Spinoff: Rotary Table Use

[Bray D]

I was reading through a thread in another forum discussing rotary tables. Rather than hi-jack their thread, I thought I'd start my own.

I have an 8" Vertex RT that has an MT3 taper in the center of it. This is showing my ignorance, but what do I use it for? As of right now, I indicate off of it using my co-ax indicator. It seems to work well enough, but a straight bore would be more useful for aligning operations.

They had to make it an MT3 because there's often a need for such a taper. I just don't know what it is yet.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[darkzero]

For horiz/vert RTs, when used in the vert position the center can be used along with a tailstock to turn between centers like a dividing head.

Can also utilize the Morse Taper to make an arbor for centering to the mill's spindle or easy center for mounting a chuck on it. I'm making one very soon, just received the MT3 last week to make it. Normally I just use my Blake to coax for centering but the arbor will save time on setup for times when high accuracy isn't required.

 

[RJSakowski]

I was reading through a thread in another forum discussing rotary tables. Rather than hi-jack their thread, I thought I'd start my own.

I have an 8" Vertex RT that has an MT3 taper in the center of it. This is showing my ignorance, but what do I use it for? As of right now, I indicate off of it using my co-ax indicator. It seems to work well enough, but a straight bore would be more useful for aligning operations.

They had to make it an MT3 because there's often a need for such a taper. I just don't know what it is yet.

Thanks for any insight.

My 8" Tormach rotary table also has an MT3 socket. The manual says if is for use with a collet and drawbolt and can be used with the Tormach Tooling System for holding slender stock.

My 12" Enco rotary table has a 1" straight bore. I made an adapter for my 4" 3 jaw lathe chuck. I use one of my 3/8" strap clamp studs and a draw plate on the back end as a drawbar.

 

[brino]

Hi Bray,

You could attach a 3-jaw lathe chuck like this:
http://www.workholding.com/BISON-HVSUPER-SPACERS-WITH-E-ZEE-INGTERCHANGEABLE-DIVIDING-PLATES.HTM

or use Morse Taper collets like this:
http://www.workholding.com/BISON-5C-SUPER-SPACERS-HOR-VERT.htm

think about trying to mill a hex head on a bolt; mount the shaft in the chuck or collet, then mill a flat, rotate 60 degrees and repeat.

In horizontal mode it could hold a shaft with a gear blank fastened on it, then with a fly cutter or gear-tooth formed cutter you cut a gap between teeth, advance one tooth and cut again.
This way you can make custom spur gears.

If I can find some decent web photos to show the operation I'll post again.....

-brino

 

[Bray D]

Thanks for all of the replies.

This is another example of machining opening my mind and going against my intuition. It seems that the 3MT socket exists for whatever possibilities I can come up with. Why they chose 3MT vs 2MT vs R8, etc, I'm still unaware, but it's a taper that can be use for a multitude of purposes none-the-less. I'm used to a fairly 'black and white' world where features have a direct purpose. I'm finding that's not always the case when it comes to machine tools.

I went ahead and ordered a 1/2" 3MT collet and 1/2" dowel. I can insert the dowel into the 3MT collet, and use it to quickly align the RT to my spindle using a 1/2" collet in my machine. A 1/2" hole in the workpiece will allow for quick alignment with the RT as well. I'm sure I'll come up with other uses in the future, but for now it'll work well as a thoughtless alignment tool. If I require more accuracy for a particular operation, I can always toss the coax up in the spindle like I've been doing recently.