# Aftermarket Rotary Table



## Green Frog (May 5, 2016)

Has anyone found a satisfactory rotary table to use on the little table of Atlas Horizontal Mill?  The price of originals is somewhere between investment grade and obscene, and I would kinda like one to use, not to keep in my safe.  I've seen mention of a few from time to time and I'm thinking that one of the tilting type that goes up to 90º so I could get it perpendicular to the spindle...

Any and all suggestions, especially those with personal experience will be received gratefully and with enthusiasm.


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## Steve Shannon (May 6, 2016)

+1


 Steve Shannon, P.E.


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## westsailpat (May 6, 2016)

The bay has  all kinds .http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-M...077873?hash=item4afad89531:g:VxgAAOSwX~dWrORc
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MINI-TILTIN...868366?hash=item4af854844e:g:HqAAAOSwnLdWrNVZ


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## wa5cab (May 6, 2016)

If you don't project having much use for the angles in between 0 and 90 degrees, you may be better off looking for a rotary table that can be bolted to the mill table with the rotary table vertical.  If nothing else, it should be less expensive.  I have one that I found at Wholesale Tool, but it is a specialty item with a small 3-jaw chuck instead of a slotted round table.  So probably not what you need.


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## westsailpat (May 6, 2016)

Here is another one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Small-Rotar...id=100623&rk=2&rkt=6&mehot=lo&sd=322036077873


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## Green Frog (May 6, 2016)

wa5cab, I was wondering about that, since I know I need a good angle plate too.  I'll look at those a little more closely now.  westsailpat, have you actually used one or the other of these?  At the prices they are bringing, I'm wondering how good they will be(?)  Thanks for the responses, guys... does anyone else have insights to provide to me (and of course to Steve  ) ?


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## westsailpat (May 6, 2016)

To answer your question GF , no I haven't used one . I did at one time own a Phase II rotary table ( Chinese ) It was pretty good , but it did have a spot where it would drag . I have no idea what those ones from India are like , but that one for $ 65 .00 , how could you go wrong ? I'm thinking about that one to put on my milling attachment .


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## 34_40 (May 6, 2016)

Another nice thing with a verticle rotary table is that with a chuck mounted you can index a shaft or part. Add a tailstock and you can make gear or splines etc. etc.


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## Green Frog (May 6, 2016)

34_40 said:


> Another nice thing with a verticle rotary table is that with a chuck mounted you can index a shaft or part. Add a tailstock and you can make gear or splines etc. etc.



I'm looking at some parts of a spindexer with the idea of making a sort of an indexing fixture, along with a matching tailstock, for the mill.  I still think that a rotary table would be a useful thing to have along with the MFC, but to be honest, I really don't know enough about it to know how I would be putting it to use.  I think those little 3 or 4" tables would make a cute addition, even if I don't know what it does!   I guess I'll really get more use out of the 1-2-3 blocks I just bought and the angle plate I'm looking for.  At least I know how they work!!


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## RCWorks (May 7, 2016)

I bought one identical to this from JTMach.com but they don't list it any more.
http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/...ary-Table-With-100mm-3-jaw-chuck-4453394.html

The drawback of getting it from the U.K. is they charge shipping like they send someone to swim with it to get it here.

It works great for me... I use it for some small stuff.


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## wa5cab (May 7, 2016)

Ha!  You should look up what USPS would charge you to sent it back to the UK.  Especially if it weighs over 4 pounds.


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## Green Frog (May 7, 2016)

Thanks for your reply, RCWorks.  That work you show is at least a couple of orders of magnitude above my pay grade, but it's good to see what CAN be done with sufficient knowledge and skill.  Did you make that on a horizontal mill or was it done vertically?


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## RCWorks (May 7, 2016)

wa5cab said:


> Ha!  You should look up what USPS would charge you to sent it back to the UK.  Especially if it weighs over 4 pounds.



The basic shape is off the lathe as in the hole in the center of the cone.

Then it's milling time...
The 4 inch chuck has to be centered on the rotary table, I do it with a 1 inch round turned in the lathe so I know it is round and I make sure the chuck it's centered by indicating on it... Then it's time to bring the work piece to the chuck and get it in and straight. That's when the rotary table comes in... Each hole is center drilled then drilled 60 degrees apart.

Not a hard part to make, It was just a test piece to see if I could do it, it looked like a challenge at the time. It was just me playing around to see what I could get out of a Harbor Freight 8x12 lathe and the Harbor Freight 44991 bench top mill. Neither is a first quality rig but that's where your knowledge of the machine takes over to make up for what it my lack. The Mill in this case is little more than a drill press with an R8 spindle and a cross slide, but with a little thought and experience it can deliver.

No DROs were used, I don't have one on either machine yet.


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## westsailpat (May 7, 2016)

Depending on what part you are making This could be a useful fixture . You can't really mill with it like you can with a rotab . I had one of these and the tail stock that went with it . The job was a tube that needed some holes and slots indexed around the diameter , it worked really well . And as you can see the tooling cost was modest .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LIGHTLY-USE...9632e35&pid=100005&rk=2&rkt=6&sd=401083053610


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## Glenn Brooks (May 7, 2016)

Actually, for a horizontal mill you might be better off with a small dividing head.  grizzly sells a nice little DH, the B &S -0, that fits my one slot Burke #4 table really well.  Also has utility on larger mills, such as the Van Norman 12.


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## Green Frog (May 7, 2016)

Great ideas, guys.  Keep them coming!


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## wa5cab (May 8, 2016)

Atlas actually sold a horizontal indexer for the mill.  Has a tailstock and the spindle is made like the one on the mill and on the 618 in that it has both a 2<T taper and a 1"-10 threaded nose.  It uses 6" change gears for indexing.


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## 34_40 (May 8, 2016)

And the Atlas indexer must be made of un-obtanium...  or perhaps platinum or even gold.!  Completely out of my range.
So the imports look pretty good to me!

Right now the BS-O seems the right size. And it'll take some doing to save enough pennies as I keep buying more "affordable" tooling...
It never ends.. does it!?!?!  LOL..


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## Green Frog (May 8, 2016)

Wa5cab, I tend to fall into the same category as 34_40... the original setup is nice, but the "collector's price" of that unit is more than I'm willing to "invest" at this time.   I've seen the original in the pdf files of the catalogs that are posted here and and elsewhere and think the capability would be nice to have, but wonder whether I can justify the expenditure.


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## wa5cab (May 8, 2016)

Well, you are probably right.  I was lucky enough to get mine with the MFA I bought.  I haven't actually looked at what any have sold for.  But judging from the typical prices on the vise and the rotary table, I lucked out.  I also lucked out on the vise as the seller was only asking about what a similar size new Chinese made one would have cost.  Not cheap but not like what I paid for the original horizontal rotary table, either!


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## JPMacG (May 8, 2016)

RCWorks, is that a microwave horn antenna?


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## Rob (May 8, 2016)

Here are some plans for some indexing centers.

https://books.google.com/books?id=D...ource=gbs_summary_r&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

And some other ideas.

http://www.petealbrecht.com/atlasmillshaper/atlasmillshaper.htm


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## RCWorks (May 8, 2016)

JPMacG said:


> RCWorks, is that a microwave horn antenna?



No, that is a baffle for the muffler of an R/C plane using the design of a sonic suppressor for a .22. I was using a ducted fan motor which exhausts out the back in to the firewall instead of the side and need a muffler to not only quite it down but exhaust under the fuselage.

I cut the original to see if I could do it and it sits just as an example of what I can do. The muffler was about 2x larger.


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## JPMacG (May 8, 2016)

Ah..   Very nice.   Is that for a glow engine or gasoline?    I like the old Davis Diesel SoundMaster mufflers for my glow engines.   But they have become very scarce.   Once in awhile I find one at an RC flea market.


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## RCWorks (May 8, 2016)

JPMacG said:


> Ah..   Very nice.   Is that for a glow engine or gasoline?    I like the old Davis Diesel SoundMaster mufflers for my glow engines.   But they have become very scarce.   Once in awhile I find one at an RC flea market.



Old glow motor.


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