what size rotary table?

had couple of jobs where i needed rotary table that i have had to ask someone at club to do for me.

i don't have milling machine at min ( or workshop ) but do have 5.5" lathe chuck mounted to steel plate that easily fits on both my drill press and one at club.

planning on getting rt so i can do the bits myself and planning on good size milling machine when i get workshop sorted.

question is what size 4 or 6 inch?

plan is to use extra money at end month to get tooling ready for when i move.

I would go for the 6" ... They are typically more robustly built than the 4"

MichaelG.

I have both. The 4" has a chuck mounted permanently. I use it almost exclusively, but the 6" comes out for e.g., rod bosses. Also, the 4" is a nice blue but the 6 is that ugly rough black finish. Both Vertex.

Mine's only 4" and I wish it were 6 . Mostly because the clamping arrangements can take up more room than the job.

Rod

I have a Vertex 6" and even that can sometimes be a problem with the clamps taking up room as mentioned by Roderick.

I think the 6" is the way to go though.

I bought a 4" Vertex rotatory table because it was lighter than the 6". Obviously the 6" would have been more useful but I would not have used it often because of the weight.

JA

Depends on what mill you end up with. I have a 10" Vertex for my Bridgeport, bigger would be nice for my sort of work but the 12" plus jobbies take some lifting when you get older.

When you get much over 6" it's a good idea to build , or obtain some form of crane, or hoist. With a windscreen wiper motor, or similar you can have it power operated.

Ian S C

You need to be sure that your table, when fitted upright on the mill, does not overhang too much, preventing you from using the bolt lugs to hold it down. So, you might delay your table purchase until your mill needs are sorted, or even as this is the season for presents, get the mill now as a present to the most deserving person you know, and you will know which table fits.

Cheers, Tim

Totally agree with Tim you need to ensure that the table is not to big for your machine and that you have enough machine table movement to use the table effectively.

However in my experience if you can fit a larger size table to your machine then that is the one to buy. Clamping arrangements as said before generally take up a lot of table space. I have a 6 inch and an 8 inch unit and struggle sometimes with the 6 inch to clamp up the work effectively.

Cheers, Paul

.

Given these opening remarks; I find the enthusiasm for 4" rotary tables rather surprising.

MichaelG.

I would reccommend you purchase the bigest RT that will fit your mill. See my post about one that failed.

**LINK**

I am still fighting to get a replacement part.

Paul.

The one major problem I have with the 6" Vertex that I have is that with the 8" chuck from my lathe mounted on it I have about 2" clearance with the Rexon mill head at maximum height and the drill, or milling chuck. A collet in the MT3 gives a couple of inches more.

Ian S C