4 "or 6"rotary table for mini mill

[Lotus17j]

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

 

[SmithDoor]

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

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

 

[GaryLa]

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.

 

[Richard Hed]

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

 

[SmithDoor]

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

 

[BobsModels]

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