Try Joe Pie on YouTube

FWIW, my view is that the higher the ratio, the more precisely angular movements can be made.

Better that an error on the handle results in a 90th of that error than a 40th!.

A Rotary Table that can be set on the milling machine table in either horizontal or vertical mode can be used in lieu of a Dividing Head (Especially if Division plates are available )

In horizontal mode it can be used to cut arcs, or round the ends of workpieces, as well as spacing tappings or dowel holes..

With the table vertical, it can be used to graduate / drill an external diameter, or to mill faces at an angle, and to cut splines or gears.

(My technique is to use a chuck in the lathe, on an arbor that will fit into the Rotary table, to turn the gear blank )..

In my case this involves using adaptor sleeves in the lathe, which are then removed to mount the chuck, complete with workpiece, into the Rotary Table on the mill to cut the teeth. (Again, in my case, a small Myford fitting chuck is mounted on a 2MT arbor. In the lathe a drawbar holds it in place, and in the R T, an Allen capscrew and top hat bush pull it into the taper.

If you propose to work in this way, it is worth buying a matching Tailstock, and setting it up to the same level as the R T. This provides support for the heavy loads involved in gear cutting.

I fitted the Tailstock with two dowels to locate in the T slots of the mill table. They may need to be stepped. . I bored a 2MT stub arbor to a very close fit on the Tailstock arbor. In this way the Tailstock can be adjusted to exactly the centre height of the Rotary table, and the Tailstock, being located on the mill table, aligns the Rotary table along and across the mill table.

The angular spacings can be made by either using the vernier scale, or Division Plates

Do check that the Division Chart supplied with the R T and Division Plates, is accurate.. I found, the hard way, that mine contained errors and omissions.

HTH

Howard.  Emojis – GRRR

Edited By Howard Lewis on 23/12/2022 01:58:35

Excellent coverage on there Michael – a good link indeed

Vic – As a regular user of R/T's the only thing I would add is look to a vertical and horizontal mountable version if possible and definitely choose a four slot table as opposed to a three. The four slot are much easier to set up on if the table area is small.

A very useful addition to the mill – I used my home made MES version only this last week.

Tug

Vic – providing it does not interfere with the handle you can always extend the surface area with a disc of mild steel or even aluminium. drilling and tapping it for hold down bolts. and counterbored holes for cap heads into tee nuts to keep it in place.

Though I have yet to use it, I have done this on an 8" table with an ali plate to hold a flywheel rim.

Best – Tug

Here's an example (though smaller in diameter than the table) on the MES but the same principle. BTW a set of small clamps using cap heads for bolts are invaluable on RT set ups where space is at a premium

Vic, i hope you started by reading the dozens of threads on this forum for both rotary tables and dividing heads as the replies tend to intermingle subjects. Now I notice you are a major participant on here so I am probably preaching to the converted of course.

The forum has two search facilities and the obvious one top right is rubbish. Try the other, click HOME on the black banner; then scroll down the page. It's hidden away about halfway down.

Re rotary tables, I have an HV6 clone from Warco. Many variants around, the word on the street being Vertex are better made than most. Mine's OK. It has a 90:1 worm, does horizontal and vertical, and came with a dividing set of hole wheels and fingers. They're important because most of us lack the memory, concentration and intellectual horse power needed to twirl a rotary table handle correctly for anything other than straightforward integer degree work. Hex head cutting is easy, but the operator needs mechanical help to do most gears. (An even better answer is a computer driven stepper motor.)

One reservation. The table is on the delicate side, fine for turning an angle, locking, and taking a cut. Using it to feed metal into a cutter, as when spoking a wheel, is likely to cause severe wear if done frequently and over-enthusiastically. If needed for that type of work, might be better to look for an industrial table. But beware, they're expensive and although they take more abuse, they can be wrecked in this mode too. Nothing like busting a Bison to ruin your day!

Dave

I have two 3 Jaw chucks mounted on backplates that are a bit larger than the chuck body which allows the backplate to be held to the table with tee nuts, a spigot on the backplate to locate in the table's central hole make sfor easier set up.

4 holes also make sit easier if you want to fit a vice to the table

I would go with 72:1 or 90:1 on a rotary table as anything lower like 40:1 is better for dividing that curved cutting.

If it is any help, I fit a small 3 or 4 jaw Myford fitting chuck to my HV6 by mounting it on a 2MT /Myford arbor.

The arbor is clamped into the taper by a M6 capscrew in a top hat bush

Obviously, being a screw fit chuck, if using for radius cutting, the direction of table rotation / cutting forces need to taken into account, to prevent the chuck coming loose…

So far, with Tailstock support, have had no problems with unwanted movement when cutting gears (Table face vertical, axis horizontal ) Since gear cutting involves a full depth cut with SLOW feed , this seems to have worked, so far!

Have used with table face horizontal, to cut slots, and to graduate with workpiece clamped to the table.

HTH

Howard..