4” rotary dividing head use?

[jarhead]

Are these small rotary tables useful or a novelty?
This came with my used grizzly mill.
Thanks

 

[C-Bag]

I have 3 3” RT’s I got cheap off eBay and they have been invaluable for what I needed to do. Just the other day I used it to make a pipe bending die out of UHMW. Two of the three live on my radius cutting machine. Just like the rest of my machine tools I don’t use them everyday but when I need them nothing else will do.

 

[pontiac428]

That one would be useful with a cheap 4" chuck mounted to it. I'm not so sure those dividing plates go with that little H/V rotary table, though.

 

[markba633csi]

Very useful for certain tasks- 4" is on the small side

 

[woodchucker]

That one would be useful with a cheap 4" chuck mounted to it. I'm not so sure those dividing plates go with that little H/V rotary table, though.

why not, most of the rotary tables can do dividing.
Yes that is useful, it can be used for multiple tasks.
Mount a chuck and it can handle round parts for drilling, or a partial curve.
Mount a sacrificial plate with threaded holes to hold down parts down while putting a radius on a corner.
Put the dividing head on and have accurate rotation for some odd number of holes or for gear cutting, which can be done both vertical and horizontally.

The 4" size limits you, but with a spacer off the table and top plate you can get 6 to 8 inches .

 

[pontiac428]

why not, most of the rotary tables can do dividing.

Anything that rotates on an axis can do dividing, I just don't see the provisions to do so in that photo, like a mount with an adjustable arm and index pin.

 

[woodchucker]

well if they are in the bag then it's easy. if not, those are not hard to make, or purchase.
The dividing plates are the hard part to make.. So way ahead on the way to getting a dividing capability
BTW, its probably an MT2 so also a MT2 mounted ER32 or any er can also hold parts.

 

[Charles scozzari]

Looks like a H/V base which makes it great with a mounted chuck for drilling cylinders Cutting squares or hex.,octagons. Keep it and use it.

 

[jwmay]

These guys are just giving you a hard time. Those things are useless. DM me for the address for proper disposal. I can get rid of them for you. What with Prop 65, you can’t just bin them.

 

[C-Bag]

I guess I’m more of a crapsman than a machinist. I’ve yet to use my 10” RT for dividing only for making arcs. The small RT’s are not what you’d call super precision but for $35ea I didn’t have high expectations. And for my dead reckoning style they have filled the bill. I needed to cut a precise dome into a UHMW mallet I had so this was one setup using all three RT’s. I use the overall machine for cutting precise arcs for forming metal to compensate for spring back.