In the un-ending quest for more and more hardware, I have been looking out for a rotary table for my mill. I have come across one that looks like an okay thing and the guy seems prepared to deal on it, it's about 2 1/2 hours drive each way to pick it up but that's no biggie, I'm just wondering if perhaps it might be a bit too big for my Victoria (Elliott) U2 horizontal.
The rotary table in question is a 400mm (14") unit that weighs about 120kg (somewhere around 250 pounds). The table on my mill is 300mm (12") wide. Given that the vertical attachment on the U2 does not have a quill, all Z-axis movement is done from the knee; this being the case, I'm also wondering whether this would be unreasonably heavy to crank up and down.
Being a rank novice to all this stuff, and never having actually used a rotary table, I'd be keen to hear the collective forum wisdom on this one.
Knowing how infrequent these come up and how much a new one would be, I'd go for it if the deal was right. As for cranking, think of it as your 30 minutes of exercise...
I've never needed a *smaller* rotab than my 10", a 14 would tempt me but my 9x30 table is pretty full with a 10 although there's still room for a vice and height gage. Is it a horiz/vert style? Can be handy on a horizontal mill. 250 lbs though, do you have a crane?
Maybe put a cardboard footprint of the thing on your table to see how things look?
Yeah the mill is located under the swing of a gantry so getting it on & off the table is not an issue, I'm more concerned about it being too much weight once it is on the table. It's not a horizontal/vertical type, can only be mounted flat to the table.
The cardboard cutout idea sounds good, might do that.
And I just realised 400mm is (about) 16" not 14" (actually 15.74803")
So make a bigger cardboard template
(10-22-2015, 07:50 PM)Mayhem Wrote: [ -> ]So make a bigger cardboard template
Yeah just not sure if I've got 120kg of cardboard.
Hillarious.
On a horizontal I use the rotab sideways quite a bit for flycutting (big flycutter). Flat on the table for a vertical.
On a horizontal it's kinda like watching a plumber work under a sink. All you see is the backside.
That's a mighty big rotab. If you're getting a really substantial deal on it, consider it to be a trading chip with other machinists, or perhaps just shifting it at an agreeable profit on eBay.
(10-23-2015, 11:30 PM)Roadracer_Al Wrote: [ -> ]That's a mighty big rotab. If you're getting a really substantial deal on it, consider it to be a trading chip with other machinists, or perhaps just shifting it at an agreeable profit on eBay.
Thanks Al, I infer from that that you would not consider it to be a realistic option for actual long-term use for my mill; I have made the guy an offer and will see whether he accepts it but I think you are probably right in that it is a shade too big. It is a helluva big unit but as Darren said, they don't come up very often here and often have big prices attached. I let one go at a clearing sale a few months ago, kicking myself ever since for not going a couple more bids.