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Small rotary tables

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The Merry Miller22/01/2011 19:31:03
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484 forum posts
97 photos
I'm in the market now for a small rotary table for use on an ML7-R with a vertical slide.
I handled some 3" and 4" versions at Ally Pally today and I wonder if anybody has any comments or suggestions to make , or even recommendations, about these babies.
RGD and Chronos were the prospective suppliers today, I'm not aware of any other distributors as of yet.
Steve Garnett22/01/2011 19:54:40
837 forum posts
27 photos
We've used a 6" Vertex at work for years, and have had absolutely no trouble with it whatsoever.
Martin W22/01/2011 20:07:25
940 forum posts
30 photos
Hi
I have got a Vertex 100mm (4 inch) rotary table and have been very pleased with it. I got mine from Chester UK as it was on offer at the time. They also do a 150mm table with at the same price but this includes dividing plates.
Cheers
Martin
The Merry Miller23/01/2011 19:50:59
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484 forum posts
97 photos
The HV4 "Vertex" 4" table from Chronos looks very similar to the HV4 "HBM" from RGD albeit some minor detail differences are apparent, the colour being the most obvious.
Comments would be most welcome.
I should have looked much harder at them at Ally-Pally.

Edited By The Merry Miller on 23/01/2011 20:07:57

Roger Woollett24/01/2011 11:07:41
148 forum posts
6 photos
I have one of the cheaper small rotary tables and have found it less than satisfactory. Mine is a 3" (75mm) one but there are similar 4" (100mm) versions around. They have a knurled brass screw on the side that locks the table. Before buying I suggest you tighten this screw (finger tight is sufficient) and watch the far side of the table very carefully. I think you will see it move. I dismantled mine and found that the table is supported by a single ball race at the bottom of the base which I do not consider a satisfactory design.
At Ally Pally I bought a 100mm Verttex table whic seems much more solid but have yet to try it out.
GoCreate24/01/2011 13:10:59
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387 forum posts
119 photos
Sounds like I have the same 3" rotary table as Roger, very cheap but an expensive waste of money, the table visibly moves when milling or tightening the lock screw. I later bought a Sherline 4" on ebay which I am very happy with, very accurate and well made.
 
Nigel
The Merry Miller24/01/2011 14:02:24
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484 forum posts
97 photos


I've gone for the 4" Vertex from Chronos, good value with an extra 5% discount using a loyalty card they gave me at Ally-Pally.
I already have the 6" Vertex table but I couldn't adapt my Myford ML7R to accomodate it!!
 
The final clincher was the available data for Vertex whereas data for the cheaper tables was virtually non-existent.
 
 

Haven't found a page 2 yet but am still looking.
 
Below is the link to the data above.
 
 

Edited By The Merry Miller on 24/01/2011 14:12:59

The Merry Miller24/01/2011 14:15:22
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484 forum posts
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P.S. Ignore the prices
The Merry Miller29/01/2011 13:03:49
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484 forum posts
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Well I eventually succumbed to the 4" Vertex RT.
 
Initial impressions: a well made piece of kit.
 
Next job is adapting it to fit on an Myford ML7-R.
Has anybody out there tried this combination?
 
Comments most welcome.
Nigel Heasman24/10/2011 15:15:37
7 forum posts
Hi Folks,
I'm seriously considering buying the 4" Vertex rotary table but am a bit concerned that it looks to be "wrong handed" - i.e. when fixed to the ML7 top slide, with the table vertical, it will be facing the tailstock (with the handwheel towards the operator)! Are the pictures, on the Chronos web site, for example, correct? Or have I missed something obvious ??
Would appreciate comments from any users.
Thanks
Nigel
 
Les Jones 124/10/2011 16:11:20
2292 forum posts
159 photos
Hi Nigel,
My 6" Vertex rotary table would also face the tailstock if mounted on the cross slide with the handle facing the front . All the rotary tables I have seen are this way round.
 
Les.
Nigel Heasman24/10/2011 16:36:31
7 forum posts
Hi Les,
Thanks for the confirmation - they must be designed to be, primarily, mounted on a milling machine, which I do not have!
I wonder if anyone has "overcome" the problem of mounting them on an ML7 cross slide? Or do they live with the fact that the handle will be at the back?
To be honest, I haven't yet checked if the 4" will even be at or below centre height in that situation.
Perhaps I'm trying to do "the impossible" - I'm trying to find the simplest (cheapest) way to cut a 4" radius slot in my Simplex expansion link inner plate - but that's for another forum I guess.
Thanks for your reply
regards
Nigel

Clive Hartland24/10/2011 16:50:33
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2929 forum posts
41 photos
If the rotary table is fitted to a Vertical slide then it can go lower that the center hieght.
The vertical slide can be moved forward on the cross slide to facilitate this.
This way treat it as a horizontal milling machine.
 
Clive
Gone Away24/10/2011 17:32:32
829 forum posts
1 photos
Steer clear of the "tilt table" design that gives adjustable vertical angles. e.g. like this: Tilt-table
 
The locking screw is inadequate to hold it in position against the cutting forces and the angle will creep.
 
Also, when you use it horizontally, you have to tilt the table to get at a mounting screw. It's easy to forget to lock it down again afterwards (ask me how I know).
 

The Merry Miller24/10/2011 20:28:14
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484 forum posts
97 photos

 
Nigel,
 
After I bought my Vertex 4" RT, I looked at making an adaptor plate to bolt onto the vertical slide so that the winding handle was at the top and facing me.
 
As I did not want to start drilling holes in the Myford vertical slide willy nilly I decided to buy a tee slotted angle plate (designed to fit on the Myford cross slide) from your favorite and mine, RGD tools.
 
The new angle plate was bolted loosely onto the cross slide with the vertical face just overlapping the left hand edge leaving sufficient slack in the bolts so that when the RT was abutting the angle plate I had a modicum of a self aligning facility with the lathe headstock axis.
 
I then fitted a 2mt arbor with a parallel extension into the mating taper of the RT.
then clamped the parallel extension in the three jaw chuck and wound the angle plate on the cross slide up to meet the mounting face of the RT.
 
I could then align the angle plate with the RT by use of the cross slide travel and when finally bolting the RT to the angle plate it would be dead on the centreline of the headstock spindle in the vertical plane as near as makes no odds,
 
Now I was able to determine exactly where I was going to drill the mounting holes (after previously checking that no harm will come to the internal gubbins) through the angle plate and subsequently spotting through into the base of the RT.

I then dismantled the internal gubbins from the table and drilled and tapped four M6 mounting holes that were spotted through from the angle plate previously and then cleared out the cast iron swarf generated. I drilled the holes in the angle plate 8mm dia. to allow some clearance for alignment purposes.
 
When ever I use the setup now I first mount the assembly in the three jaw chuck using the parallel arbour in the RT and then bring the angle plate up to the base of the RT and bolt up securely onto the RT and the cross slide.
 
Sorry if this was a bit long winded but I thought it would help the newbies as well.
 
Len P.
 
 
P.S.
Please note that using this arrangement  there will be no vertical adjustment of the  RT only longitudinal.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Edited By The Merry Miller on 24/10/2011 20:33:42

Edited By The Merry Miller on 24/10/2011 20:39:07

JasonB24/10/2011 20:50:44
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25215 forum posts
3105 photos
1 articles
Nigel you can do the expansion link by mounting the blank onto a strip of flat bar, pivot the bar off an angle plate and arrange a sliding pin to move the other end via the vertical slide. As the end of the flat bar goes up and down the work will move in an arc.
 
Thats the way I did the one on the Minnie in my avitar.

Edited By JasonB on 24/10/2011 20:51:47

Versaboss24/10/2011 21:57:18
512 forum posts
77 photos

Dear Merry Miller,

may I ask you to please, please stop inserting these overlong links! I thought that now even the last native from 'behind the woods' should know that this f***s up the whole page layout in this terrible forum software. Sorry for the strong words, but sometimes I find them necessary...

There is a fine service called TinyUrl, look that up please.

Grumpy greetings, Hansrudolf

The Merry Miller24/10/2011 22:08:43
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484 forum posts
97 photos

Now whose throwing their toys out of the pram? (thats assuming you have any left)
 
Len. P.
 
 
Brian in OZ24/10/2011 23:04:43
63 forum posts
Hi "Merry Miller",
re the second page on the rotary table
ie just change the "A01" in the pdf URL to "A02" and you will find the page two
looks a nice bit of kit
Brian in OZ

Nigel Heasman25/10/2011 11:00:29
7 forum posts
Hi Len & Jason,
many thanks for those very useful messages - appreciate your help!
I've just finished marking out the expansion links and will now search the scrap box for some suitable flat bar.
It's good to be back in the workshop after the long hot summer here (North Cyprus) when it was just tooo hot to do anything much!
Cheers
Nigel

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