4 "or 6"rotary table for mini mill

[carl86]

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

 

[Kmot]

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:

 

[Foozer]

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

 

[jct842]

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

 

[Kmot]

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

 

[Foozer]

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

 

[DOC123]

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.

 

[IronHorse]

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

 

[carl86]

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

 

[Kmot]

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.

 

[ss1946]

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.

 

[Gordon]

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

 

[Vasily_A]

My 4" rotary table:

 

[Gordon]

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.

 

[kuhncw]

Sherline sells a very well made 4 inch rotary table.


Chuck

 

[Bill Butek]

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.

 

[SmithDoor]

I would go with 8" more space for setting up

Dave

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

 

[sgunsel]

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.

 

[Wizard69]

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

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.

 

[SailplaneDriver]

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.