High-Quality Small Manual Rotary Table

[UtahTechFabLab]

Hi Y'all!

I'm looking for a high-quality, small rotary table for students in our engineering manufacturing lab. Ideally something about 4" in diameter, but anywhere from 3"-5" would be OK.

I don't want cheap junk from Amazon. I need this table to last 20+ years. I'm aware of the Sherline version, which is decent quality but more geared towards hobbyist users. And maybe that's what I'll end up buying. But does anyone know of a manufacturer that makes a product intended more for actual production?

Thanks!

 

[sfriedberg]

A 20+ year service life is admirable, but in a school environment? Ouch $$$
I don't know of any direct fit, so most of this is very "out of the box".
Since you mention production, I'm assuming the very many small optical stage tables are not suitable because they can't withstand machining forces. But if the job is inspection, not machining, lots of options open up that you won't find in the McMaster-Carr or MSC catalogs.
I have questions about what sort of things your students will be doing, and how they intend to fasten/clamp work to the table. I find that a 9" diameter table with T-slots is limited to surprisingly small parts when conventional clamping hardware is used. Plan to use a subplate mounted to the rotary table and used as a glue chuck or as a custom fixture? Milling? Drilling? Grinding?
What sort of angular resolution and repeatability do you need? Would a direct indexer with an angle scale work? Do you need the precision of setting angles with gage block stacks? Do you need to rotate the table while machining?
They aren't intended as rotary tables, but you could probably adapt a Suburban, Harig or Hermann Schmidt spin and index fixture as the basis of a small rotary table if you don't need to change angles while actively cutting. These are generally intended for grinding, but will stand up to light milling, and would certainly meet any requirements for quality and service life! Hermann Schmidt makes a small horizontal "flatspin" fixture about the size you want, but it's a 24-position direct indexer, no angle scale or clamp.
You could probably fit some sort of drive to most spindexers to allow machining arcs. Here's an example from the HS website. The "Flatspin" is normally not powered, so this drive is all adaptation.

 

[Laverda]

Why do you want such a small rotary table? I have always had good luck with Yuasa rotary tables and after many years of use they still work as new. Even on small parts I use a 12" table to make room for the clamps. Only problem is the 12" table weighs 147 lbs so it can be a pain to get it on the mill.

The smallest Yuasa makes is 6" and they are made in Japan.

 

[Conrad Hoffman]

I can barely lift my 12" rotary table anymore, but I wouldn't want anything smaller. I don't even do big stuff, but 12" gives you room to clamp secondary items like sine or angle fixtures. If you're serious about small, you can usually tilt a B&S style dividing head 90 degrees. I find that a handy option for many things.

 

[hanermo]

Smallest haas table.

 

[daryl bane]

What you want is a Deckel GVTS 6018. About 4" , German, and beautifully made. What I don't know is if they are still available. And if they are, hold on to your wallet. There are chinese copies out there, but not close to the quality of the Deckel. It was an essential accessory with a Gorton or Deckel engraving machine.

 

[DanielG]

I'll second Yuasa

 

[EmGo]

I can barely lift my 12" rotary table anymore, but I wouldn't want anything smaller.

I could almost always get my stuff on an 8" but yeah, seems like it would have to be a specialized use to go any smaller.

I also don't see the fixation on "quality" here ... sure you want to avoid total junk but any commercial grade rotary table will do 99% of what people need. A deckel or moore is extremely cool but a university fab shop, yeah. And rotary tables are not the way to go for super-high accuracy anyhow. A Phase II will probably do the job, so anything past that is gravy. Especially after the first guy drills into it.

 

[trevj]

What you want is a Deckel GVTS 6018. About 4" , German, and beautifully made. What I don't know is if they are still available. And if they are, hold on to your wallet. There are chinese copies out there, but not close to the quality of the Deckel. It was an essential accessory with a Gorton or Deckel engraving machine.

Those are for the Deckel Engraving Pantograph machines, not Mills. They index fine, but do not have any means to lock the movement in place.

The next up, that I have familiarity with, is the 5 inch Emco R/T, at more or less, $1K per copy, for good ones.

 

[daryl bane]

I must of had a good one, cause I used it for small milling work all the time.

 

[Terry Keeley]

As mentioned 4" is tiny, I barely find room on my 8" at time for set ups.

I couldn't justify the cost of a Yuasa or Moore so I got a Phase II (Taiwan) and am very happy with it:

https://www.mscdirect.com/industrialtools/phase-ii-horizontal-rotary-table.html

Shop around, MSC prices are high...

 

[Fal Grunt]

Buy a 9" troyke and be done with it. If reasonably cared for it will outlive you. If you want to spend a little extra get a Up-9 troyke so you can stand it up vertically as well. They are "cheap" on ebay compared to new junk you can buy.

 

[Mtndew]

You want a manual rotary table? The kind that you hand crank?

Or do you want a manual indexer with a 3 jaw chuck and a faceplate?

Either way, I don't know if you're going to find one that is 4" chuck size. You may have to settle on 6" or 8".

 

[jim rozen]

Southbend and Benchmaster made small ones like that. Puts you in the used market of course. I've got the benchmaster one and it's suprisingly well made for a piece of hobby kit. I'd probably avoid high end stuff as students tend to be rough on tooling....

 

[mhajicek]

Here's a couple, but I haven't seen them in person and can't speak to their quality or durability:

Search results for "rotary%20table"

www.micromark.com

I was considering for a while, getting one to mount on my fourth axis to make a poor-man's fifth axis, but then I got a real fifth axis.

 

[bsg]

These are still listed in Yuasa's current catalog, they were $3500 in the early 2000,s......don't think I have ever seen a used one for sale, you could contact Yuasa and find out if they have one in stock or special order?

http://yuasa-intl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/COMPLETECATALOG.pdf

Kevin

 

[Mike Henry]

Sherline sells a 4-in RT that might be good enough depending what the students need to do. Made in the USA, I think:

Rotary Tables - Sherline Products

Sherline Manual and CNC Rotary Tables Sherline offers one of the finest small rotary tables on the market. It is available in manual or stepper motor drive modes. It can even be purchased with its one controller to be used … Continued

www.sherline.com