Yep, kinda the backwards method, but quick as far as not needing to
fabricate a proper sturdy holder for the Dremel handpiece.

Access to gears on a mini lathe (and numerous other models) is limited to
one small gear at the left end of the spindle.

For utilizing the spindle for a 3-position indexing task, a surface of the
jaws of the 3-jaw chuck should be adequate for equal spacing, or 4-jaw chuck
for 2 or 4 positions.

As Jim W mentioned a while ago, a hex nut is sometimes a convenient divider
reference.

--
WB
..........


"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
news

That's clever, but keep in mind that it's often done the other way
around, using the lathe's bull gear as a fixed-value indexer. If your
bull gear has an appropriate number of teeth you usually can get a
variety of symmetrical steps around a circle.

I've used my South Bend to do that kind of thing several times. I hold
the Dremel, or my old industrial-grade B&D die grinder, mounted in my
milling attachment, although it could be rigged in the toolpost.

The clever Brit hobbyists have sometimes modified their lathes with a
worm gear driving the bull gear to get pretty versatile indexing.

--
Ed Huntress