# Thrift Store Rotary Table



## foleda (Nov 21, 2015)

A few months ago, before I even had a mill, I was browsing a second hand store and spotted something under a pile of worn out screwdrivers and cordless drills without batteries that looked interesting.  It turned out to be a 9 inch Troyke rotary table.  It looked to be in pretty rough shape but the price was right so I lugged it's not inconsiderable weight to the front of the store to check out.  The proprietor looked at it dubiously and advised me "All sales are final, no returns." 

It finally rose to the top of my to-do list.  Here is the starting point





It took me a while to get it appart.  I thought for a while that the worm shaft was completely frozen in place.  Turned out that the chain drive on the worm shaft had tightened the collar to the point that the shaft was completely imobile.

The internals were well oiled and in good shape.



After some Evaporust and a little paint it is looking much better.


I have a small handwheel I can bore out to fit the shaft and I still have to make a graduated collar to align with the existing vernier.  I plan to bootstrap that, using the table to machine it's own graduations.  240 divisions with a 90:1 worm works out to 3/8's of a rotation per division so I only have to gin up a 8 hole dividing plate.

Oh, and the cost $10.


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## ch2co (Nov 21, 2015)

Boo, Hiss, NO FAIR!     Beautiful job of restoration, just wish it coulda' been me that found it.

CHuck the grumpy old guy


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## alloy (Nov 21, 2015)

Ok, you deserve an official  
	

		
			
		

		
	




Great score and nice job on the rebuild.


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## RJSakowski (Nov 21, 2015)

It is great to see an old and neglected piece of machinery returned to a useful life.


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## kd4gij (Nov 21, 2015)

Nice score. Good job on the restore. I have a 9" troyke I picked up from a fellow worker for $40.00. The manual is on line some where, I have it on my old laptop, just need to find it. Oh ya


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## jpfabricator (Nov 21, 2015)

The vacuum is strong with this one!

sent from somewhere in East Texas!


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## Uglydog (Nov 21, 2015)

Another save!!

Daryl
MN


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## foleda (Nov 21, 2015)

kd4gij said:


> Nice score. Good job on the restore. I have a 9" troyke I picked up from a fellow worker for $40.00. The manual is on line some where, I have it on my old laptop, just need to find it. Oh ya


Thanks.  At the time I was thinking that I would never make a "suck worthy" find but one day my number came up.  The
"secret" is to just visit a lot of thrift stores, pawn shops and estate sales.  My wife was a thrift store junkie so I have spent countless hours in them.  

I was able to find a couple of drawings online but no manual.  If you can find your copy I'd be interested.


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## hman (Nov 21, 2015)

Good grief almighty!!!!  Not only did you do good, but you also did well!  

PS - I think I may be hanging around the wrong kind of thrift store ...


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## Ulma Doctor (Nov 21, 2015)

Dave, not only do you suck- 
you rub it into our faces and publicly humiliate us all with your good fortune. 

touche!


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## David VanNorman (Nov 21, 2015)

Very good great find . That is the way to buy.


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## Silverbullet (Nov 22, 2015)

I saw one listed on eBay with a 4" vise , they wanted $80.00 for the pair . The rotary table was 8" looked good too.


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## usrjcro11 (Nov 22, 2015)

I have a troupe 15 would like to take apart and see if I can backlash out. What steps did you follow to tear apart. Thanks 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ch2co (Nov 22, 2015)

I find it interesting that in your first picture, instead of a handle on the input shaft, there is a sprocket.  Could this have been chain driven at one time 
or did the real handle go missing, and someone replaced it with a 'toothed handle'?

CHuck the grumpy old guy


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## Ulma Doctor (Nov 22, 2015)

it might have had a separate gear reduction motor .


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## foleda (Nov 22, 2015)

ch2co said:


> I find it interesting that in your first picture, instead of a handle on the input shaft, there is a sprocket.  Could this have been chain driven at one time
> or did the real handle go missing, and someone replaced it with a 'toothed handle'?
> 
> CHuck the grumpy old guy


Since the graduated collar is also missing I suspect that it and the hand wheel were deliberately removed and replaced with a sprocket for a chain drive.


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## coolidge (Nov 22, 2015)

Evaporust is a mighty product, nice job on the restoration!


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## foleda (Nov 22, 2015)

usrjcro11 said:


> I have a troupe 15 would like to take apart and see if I can backlash out. What steps did you follow to tear apart. Thanks
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Mine is the only one I have ever taken apart so I don't know how similar it is to other tables.  There is a threaded lock ring on the bottom:


The lock ring has two holes on the exposed face for a pin spanner.  Once removed the main bearing can be adjusted with the slotted screw bearing on the split, tapered collar that forms the outer part of the main bearing.  In order to remove the table I had to disassemble the table lock in addition to removing the split taper.


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## A618fan2 (Nov 22, 2015)

Wow - $10...it's all been said so I'll just say you.....ought to buy a lottery ticket tomorrow!  Nice job on the restore too.


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## gr8legs (Nov 25, 2015)

Nice score, beautiful restoration and yes, as others have said already, you suck and we're all jealous!


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