I have been working on this project for quite a while , but keep stopping to make another tool I need. A friend sent me plans he drew up for a small 4 inch manual rotary table he made for his Burke milling machine. I decided to make one for myself. It is fairly simple. I turned a piece of round steel to 4 inches diameter and .875" thick. I then turned a recess to hold some bearings that are on order from McMaster Carr. the recess also holds the rotating part of the table, which I will start on next.
After machining the round to 4 inches diameter, machining the bearing recess, and machining a clamping groove around the bottom, it was time to scribe the degree markings. This is the setup for making the lines. A boring bar with a pointed tool bit, my home made degree wheel mounted on the rear of the spindle, and a way stop to limit the line length.
here I have done the ten degree marks. Next I will do the 5 degree marks , and then the 1 degree marks.
After marking all the degree marks, I had to stop and make a fixture to hold my number stamps so I could stamp the degree numbers with some sort of accuracy. So this is what I made for that purpose.
This view shows how it works. There is a thread about this fixture in "what you did in the shop today"
These three photos show the degree marks and the stamped numbers.
Stamping the numbers was a learning process. Not all are perfect, but they came out pretty good. now that I know how to do it the next ones I do will be much better.
This is the finished base. As soon as the bearings arrive, I will make the rotating part. I still have to make some small clamps to hold it to the table. I will make those while waiting for the bearings.
Keep watching,
Mark Frazier
![4 in rotary table.jpg 4 in rotary table.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49197-24ded2ec8733a9b25df88319c95886a5.jpg)
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![stamping fixture.jpg stamping fixture.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49194-585ff5b96f45208fb619b2ed65edec20.jpg)
![stamping fixture 3.jpg stamping fixture 3.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49195-10d32e4553499d1d1cc2791df83d4af1.jpg)
![4 inch rotary table 1.jpg 4 inch rotary table 1.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49191-b0d2e1e6657b04e5a0b7a4e912c8e498.jpg)
![4 inch rotary table 2.jpg 4 inch rotary table 2.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49192-a76a793ab3e653ec3938f7f3e2895613.jpg)
![4 inch rotary table base.jpg 4 inch rotary table base.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49193-1535b463ead59f758a6a648caeacb012.jpg)
Keep watching,
Mark Frazier
![4 inch rotary table 1.jpg 4 inch rotary table 1.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49191-b0d2e1e6657b04e5a0b7a4e912c8e498.jpg)
![4 inch rotary table 2.jpg 4 inch rotary table 2.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49192-a76a793ab3e653ec3938f7f3e2895613.jpg)
![4 inch rotary table base.jpg 4 inch rotary table base.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49193-1535b463ead59f758a6a648caeacb012.jpg)
![stamping fixture.jpg stamping fixture.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49194-585ff5b96f45208fb619b2ed65edec20.jpg)
![stamping fixture 3.jpg stamping fixture 3.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49195-10d32e4553499d1d1cc2791df83d4af1.jpg)
![4 in rotary table 2.jpg 4 in rotary table 2.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49196-c74626463201b114a6e12f62e42ebd37.jpg)
![4 in rotary table.jpg 4 in rotary table.jpg](https://www.hobby-machinist.com/data/attachments/49/49197-24ded2ec8733a9b25df88319c95886a5.jpg)