# Adding to my Rotary Table



## ShopShoe (Oct 4, 2010)

About a year after I got my mill-drill, I started coveting rotary table and bought this one with dividing plates but without a tailstock (I am on a budget, and what is best bang-for-buck).







I saw someone's idea to make a locating jig (my apologies for not giving due credit: I couldn't find the post).

I turned a MT2 taper (poorly, but it clocks out OK: I used 304 SS and found out something else would have been easier to work with. I also copied the idea to make a small slide-hammer to pull the taper. Female threads on taper and male threads on accessories are 1/4-20: I used taps and dies because goal of this was to make the jig rather than practice machining skills.)






Cute discovery for this was the slide-hammer shaft. I wanted a knob to knurl. and It occured to me I had something that was close to what I wanted:






MAKING A TAILSTOCK

I got this idea late one night and decided to practice some skills. I wanted something for occasional use and "shim, tap, and tighten" adjustments would be alright.






I started with a hefty chunk of 4 x 6 6061 for this (I am learning, so I am buying "known" materials.) Lots of measure, cut, measure, cut, set-it-up, etc.






What made this easy was the MT2 from straight-hole (1-inch) adapter that was on sale at ENCO.






The main thing that was fiddly with this was boring the socket in the aluminum. I figured my boring bar would flex, so went undersized, then finished with a lot of honing to size with a brake-cylinder hone. the last thing I did was use a slitting saw to cut the slit. I made Go-NoGo guages to measure the bore.

The tailstock and RT are both keyed to my mill slots: I did this by trial and error. The keyways on the RT and the tailstock are wider than the mill-table slots, so the keys are actually T-shaped.






I don't think I would have thought of any of this before I discoverd and regularly lurked on this forum. Thanks.


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## tel (Oct 4, 2010)

You've done a very nice job of that Mr Shoe - might have a go at one for my 4" RT.


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## bentprop (Oct 4, 2010)

Nice job on the tailstock,shopshoe.I'm in the same boat,as I bought my rtable 2ndhand.I did get the dividing plates etc.,but no tailstock.
Now to take out a second mortgage to buy the ally.


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## dsquire (Oct 8, 2010)

ShopShoe

Looks like your doing a nice job there, especially with the keys and t-slots. Nice work. :bow:

Cheers 

Don


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## CAC (Feb 17, 2013)

Signed up to say

Nice work, Now I think I need one. Thanks


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## myrickman (Feb 17, 2013)

Nice work on the outboard center. I like the slide hammer and MT adapter- will have to remember those. If you can score a 4-jaw chuck (plain back) and make a centering adapter, you'll be able to do a lot of neat stuff with your RT. I picked up a nice import 8" chuck for like 80 bucks with shipping on eBay.


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## ShopShoe (Feb 18, 2013)

Thank you CAC.

The 4-jaw chuck is a "Someday" purchase.

I also made a tooling plate for that RT:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f28/rotary-table-tooling-plate-15257/#post155486

--ShopShoe


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 19, 2013)

Nice work! It's on the to-do list...


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