Which of these 2 rotary tables should I get?

If I could afford it Id have both. I don't, so I have a 6" rotary table that works both horizontal and vertical positions.

I can think of several projects that a dividing head would be convenient for, but my RT will have to suffice.
 
Dabbler said:
If I could afford it Id have both. I don't, so I have a 6" rotary table that works both horizontal and vertical positions.

I can think of several projects that a dividing head would be convenient for, but my RT will have to suffice.
Click to expand...

I think the ability to mount the rotory table verticle could be a bonus, mines to big to do that with but occasionally it would be nice .

Stu
 
I try to look at enabling features. The tilting dividing head can work at any angle between -10º and 90º while the CME RT can only work ina horizontal or vertical orientation. On the other hand, the CME RT can conceivably cut a 127 tooth gear, commonly used for SAE/metric conversion in lathes while the dividing head cannot. The CME RT is cabable of milling arcs with arbitrary start and end points while the dividing head is not. On that basis, I would probably go with the CME RT as the only feature that I am losing id the tilt capability and there are other ways to skin that cat.
 
This is very good advice. Although I will say that you can slightly alter the angle at which the Rotary Table is mounted to the table in the horizontal position but obviously not in the vertical position. I have tilted my rotary table up to 15° in the horizontal position. While it was not the most rigid set up it was good enough for the machining I did on CRS with a 1/2” end mill. If I had made a large wedge machined to the appropriate angle it would have been more rigid but that would have been a lot of work for a one off part.
RJSakowski said:
I try to look at enabling features. The tilting dividing head can work at any angle between -10º and 90º while the CME RT can only work ina horizontal or vertical orientation. On the other hand, the CME RT can conceivably cut a 127 tooth gear, commonly used for SAE/metric conversion in lathes while the dividing head cannot. The CME RT is cabable of milling arcs with arbitrary start and end points while the dividing head is not. On that basis, I would probably go with the CME RT as the only feature that I am losing id the tilt capability and there are other ways to skin that cat.
Click to expand...
 
The rotary table with indexing plates sounds like it's a more universal setup. Those tend to have pros and cons, setups can take longer than a specialized tool etc.. I've been tossing around thoughts on this sort of thing as, longer term, I want the ability to make splined shafts, gears, etc. for robotics projects, lathe change gears, perhaps clock projects, etc..

I've seen some videos of people using various options to do it without specialized indexing tools at all, but I'd like a little convenience and I do occasionally wish I could do arcs with a rotary table.

It seems like one could mount a 4-jaw to either, so that feels like a wash to me. Indexing can be done with both. The RT can be horizontal, which could be handy.

Then there's the universal dividing head, but you need to have the ability to drive the table with it. I'm not sure I need to cut worm gears though. And I would have to build some method of driving the table with one if I went that way. I think this one is above my pay grade for the moment. :) Though I guess one could get it and wait on the table drive capability, but it seems like overspending for capability I may never have use for.

I would like to hear from people that have used both what they would do in a home shop if they were to choose just one for the sorts of work I mentioned. Hopefully the OP finds the information useful.
 
This is a question with no answer, anyone reading it has zero knowledge of what the part is.
If for instance the part was this example, both are to small, question answered.
If the same part but 1/2 the size both will work but require costly set up time, question answered.

This would be like asking "What shoes should I buy for work" without telling anyone what you do for a living.
 
Not really related to your question technically, but I remember seeing an Amazon listing from Mophorn (same
company that is selling the dividing head) for a milling machine maybe a year ago. This was a single listing
and there were pictures of 3 different Precision Matthews mills. I even contacted Matt and he said they had nothing
to do with PM. Since then I’ve been leery of Mophorn.
 
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