how to use a rotary table on a mill brands

Years ago, before I learned CNC, I owned a Phase II 8″ horizontal/vertical rotary table that I purchased from Kap Pullen’s Getmachinetools.com store. He has them at a good price, BTW, and he’s a darned nice fellow to deal with as well as being a frequent HSM contributor. Anyway, its a nice little table, but I hadn’t done a whole lot with it for quite a while after purchasing it. As is so often the case, one day, a project landed on my doorstep and I was glad to have it.

Before I could get started, however, I had to make some accessories for it. Basically, I needed some T-Nuts to fit the table, as well as a little fixture that makes it easy to hold a plate up off the table through a hole in the center so you can machine it. The latter, what I call a “plate machining fixture”, was inspired by something similar I saw the Widgitmaster of CNCZone fame using to make Dremel clamps for his mini-router:

The Plate Maching Fixture and 3 Homemade T-Nuts. T-Nuts are easy to make: square a block to the proper dimensions, mill the side reliefs, drill, and tap. These are much smaller than the mill’s Bridgeport standard T-slots, so I made them myself and I’m using 1/4-20 bolts with them. They’re made of mild steel.

I turned the round spigot using the 4-jaw on the lathe. I’m making the fixture out of MIC-6 aluminum plate, which is pre-ground very flat on the sides. This is a 5 inch by 3 inch piece. I’ve clamped it to the rotab using my T-nuts and the regular mill clamps and step blocks. It is sitting on parallels to make sure I don’t cut into the table. You can also see how I’ve clamped the rotary table to the mill table using a big cast iron V-block I have. You can never have to many blocks with precision faces hanging around!

Having a 4-jaw chuck on your rotary table is mighty handy! Because it’s a 4-jaw, you can dial in the workpiece by adjusting the jaws until it is perfectly concentric with the table’s axis of rotation. The best way is to make an adapter plate that attaches to the back of the chuck in the same way that your lathe does so you can exchange lathe tooling with the rotab. Here is an example:

For the example, the chuck is threaded onto the adaptor plate, and then the holes in the adapter plate’s flange are used to bolt down to T-nuts on the table.

In my case, I bought a 4-jaw from Shars brand new, and simply drilled some through-holes in the chuck to mount to the table directly without an adapter plate:

First, you want to make sure your part is properly centered on the table. To do that, I clamp the table down on the mill table (no special place is needed), put my Indicol indicator holder on the mill spindle, and find some round feature on the part to indicate on. For example, on the plate milling fixture above, indicate on the round boss, or on the center hole. Spin the table and bump the part in until spinning the table doesn’t move the indicator.

Second, locate the center of rotation directly under the mill spindle. You can simply use the X and Y table handwheels to do this. Use that Indicol to indicate off of a circular feature you want centered under the spindle. Turn the indicol around on the spindle and adjust the handwheels until the indicator stays put relative to the spindle position. A Blake Coaxial indicator will make this last even simpler.

When you’re rounding partially by cranking a part around on the rotary table, it’s really easy to go a little too far and screw things up. The answer is to drill the end points to make the exact stopping point on the rotab a lot less sensitive:

Centering with a Blake indicator is really fast, but what if you don’t have a Blake, or worse, what if your mill is too small to accomodate one? Here is a nice solution I found on a German site. This fellow has made an ER collect fixture for his rotary table, and has taken care that when installed on the table, the axis of the collet is aligned with the table’s axis. He can then place a dowel or other straight pin in the collet and line up until it will go into a similarly sized collet on the spindle. Nice trick! It’s similar to how Widgitmaster showed me to align a drill chuck on a QCTP to the lathe centerline with a dowel pin held in the lathe chuck.

I usually get a good many arguments started about rotary table setups. I worked in a large forge die shop, and I still do the setups the way we were shown in that shop. Probably 95% of the time you used a rotary table on a rotary head milling machine, so getting stuff on center was step #1.

The first thing to be pointed out is that the center hole and OD of the table aren"t necessarily on the axis of rotation. Easy to check, take the worm out of engagement and pull the table around by hand with an indicator zeroed on the center hole. Just like indicating a part in a four jaw.

If it is on center, that"s great. If not, you can eyeball your part on center and lightly clamp while you indicate it in by pulling the table around by hand and tapping it. If you don"t have a concentric hole or OD to use an indicator on, a center punch mark and a pump center can be used.

Once the part is on the center of the rotary tables axis, it"s a simple matter to center it under the machine spindle by locking the table and rotating the machine spindle and indicating like you would normally.

A rotary table is a precision work positioning device used in metalworking. It enables the operator to drill or cut work at exact intervals around a fixed (usually horizontal or vertical) axis. Some rotary tables allow the use of index plates for indexing operations, and some can also be fitted with dividing plates that enable regular work positioning at divisions for which indexing plates are not available. A rotary fixture used in this fashion is more appropriately called a dividing head (indexing head).

The table shown is a manually operated type. Powered tables under the control of CNC machines are now available, and provide a fourth axis to CNC milling machines. Rotary tables are made with a solid base, which has provision for clamping onto another table or fixture. The actual table is a precision-machined disc to which the work piece is clamped (T slots are generally provided for this purpose). This disc can rotate freely, for indexing, or under the control of a worm (handwheel), with the worm wheel portion being made part of the actual table. High precision tables are driven by backlash compensating duplex worms.

The ratio between worm and table is generally 40:1, 72:1 or 90:1 but may be any ratio that can be easily divided exactly into 360°. This is for ease of use when indexing plates are available. A graduated dial and, often, a vernier scale enable the operator to position the table, and thus the work affixed to it with great accuracy.

Rotary tables are most commonly mounted "flat", with the table rotating around a vertical axis, in the same plane as the cutter of a vertical milling machine. An alternate setup is to mount the rotary table on its end (or mount it "flat" on a 90° angle plate), so that it rotates about a horizontal axis. In this configuration a tailstock can also be used, thus holding the workpiece "between centers."

With the table mounted on a secondary table, the workpiece is accurately centered on the rotary table"s axis, which in turn is centered on the cutting tool"s axis. All three axes are thus coaxial. From this point, the secondary table can be offset in either the X or Y direction to set the cutter the desired distance from the workpiece"s center. This allows concentric machining operations on the workpiece. Placing the workpiece eccentrically a set distance from the center permits more complex curves to be cut. As with other setups on a vertical mill, the milling operation can be either drilling a series of concentric, and possibly equidistant holes, or face or end milling either circular or semicircular shapes and contours.

To create large-diameter holes, via milling in a circular toolpath, on small milling machines that don"t have the power to drive large twist drills (>0.500"/>13 mm)

with the addition of a compound table on top of the rotary table, the user can move the center of rotation to anywhere on the part being cut. This enables an arc to be cut at any place on the part.

Additionally, if converted to stepper motor operation, with a CNC milling machine and a tailstock, a rotary table allows many parts to be made on a mill that otherwise would require a lathe.

Rotary tables have many applications, including being used in the manufacture and inspection process of important elements in aerospace, automation and scientific industries. The use of rotary tables stretches as far as the film and animation industry, being used to obtain accuracy and precision in filming and photography.

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The TR160 5 Axis Rotary Tables, manufactured by Haas, consist of dual axis Trunnion rotary table that is capable of tilting up to 160 mm. It also has a scale assessment ...

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Manufacturer of standard and custom 360 degree linear rotary tables for scanning, assembly, testing and production applications. Features vary depending upon model, including worm and gear drive design with central rotating ball bearings, manual and motorized operation, hollow spindles, four mounting holes, accessible adjustment clamps and graduated knobs. Accessories such as rotating table adapter plates, brackets, platform shelves, thumbscrew locks, alternative knobs, limit switches provided. Manually operated rotary motion turntables also available. Suitable for mounting and rotation of test specimens, cameras, transducers, sensors, mirrors and other components. Stock items and repair services are offered. One year warranty. Made in the USA.

Here is what I like to use as a test indicator holder. It can allow you to indicate in something without removing the tool. They have several options for in spindle or spindle nose clamp styles. eBay does have some cheaper import version that work ok, but once you have use the Indicol quality, there is a big difference. You will need to buy the test indicator as a seperate item. There are a lot on the market. I have had my B&S(brown and Sharp) "Best Test" indicator for almost 30 years and one repair. Reasonably rugged and very reliable. Sticky indicators like some imports do you no good. If the needle pointer does not move, it is inviting a false sense of security.

The whole premise is to use the spindle bearings to sweep an indicator around the surface you wish to align it to. It is much easier in concert with a DRO, but dials will get you there too.

As long as you do not move the table, you could indicate the part in by knocking it around until it sets in the same location. You could also spin the table itself and knock the part around to find its true center on the rotation of the table bearings. Some of the cheaper import rotary tables may not have the spindle bore as reliably on center as what they will rotate on their shaft.

The same indicator setup can check for spindle tram also. This will need to be checked periodically anyways to verify the spindle is perpendicular to the table surface. If the head is tilted and you indicate in a feature. If the point that it is indicated in at changes in height, so to will the location of the features you intend to machine in relation to that reference. The longer the tool bit is away from the indicated origin, the further off location the new feature will be. Where this is seen is when the part is indicated in at one level, but the distance between the spindle and work needs more room for the tool. So when the table drops away, the point of origin in relation the spindle center (being at an angle) is out lost in space now. The new feature(s) can be found way off location even though the table was moved correctly during the setup. Best advice is to keep this in mind if the knee or head will be moved in a Z axis, always check the tram first. Especially after a crash, broken cutter or large unexpected force at the cutter.

The same holds true for vises parallel to an axis. For critical work, always check the solid jaw for axis alignment. If it is at an angle and a feature is indicated in on one end of the jaws, it might not be at the other end. More or less exponentially to the angle it is off over XX distance from the origin.

Main objective here is to use as much of the machines built in geometry to maintain pure geometry on the part as the machines is capable of. A test indicator is the best way to obtain this level of precision.

I have a 12" Enco horizontal/vertical rotary table which I keep mounted permanently on my old mill/drill. It has a 1" diameter bore and I made an adapter for my 4" scrolling chuck. A threaded backplate and stud keep it securely fastened. To center the table, I put a scrap piece in the chuck and "turn" a cylinder with an end mill. I then use and edge finder to accurately align the true center of of the rotary table with the spindle axis. A test indicator mounted on the spindle would also work well. The mill has a DRO

I use the table to cut arcs. If the part has a single arc, I position the part so the center of the arc is on the table axis. All the linear features can be made by a combination of x, y and table moves. Just make sure to record the home position before moving and axis! A DRO really shines for this.

Lastly, I had done some very precise pseudo four axis machining by setting the table in a vertical position with the axis parallel with the x axis. The table was centered in the y direction by cutting four square faces, making a cut and rotating 90 degrees and repeating until all four faces were cut. A micrometer was used to measure the resulting square. The end mill position is half the measured thickness. I found the x position by facing the y-z face and locating the edge with a sharp point and a 50x microscope.

A custom tool setter system datum was made from a silver alloy relay contact mounted on the table and wired to an LED indicator. This was because one of the tools used was a .008" micro drill and another was a 0000 center drill. With setup, I could do tool changes very accurately.

Because I was doing some rather complex machining steps, I found it useful to choreograph the machining in an Excel spreadsheet, listing the operation, the face worked , the tool used, the coordinates, and the DRO setting. An example is attached.

Generally speaking, older, larger sizes don"t sell well because they are heavy. If you"re able to move/slide heavy things, or creative enough to create a system where you don"t have to handle it, then you can often score old, big, quality products for little money.

That is the route I went. I found a new, old-stock Bridgeport 15" on ebay listed as "pickup only". Had an acquaintance in the area that was willing to pick it up for me. I won it for $200 give or take. I built a swing-arm on the side of my mill column that the ro-tab bolts to using the t-slots of table top (so the bottom is smooth). I just swing the arm out over the mill table, crank the knee up to take the pressure off the bolts so I can remove then, slide the rotab where I need it and bolt it down. The only time I ever "lift" it is if I"m attaching it to the 90 degree mount (got that from the same seller for $60 on ebay). I will say that if you do a lot of work with the table on 90 you may want to just go for one built for either orientation, and you may want to go smaller. I don"t do much 90 degree work and I"ve always been able to "make it work" when it was an issue. IE, I was once milling some key-ways spaced precisely around a small circular element (1.5" diameter) so I used my rotab (this was before I had a proper collet indexer). I had to extend the part out further from the table so the table (about 18" high when on the 90 degree mount) could stand up beside the head while the quill did the machining. You wouldn"t have that problem with an 8" rotab.

As far as brands: that depends on your desired precision level and fit & finish quality. Import products are cheap and they will work for many uses, but if you can score used name-brand for less or even similar money why not go with name-brand?

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VEVOR is a leading brand that specializes in equipment and tools. Along with thousands of motivated employees, VEVOR is dedicated to providing our customers with tough equipment & tools at incredibly low prices. Today, VEVOR has occupied markets of more than 200 countries with 10 million plus global members.

The mill rotary table is one of the main accessories of milling machine. As a precision work positioning device, it is widely used for indexing drilling, milling, circumferential cutting, boring, etc. The rotary turn table for milling machine is made from HT200 casting with high quality. It has already passed the ISO9001 quality system certification. They are are very popular on the market for their superior performance, excellent design and reasonable cost.

Both vertical and horizontal with two functions. Circle cutting, indexing drilling, milling and more complicated work are possible when the vertical position of the table is used together with the tail part.