# Tool Gloat! - Rotary Table



## ogberi (Mar 7, 2015)

Ever buy a tool that you don't need, and can't quite use, just because it's too good of a deal to pass up?

My buddy helped clear some of his crates out of my shop, and when we stopped off at his house to drop off the last few things (sometimes having a truck is great, sometimes it's a curse....), he said, "Hey, I have something you might be interested in." 

It's a YS vertical rotary table with indexing attachment and all the plates.   

The price was right. 

Free.  

In case your brain skipped that part, it was free.  

Now, I haven't the slightest idea what the heck I'm going to do with a 10" horizontal rotary table at this moment, but the little crate it's in is sitting in my garage.  

A free 10"   vertical rotary table.  It's import, yeah, (so it's just under 10", some metric measurement), but it's never been used, never been out of it's crate, and in great shape.  

Now I just need to slather my little Atlas horizontal mill in Wheaties so it'll grow up big and strong enough to let me use that monster table.  

Pictures tomorrow, my camera is in the shop and I'm dead tired.  Had trouble typing.  Time for a shower, and bed.  Been up since 9AM hard at work.


----------



## darkzero (Mar 7, 2015)

A rotary rable is very useful, if you have no idea what to do with it, one day you will. For me, I have a tool addiction so people say (I have no idea what they're talking about), if I got to use it once, then it it was worth it.


----------



## GA Gyro (Mar 7, 2015)

darkzero said:


> A rotary rable is very useful, if you have no idea what to do with it, one day you will. *For me, I have a tool addiction so people say (I have no idea what they're talking about), if I got to use it once, then it it was worth it.*



I resemble that remark...

Tools are just fun!  They allow us to express our inner creative nature.  So the more one owns... it is a badge of honor of their creativity.

OK, end of excuse... LOL


----------



## george wilson (Mar 7, 2015)

A 4" table would be more appropriate for a small Atlas mill. The 10" rotary will be so large,it will stick way out past the table,and you won't be able to get a cutter over it far enough. What you need,too,is a vertical head for your Atlas. I think I noticed one on Ebay the other day. They use a round leather belt,and get power from a small pulley(2") held in the horizontal spindle. The belt goes up,over 2 "jockey" pulleys,and to the top pulley in the vertical head. Not very powerful. The vertical heads were not made by Atlas. That,and a slotting attachment were made by other manufacturers and sold to Atlas owners. These small attachments are not common,and probably expensive. I have only ever seen 1 such vertical head in person. But,for rotary table work,end mills would be a lot more useful than horizontal cutters,EXCEPT for things like milling hexagons and other straight sided shapes.

Many years ago I did see a little Atlas(?) attachment which looked like a rotary table. But,it was a 6 sided device that you could manually index for milling bolt heads. About 4 or 5" in diameter. Might have been user made.

If you get a mill drill,your 10" rotary table will be useful,but I don't mean a mini mill.


----------



## Donald Y (Mar 7, 2015)

Bought a slightly used Yuasa 10" rotary table to replace a Craftsman 8" rotary table about a year ago. What a difference, the Yuasa has found a permanent home on my milling table. Wish I had bought one 20 years ago.

Donald


----------



## markm63 (Mar 8, 2015)

a year or so ago, i found an 18" troyke rotary table on ebay. excellent condition, had 2 small machining marks on the bed.
had to travel 6 hrs to pick it up, but only paid $100 for it. its on my bridgeport with a 9x42 table and it pretty well stays there.
the guy i bought it from said that he didnt know what i would do with a table that big, but i have the option of clamping
inside or outside with most jobs. i've turned a few ag tractor flywheels with it and it works great! the only thing missing
is a power feed.


----------



## David M (Mar 10, 2015)

Would be an inexcusable shame to have a shiny new rotary table like that without the appropriate mill to be able to take proper advantage of it......don't ya think?


----------



## Harv (Mar 11, 2015)

Nice score Og. I sure would like to have a small rotary table myself. I'm sure I will have one a bit down the road.


----------



## Uglydog (Mar 12, 2015)

george wilson said:


> A 4" table would be more appropriate for a small Atlas mill. The 10" rotary will be so large,it will stick way out past the table,and you won't be able to get a cutter over it far enough. What you need,too,is a vertical head for your Atlas. I think I noticed one on Ebay the other day. They use a round leather belt,and get power from a small pulley(2") held in the horizontal spindle. The belt goes up,over 2 "jockey" pulleys,and to the top pulley in the vertical head. Not very powerful. The vertical heads were not made by Atlas. That,and a slotting attachment were made by other manufacturers and sold to Atlas owners. These small attachments are not common,and probably expensive. I have only ever seen 1 such vertical head in person. But,for rotary table work,end mills would be a lot more useful than horizontal cutters,EXCEPT for things like milling hexagons and other straight sided shapes.
> 
> Many years ago I did see a little Atlas(?) attachment which looked like a rotary table. But,it was a 6 sided device that you could manually index for milling bolt heads. About 4 or 5" in diameter. Might have been user made.
> 
> If you get a mill drill,your 10" rotary table will be useful,but I don't mean a mini mill.



Once again, George is correct.
Regardless, yep! Having a truck is a blessing and a curse. I've found that helping people out "no charge" always results in at the very least great conversations. But, often some semblance of payment which exceeded what I would have charged. 

Daryl
MN


----------



## Alphawolf45 (Mar 12, 2015)

My rotary table gets a fair bit  of use and when I do use it nothing else would have served as well... 12 inch 115 pounds.. Dumbest thing you could do now is sell that rot. table just cause it is rather big for your present equipment. Very much more than likely a larger mill will soon follow you home. Nature hates a void- clear a space in the shop and a vertical mill will rush in to fill it.


----------

