# 4 "or 6"rotary table for mini mill



## carl86 (Jan 31, 2011)

Need Help on purchase 4" or 6" rotary table for mini mill X2 (micro Mark)
Will the 6" fit or may it be to heavy,what would be the better ?

   thanks


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## Kmot (Jan 31, 2011)

In my opinion, a 6" would be much too large for the mini mill. Here are two 4" rotary tables, one from Harbor Freight and one from Grizzly on my mini mill:


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## Foozer (Jan 31, 2011)

Kmot  said:
			
		

> In my opinion, a 6" would be much too large for the mini mill. Here are two 4" rotary tables, one from Harbor Freight and one from Grizzly on my mini mill:



Which of the two do you like better?

Robert


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## jct842 (Jan 31, 2011)

I have the smaller one. it is a 36 to one ratio of hand wheel turns for 360 degrees and 10 degrees on the hand wheel. I also have a micro mill. what i have found is with a 3 inch chuck mounted up you have very little room left for machine movements.  I have also found with the table that you do need to lock it down with the brass thumb screw as there is a bit of slop in the table, I paid 70 shipped and would do it again. It probably is not capable of super precision but is more than I will ever need.  john


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## Kmot (Jan 31, 2011)

I prefer the HF model. They also sell smaller RT's now.


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## Foozer (Jan 31, 2011)

Kmot  said:
			
		

> I prefer the HF model. They also sell smaller RT's now.



Thanks, I have the little 3 inch from HF, only thing I dislike is when you tighten the brass lock screw the part does shift a tad. I think mine moves about 0.002. But it is what it is for the price and my eyes cant tell a 2-3 thousands movement anyway.

Robert


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## DOC123 (Feb 1, 2011)

I have one of these
http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/3--Rotary-Table-With-70-mm-4-Jaw-Chuck.html
Seems to fit well on my X2 size mill and the 4 jaw makes holding items much easier than little clamps.


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## IronHorse (Feb 1, 2011)

That Grizzly one looks like the one I got from BusyBee a couple of years ago. It is the only far-east machine that I am disappointed with. The table was not round, the hole was not in the center, After a while there is so much slop in the gears and you can not adjust all of it out with the set screw. Also when you tighten the stop the table moves up and down. Maybe I just got a bad one, but next time I will get one from LittleMachineShop.


IronHorse


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## carl86 (Feb 1, 2011)

Thanks for all the responses,I had read that a 6" would fit on a x2 mill but that dose not seam to be the case.

I like the ones offered by LMS ,they are the only suppliers that I found that give any any specs. 

 Thank You

      carl86


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## Kmot (Feb 1, 2011)

Ironhorse: Ditto. Notice the aligning circle is off center on mine? I had to cut some proper concentric circles into the table on mine. Coming from Grizzly, who so many purport as to being the holy grail for buying stuff I was very disappointed in this purchase.


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## ss1946 (Jan 7, 2019)

I agree with IronHorse. I purchased the 4" from Grizzly and was very disappointed, quality of the first one received was extremely poor so I returned it. Received a replacement but it was also of poor quality. I decided not to return this one and proceeded to remake the worm shaft.  I will keep it for shop work, but nothing requiring any precision. I have not yet ordered a better one, but will look first to LMS.  I have received nothing but quality from them. The Grizzly units are made in India, which is the new "old China". I'm not going back to Grizzly for metalworking items.


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## Gordon (Jan 8, 2019)

I made a 4" and have been happy with it. Much better than the Harbor Freight. Lots of time but if you are building model engines you cannot be watching the time involved.

http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/projects/mill/rotary/rotary1.html


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## Vasily_A (Jan 8, 2019)

My 4" rotary table:


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## Gordon (Jan 8, 2019)

Gordon said:


> I made a 4" and have been happy with it. Much better than the Harbor Freight. Lots of time but if you are building model engines you cannot be watching the time involved.
> 
> http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/projects/mill/rotary/rotary1.html


I spent quite a bit of time but I learned  a lot. I even made the worm gear 10 pitch so that the dial makes 10° for each rotation.


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## kuhncw (Jan 8, 2019)

Sherline sells a very well made 4 inch rotary table.   


Chuck


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## Bill Butek (Jan 9, 2019)

kuhncw said:


> Sherline sells a very well made 4 inch rotary table.
> 
> 
> This my first time replying to a quote.  I agree with Chuck, I've use the Sherline for doing some very precise work.  Mine is CNC controlled.  Very little noticeable slack.


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## SmithDoor (Jan 9, 2019)

I would go with 8" more space for setting up

Dave



carl86 said:


> Need Help on purchase 4" or 6" rotary table for mini mill X2 (micro Mark)
> Will the 6" fit or may it be to heavy,what would be the better ?
> 
> thanks


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## sgunsel (Jan 10, 2019)

I have an 8 inch rotary table. It is so heavy I can barely pick it up. Go with the 4 inch. I have the Sherline 4 inch rotary table. It is extremely well made and is a pleasure to use.


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## Wizard69 (Jan 22, 2019)

carl86 said:


> Thanks for all the responses,I had read that a 6" would fit on a x2 mill but that dose not seam to be the case.
> 
> I like the ones offered by LMS ,they are the only suppliers that I found that give any any specs.
> 
> ...


Fit can mean different things to different people.   You can put some 6" tables on a Mini Mill but how useful that arrangement will be is up to how you expect to use it.   A bigger table has obvious setup advantages but you can easily put a tooling plate on a 4" table to enlarge your working area a bit.   In general I have to agree with others here, a 6" table isn't a comfortable fit.


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## SailplaneDriver (Jan 23, 2019)

The four inch doesn't have much surface area for clamping. A six inch will allow more flexibility but it is heavier, more costly, and a tight fit on the mini mill. I went with the 6 inch Phase II and did not regret it - except for the oil leak but that is another forum. The height is low enough to work with a 5-inch chuck on it. The surface area is still small but you can use step clamps on it depending upon the size of the part. You can also get a small amount of extra vertical clearance if you remove/modify the stop on top of the mill.


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## Lotus17j (Jul 29, 2020)

The 6" tables tend to have a lower table height. The difference from the 4" to the 6" may be nearly an inch. That can be an important consideration


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## SmithDoor (Jul 29, 2020)

I found the space for setup is need.
I never had a problem with height.

I found to bigger can be to heavy unless you have hoist. 12" if you great shape.

I use 8" rotary table good size and weight.

Dave



Lotus17j said:


> The 6" tables tend to have a lower table height. The difference from the 4" to the 6" may be nearly an inch. That can be an important consideration


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## GaryLa (Jul 30, 2020)

IMO, the smaller table is much more practical. However, setup room is severely limited on a 4".

What I did was buy some 1" thick aluminum tooling plate (MIC6). From that I and made a "tabletop" which was 6"x6" square.

 I find the square is easier to setup on. I drilled/tapped it in a pattern but have since add a few more holes. This gives me the setup area I need and lets me use the 4" table size entirely.


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## Richard Hed (Jul 30, 2020)

Kmot said:


> Ironhorse: Ditto. Notice the aligning circle is off center on mine? I had to cut some proper concentric circles into the table on mine. Coming from Grizzly, who so many purport as to being the holy grail for buying stuff I was very disappointed in this purchase.


Altho' I like Grizz's prices, it is NOT the holy grail.  ANYTHING coming from China is suspect.  Remember when we said "Gak, made in Japan" as an insult?  then it was Taiwan, now China.  Oddly, Korea seems to have higher quality from the start.  I am about to check out some stuff from India, which I suspect I will have to rebuild and re-finish.  But that may be alright if I have the equipment to re-finish it.  The prices are very low.  

About Grizz, if something breaks they fix it if in the warrantee period.  However, go to their website and search for something--You get everything related to what you want EXCEPT what you want.  This is very irritating.  I have shut them off many times for that.  On Chinese websites, I am afraid of visiting them as they are not much different from street hawkers trying to sell you a shitty watch, shoving it in your face and blocking your path no matter how many times you tell them to 'go to'.  Once you visit, they never stop trying to sell you the thing you just bought!  How insightful of them!  Har har har.

I thimk all these strange things come from the very character of their respective cultures--Chinese cultur is about selling you something regardless of quality, Korean culture is sharp, jagged and agressive, Japanese culture?  Well, how about a sneak attack?  Now I'm wondering about Indian culture.  I notice on utub the various individuals do amazing things with absolute JUNK, but I'm concerned about, not individual integrity, but corporate integrity.  That is, are the Indian corporations turning out **** or quality stuff.  30 years ago their cars were aproximately the quality of a Yugo because the country kept out all competition and therefore did not have to improve their krappy cars.  All that has changed since they have gone to a more modern "capitalist" system.  Like Japan and Taiwan before them, they might take 10-20 years to make really good stuff.  Also the prices go way up as we all know, as machinists, that to double the accuracy of a part, the price nearly quadruples, so it was with Japan, Taiwan and even now China which is slowly improving theri stuff.  Buy the Krappy stuff now before the price raises.  LOL


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## SmithDoor (Jul 30, 2020)

I would look at shars.com too. They have good prices.

If do not a  dividing head get a *Horizontal/Vertical Rotary* table. 
Not as good dividing head but will do job for most work.

Dave


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## BobsModels (Jul 31, 2020)

I am not sure what you are making but on a mill that size a 4" gives a lot of flexibility.  I have the sherline 4" and it is mounted on the adjustable angle plate.  I have made many parts on it for my small hit miss, and now a two cylinder.  I have made spindle adapters for it and can mount chucks directly from the lathe with the part still in it, real handy.

Here is a picture of it, on a Sherline Mill, with a riser block , set up for horizontal milling, I think it was an ignitor base.  From that picture I think you can get a feel for what you can do with it.  Setups are feat in themselves.  Of course it depends on what you are building.  but if you have a mini mill I assume they are parts in proportion to the mill capability.  

Bob


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