Small Manual Rotary Table
Last updated on Saturday, September 03, 2011 08:27:46 AM Eastern US Time Zone

Initial Alignment, Tramming, Part Setup Example, Rotary Table Alignment Bracket, Vise Attachment, Brackets, Miniature Toe-clamp Sets

Combining a mill & a rotary table provides an order of magnitude increase in machining capability. Shown here
 is a 4" rotary table which is perfectly sized for a micro-mill. The rotary table can also be combined with a tilting angle
table to further increase its flexibility. Indicate the mill first, then the rotary table. With a dial test indicator mounted
in the mill spindle, tram the inside surface of the rotary table's center hole. Mounting a chuck or vise on the rotary
 table allows holding many differently sized pieces. The 4-jawed chuck is especially versatile since it moves the
 part in 4 directions. Exchanging the same sized parts is easy accomplished by loosening & tightening only 2 jaws.

Initial Alignment

Used a properly sized dowel to perform the initial spindle to table alignment.

Tramming

Completed the rotary table tram with a dial test gage.

Part Setup Example

Milling operation to make a rocker tool post is shown. Using a center finder to set the part's center of rotation.

The mill table x-axis is then moved the radius of the semi-circular cut compensating for the cutter radius.
Shown is a ¼" end mill cutting a 1½" diameter curve.

Procedures & formulas for rotary table use are described in Sherline's instructions.

Rotary Table Alignment Bracket

Using a 2nd, 4-inch rotary table, made a bracket to hold the gage while centering work in the small 4-jaw.
I can quickly center the work piece while at the bench, then transfer the 4-jaw to the 4th-axis of the CNC mill.
This is for an initial centering only; the final tramming is performed after it has been transferred to the mill.

This is an 8mm stemmed gage but the sleeve can be removed to allow holding a ⅜-inch stemmed dial gage.

Drilling eight, #7 holes every 45° for ¼-20 hand tapping.

Making a round, chuck to rotary table adapter plate.

Vise Attachment


Rotary table with one-inch vise attached. Having perpendicular slots allows the most two-way adjustability.
The hardened screwless vise has M4-0.7 pre-tapped holes on the bottom & built-in parallels.

Brackets

The rotary table is mounted onto a base plate for quick vise mounting. The base plate also has (8)
 holes that align with the Taig mill table T-slots to allow direct mounting using 10-32 cap-head bolts.

Miniature Toe-clamp Sets

The toe-clamp sets can be used for the Taig Micro Mill & the Sherline 4-inch rotary table.

Rotary-table base-plate for the Taig table. Taig Mill table cross section

Right-angle bracket for the 4" rotary table. Added the edge guide for easier set up.

Taig 4-jaw chuck mounted onto a Sherline tilt table.

Made an adapter plate to mount the 4" rotary table centered on the tilt table.
There is a 25 lbs. maximum weight limit for the rotary table.

CNC Rotary Table    Large Rotary Table

Initial Alignment, Tramming, Part Setup Example, Rotary Table Alignment Bracket, Vise Attachment, Brackets, Miniature Toe-clamp Sets