Rotary table

PT Doc

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Seems like the Tiawanese Vertex tables get good reviews. There are Chinese and Indian tables that I have not heard much about. If you were getting one, would you want a 3 slot or 4 slot? Any preference on size 6” or 8”? Will be going on a full size 9x49 mill. First project mill to finish with a 11” diameter circle to remove mount a large gauge for my compressor. Obviously I could finish this without a rotary table but no I have an excuse to get one. eBay has some packages with dividing plates and chucks but they seem to be all made in India products. Seems like that could be versatile but if the quality is sub par then who cares. Thanks in advance.
 
I've not been burned by below sub par tools, so I guess I'm naive. So long as I'm not contracting for NASA, or Tiffany's I can live with 'average' tools. I haven't yet succumbed to the need for a rotary table, but when I do, it probably will be from India. Maybe not the cheapest one offered, but certainly not Swiss. I just don't need .0001 accuracy.
 
Hi Tom. It’s good that you don’t need 0.0001 accuracy because I don’t think you would find that in any affordable rotary table. I inquired with a vendor of rotary tables made in India and was surprised that they did not know the specs for the table. I also don’t need tenths accuracy but a table surely is produced to some standards so a reseller should have this information available. I think the Vertex brand would likely be a good choice.
 
I may be making this same decision in the near future, for a smaller mill, probably in the 6" RT range. I think 3 slot looks good if you expect to mount a 3 jaw chuck most of the time. For direct fixturing of parts the 4 slot might look better. If you do the 4 slot and decide to mount a (3 jaw) chuck you might need to drill/tap or make a mounting plate. I'd be interested in other folk's experience here.

I also concur that Vertex looks like reasonable quality/$. Some Grizzly RTs have good reviews if you need to go cheaper.
 
My 8" RT is about all I want to manually lift on and off the mill. A rotary table can be made effectively bigger by making a tooling plate to fit the top of it, which can be round, square, or whatever shape, size, and configuration you think appropriate. A horizontal/vertical RT is a lot more useful, especially if you also get (or fabricate) a tailstock.
 
I'm curious about the dividing plates. Does anyone have experience with them on one of the universal type? I like the idea of being able to use it to do both dividing and rotary table duty. If nothing else, it's one less thing to store when not in use. But if they don't work well, there's no point.
 
An 8" RT is a whole lot bigger than a 6" RT. I gave away my 8" because it was too big. I got an Indian 6" with a chuck, dividing plates, tailstock, etc. It seems to work OK after I disassembled it completely to remove the earwax grease and grinding dust.
 
Hi Guys,

I have a Vertex 6" four slot rotary table. I'm very happy with it, I did buy a MT2 to Myford threaded mandrel for it. However when in use the chuck is sat about an inch above the table surface and unless you are only doing small work, less than about 40 mm diameter, is very unstable. A heavy cut causes severe chatter. So I made a brass center, tapered MT2 with a spigot for a mounting plate which is made out of 20 mm thick hard aluminum plate. I also made "T" nuts for the table and drilled the mounting plate for the securing screws. Much better.

The pictures show a family of fittings that I made sat on top of the mounting plate. There are two pictures of the brass spigot, one showing the M6 threaded hole that I put in, so that I could remove it without disturbing the RT. The double ended rod was intended to be used as a draw bar to stop the spigot from being pulled out in use. However I realised that the spigot couldn't be pulled out when the mounting plate was in use.

One thing that I did discover was that the MT2 tapered hole in the table only goes down to slightly over 30 mm. An MT2 center sticks up quite a way. Great for getting the table centered under the mill spindle, then its a pig to remove it.

31-07-2018-001.JPG 31-07-2018-002.JPG31-07-2018-003.JPG
 
I'm pretty happy with the 6" Vertex table I bought a few years ago.
 
I have a 4-slot, 6" Yuasa H/V rotab with tailstock and dividing plates. The movement of this table is like butter - very smooth. The 6" is not oil-filled, which is nice when you use it in the vertical position. I haven't used the plates yet but they will come in handy one day. This goes on a 8 X 28 table so its a good fit. If I was going to put it on a 9 X 49 and had an 11" project to do, I would go for at least an 8". Any larger and you're looking for some kind of lifting device.

I would opt for a 4-slot table for better clamping versatility. Chucks can be mounted to a backing plate that bolts into the slots.

Vertex is made in Taiwan. It is a clone of the Yuasa table and appears to be well made from what I can see. It is far cheaper than a Yuasa and is what I would opt for if I was to buy a new one. Many other high quality used tables out there, too.
 
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