividing head should be differential as
well, but that also require a drive setup from the table leadscrew to a
gearcase with changeable gears. By your description of your mill, it will
not be capable of this. So all you can make will be straight tooth gears.
You did not state whether your mill is a horizontal or vertical, but the
mill must be horizontal or a vertical with a special horizontal drive,
because the only cutters that I know of that are available for the different
tooth patterns and pitch diameters come in 8 cutter sets for horizontal
arbors.
Steve

"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
. ..
Alright folks , I got the gear book (gotta brush up on my math !) ... and
I got some messed up gears on the lathe that need replacing . My research
indicates that the most flexible setup (though not the "best" for every
task) is a rotary table with indexing capability . My next decision is
size . My baby mill has a max of 18" table to spindle . The table is 9X32"
and moves 8X21" .
I'm thinking that 6" might be a bit too big , most of the gears are in
the 2" to 5" diameter range ... but I don't want to limit myself to what
may come in the future . 3" is definitely too small , 4" is iffy , and I
haven't seen a 5 .
--
Snag
Decisions , decisions ...