Rotary Table

[stevemannellParticipant @stevemannell]

Hi Chaps,

Happy Sunday.

I’ve got an old round colum Warco mini major also know as an RF25.

The bed is just over 6 inches (16cm) across.

With the fittings etc do you think ill be okay with a 6 inch rotary table? Or would a 5 inch be more suitable.

Thanks.

Steve

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Both sizes would fit well enough, but the 6″ will use up more Z space which can be a problem for smaller mills. Also you should consider what size work is likely to be machined, now and in the future.

[martin haysomParticipant @martinhaysom48469]

got a 6″ on mine. i think i have the same machine but as it has no label i can not be Shaw.as old mart said it depends on what you are going to do

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Also owner of RF25, and Vertex HV6

The slots to clamp the R T vertical have been extended, and the clamp bolts are M8, to allow enough movement to align the centreline with that of the spindle. Getting it all into position, and access to the nuts (Studs in T nuts) is a bit of a fiddle

The table is aligned using the Tailstock, a sort of mutual assistance operation, for the first time.

A 2MT blank arbor is bored to be a really snug fit on the barrel of the Tailstock.

The Tailstock has to be located to the Mill table by stepped dowels. (Different sized slots)

The 2MT arbor in the unclamped HV6 is used to align the tailstock barrel for height, before clamping it.

At the same time, the barrel / 2MT combination aligns the HV6, (Mine happens to have a Centre Height of exactly 4″).

Having clamped everything up, you are ready to go!

Centering under the spindle is by maching a 3MT blank arbor mto a snug fit in the 2MT arbor.

Make sure that you have enough headroom to withdraw each of them; or set the dial readings to Zero, being careful of the backlash, to move the table sideways to get the necesary clearance, before traversing back to Zero again.

Be wary of the Divisions table for Division Plates with the HV6.  I found errors and omissions in mine (The hard way; wasting material and time, thinking that I could not count. It took me a day to set up an EXCEL spreadsheet to correct the chart) So do check.  The error that alerted me was for 13 divisions, but there were another couple shown by the spreadsheet.

There are still some omissions.  One day, I’ll get round to making one or more extra Division Plates to fill some of the gaps.  On the Round Tuit!

Howard

[stevemannellParticipant @stevemannell]

Thanks a lot chaps. Thats really helpful.

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