Debrief - rotary table abort

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I recently completed the arc of experience with adding a rotary table capability to my shop, by sending it back and then cleaning up the subsequent mess and non-trivial quantity of wasted heartbeats. I found the serial escalating disappointment of design and implementation decisions ultimately disheartening to overcome the severe joy I had to have this thing in MY shop. I don't think we've quite arrived at the point of the decline yet where it is unreasonable to want to take something out of the box and have at least five lousy minutes of joy with it for the close to a k-buck and dozens of hours was fully unusable investment and lost opportunity.

I truly disliked my experience with this implement. It was one disappointment after another.. some documented in another thread but multiple others not. Not usable out of the box. In need of repair. INSANE design decisions to clamp steel grub screws down onto the threads of the most precision-important part in the machine, destroying them and rendering it completely unable to be disassembled without exerting far far too much force or unable to put the ring back a few degrees ahead of or behind the as-shipped position. HOURS of repair. Nontrivial internal and external rust that appeared to be indicative of over exposure to water. In need of documentation that thankfully SB produced very very nicely as they appear to have relabeled and sold it as SB. The index plate sets from the same manufacturer but another source... bathed in rust and missing a spacer necessary to correct function. When that missing point was raised to the distributor, they doctored the photo to no longer show the spacer... too bad I save copies of the adds/photos of everything I buy on line. I'm the proud owner of WAY too much grease that meets the spec called for for worms... high-stick open gear lube not incompatible with yellow metal but purchased from literally THE only source I could find that would sell a sub-$500-600 quantity. You just want FIVE LOUSY MINUTES OF JOY.

I will say absolutely that the Grizzly tail stock I purchased appears to be just awesome and could not have been better packaged. I sent the rotary table and the index kits back.. I kept the tail stock and the grease.

So as I wait for going back in to my shop to become interesting again (2.5 wasted weeks and I really really REALLY hate wasting heartbeats), I wonder if I want to take a second run at a rotary table. I won't own anything from that brand I just kicked out of my house... I'd have jumped over to the SB version instantly despite costing more but the exploded parts diagrams in their EXCELLENT documentation seemingly produced in-house for their relabeling of that table I'm talking about above still shows fasteners clamping down on threads. No. Possible. Way. I contacted Grizzly which was my #2 choice for an 8" rotary to request an exploded parts diagram of their table so I could see if I was just getting in to a different sinking life boat... thread-ruining design decisions and such but they don't have such a diagram. So, no thanks. I'm ancient. Can't afford it. Used high end iron out of a shop... Troyke... Yuasa.. etc. You have no idea how abused it was and I was actually just trying to treat myself to one nice thing... not a bunch of work and risk.

I guess I'm curious if anyone has the Grizzly 8" rotary and has removed the worm and taken pictures along the way. I'd love to see them if you have. I'm curious if there might be suggestions for other 8" tables with a releasable worm (eccentric), dividing kit, vertical/horizontal capability, preferably 4 rather than three t-nut slots on the faceplate, MT3, reputation for precision and usable when new straight OUT OF THE BOX. No repairs... just a quick disassembly for inspection. Would love to hear if you had.. I'll be playing with ideas of a change in my motorcycle life until then. Thanks in advance.

CW
 
I bought a used 10" and a 15"Gorton rotary table on E Bay; The 15" is the same lower end with a larger (overhanging) tabletop; much nicer than Troyke.
 
Although I never had an 8" table, I did have a 6" indexer from Grizzly. Been a couple-three years back, it ended up too large for my work. I was quite satisfied with the machine overall.

A little insight into "grub" screws. They end up on any number of machines. I have run into 3/8-16 grub screws on steel mill equipment. The trunion they were holding was enormous. The insight is the "little" piece of brass that the grub screw bears on. That actually does the locking. On the rare occasion there wasn't one, I made one. Just a piece of 1/8 brazing rod. It doesnt have to be pretty, just keep steel away from steel.
 
I got a 12” Bridgeport rotary with the angle bracket. The thing is awesome, smooth, east to read angles, etc.
Sometimes it’s a bit tricky to figure out a good mounting strategy for each new part. I think smaller tables would be way more challenging.
 
Yes there is a lot of junk out there, be prepared at all times to call your credit card company and holler. Don't try to fix a piece of junk. Send it back at once. The heart you save may be your own
Mark
 
I bought a used 10" and a 15"Gorton rotary table on E Bay; The 15" is the same lower end with a larger (overhanging) tabletop; much nicer than Troyke.

I have a 10" rotary table, can you lift the 15 or does it need a small crane ?

Stu
 
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