Adding a rotary table

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Larry42

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I finally got my new 8" Vertex RT and a new 7.6" 3 jaw. I immediately set the RT up on my Jet 9 x 49 mill. All dialed in and gave it a try. It works! There is very little if any slop and the locks hold well. It is a bit stiff when the worm is disengaged to manually rotate. I had to modify 3 Tee nuts to fit the RT slots. I clamped a block of aluminum to it with 2 strap clamps. The RT only has 3 Tee slots so choices weren't huge. I bored a hole and then off set to do 2 partial archs leaving about a 1/4" thick wall. Once again I learned that I should have done a detailed drawing defining the stop start points in terms of angular swing. Now I'm pretty sure I want to figure out how to make fixed stops. Having a DRO was a great help but the result wasn't perfect, not bad, just slightly less than ideal. After spending about 4 times as much time as it should have taken me it was done and on to the next trial.
I attached the chuck after making a new set of Tee nuts to fit the slots and the cap screws provided with the chuck. I can see now that this setup is going to be very limited. I don't have enough Z-axis. From the bottom of the drill chuck to the top of the jaws, with the table all the way down, I've only got 2.5", The drill chuck to the spindle is 3.25" That means 5 3/4" when using a collet. The chuck is 4 3/4" high to top of jaws and the RT is 4 1/8".
Very limiting. Seems like I need to add a riser to be able to machine anything of any size.
Have any of you done that? This is a Bridgeport knockoff mill.
 
I have a 10" RT on my 8×30 knee Mill.
I put my 4" vise on it instead of a chuck.
I seem to have lots of vertical between the vise jaws and the R8 nose. More than 14".
 
I would love to see some pictures of your new rotary table mounted and in action if possible?
 
Risers are pretty common. I've never checked my Vertex with a chuck on it, don't know how much vertical clearance I have, but I can see it might be pretty tight. You should have about 16 inches of knee travel on your machine.
 
Slimline lathe chucks are available, there might be something suitable for your application.
 
I’m looking to get the same 8” Vertex rotary with a chuck. Did you get the Vertex chuck? Is the quality of the chuck good. I believe that a Vertex make a mounting plate for the rotary table. Doe the chuck mount from the face to this plate? Thanks for any further info.
 
I got the SB1308 chuck from Grizzly. It face mounts. I had to make Tee nuts to match the mounting bolt size. I made a MT3 bar so I can center the chuck quickly. The combined weight of the chuck & RT make it too heavy for me to handle so I have to take it apart until I can figure out a way of getting it on the mill easier. I made guide blocks that fit the bottom of the RT and the slots in my mill table & in the bottom of the Vertex tail stock. I bought the indexing plates also but haven't tried them yet. I'm hoping to be able to make splined shafts and gears. I made one test gear and it came out good but just using a hand ground bit in a fly cutter. The grind of the MT3 on the RT seems rather rough but it holds. I made the MT3 shaft on the lathe by tweaking the taper attachment using the DRO. Worked better than I thought it might.
 
Larry42 said:
I got the SB1308 chuck from Grizzly. It face mounts. I had to make Tee nuts to match the mounting bolt size. I made a MT3 bar so I can center the chuck quickly. The combined weight of the chuck & RT make it too heavy for me to handle so I have to take it apart until I can figure out a way of getting it on the mill easier. I made guide blocks that fit the bottom of the RT and the slots in my mill table & in the bottom of the Vertex tail stock. I bought the indexing plates also but haven't tried them yet. I'm hoping to be able to make splined shafts and gears. I made one test gear and it came out good but just using a hand ground bit in a fly cutter. The grind of the MT3 on the RT seems rather rough but it holds. I made the MT3 shaft on the lathe by tweaking the taper attachment using the DRO. Worked better than I thought it might.
Click to expand...


Could you use an mt3 chuck arbor to indicate? Have you checked the rotary table against the reported specs? Thanks
 
I just mounted a Mitutoyo dial test indicator to the drill chuck and swept the MT hole to center it. Offsetting the RT to make the indicator ride close to the outside edge, then rotating the table gives less than .001 deviation full circle. Putting the RT on the granite and using a ht. gage all around gives .0005" variation. Using a Mitutoyo square the bottom and mounting end are as good as I can see. Putting a 6" parallel across the center of the table gives dead flat, 2 ways. For some reason I expected there to be a slight dish. The table is a little stiff turning with a slightly tighter spot. I haven't taken it apart to clean it yet. When the worm is moved tight to the gear there is no apparent slack. I had ordered the Vertex 3900-2328 from Amazon but got the HV-8 even though the packing slip said 3900-2328. You can't talk to anyone at Amazon. By the time I would have repacked and ordered the 3900 model from someone else, at a higher price and waited again, it didn't seem worth the hassle. For no more often than I'll probably use it, it's fine. There have been some operations, in the past, that were very time consuming and gave less than ideal results, that the RT would have been much better for.
PT Doc, what do you intend to be your main use of a RT?
 
I should have noted the Vertex 8" RT has 3 Tee slots. Great for face mounting a 3 jaw but less than ideal for strap clamping odd work. I think I will make a table plate with lots of taped holes for mounting work. By the time you use the Tee slots and strap clamps you can't mount very big work.
 
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