I Bought a Cheap Rotary Table Which Was a Big Mistake

[@artisanmakes]

Should go without saying #notsponsored and I cant imagine they'd want to after this video. Cheers

[@asakayosapro]

These tables and other similarly priced items seem to be made in India rather than China; not that it matters much, they still have the same variations in Quality Assurance™ - variations which range from 'merely cosmetic defects but otherwise ok' to just outright roughly manufactured, poorly designed or made, and/or downright unusable. But the silver lining? If this can be taken apart and all the flaws in the mechanism fixed up or replaced with well-made shop-made parts, as well as other quality of life improvements, not only does one get a reliable quality tool to use while skipping all the other troublesome and expensive manufacturing steps (in contrast to making the whole thing from scratch) but also learn how it works and how to fix or remake things if something else in it breaks, or a part has to be made for a similar tool. It has always been the case that anything that is normally expensive being this cheap, or in this case, 'cheaply made' has to be treated like a 'kit' or a 'project' that will almost always need to be worked and re-worked, torn down to bits and rebuilt better than before. Plus, you get to make a rebuild video.

[@RobertLBarnard]

​@@asakayosapro 30 years ago I worked in a pattern shop and a friend (also machinist & pattern maker with 20+ years experience at the time) took me over to Tree Machine in Racine Wisconsin to meet one of his friends and look around. Even though they had foundries in the immediate area, it was still cheaper to buy from China. But the irons they got would have things like ball bearings in it, which makes it hard to machine at a production rate. They ended up just buying whole machines from China, tearing them down, redoing the ways, replacing screws with roller bearings, and installing their brand of CNC.

[@graemewhite5029]

I've watched a few of those manufacturing videos from Pakistan and the end products went into "Made in China" packaging ! I try to buy good second hand stuff, but sometimes you have to go for the Far East option, then I treat it as a "kit of parts" that's gonna need some fettling ?

[@ianbertenshaw4350]

That’s why I bought the vertex rotary table and dividing head - the tool master stuff can be a bit hit and miss .

[@MegaLostOne]

@@ianbertenshaw4350 I ordered the 6" Vertex today myself but still have no idea where it is made, I've seen a few video's with it being used and one with a tear down and they seemed impressed with it.

[@dieselwelds8645]

Maybe you already caught it but at the end when you were facing the top of your part in the 3 jar chuck it tweaked over some in the chuck. You can see the gap between the chuck face and the part and it's still there when you have it tilted. That kind of stuff just frustrates when so much time is involved. Great job and thanks for all of the content!

[@artisanmakes]

I’ve scrapped many parts that way

[@matthewpeterson3329]

This! That time lapse camera made it stand out like a sore thumb. I have gambled on some cheap tools (as we all have) because I needed something quick and cheap, or knew it was only to get me through one job, and it is super frustrating when the quality is so poor that it literally cannot be used without breaking end mills and scrapping parts. Thanks for another great video.

[@canonicaltom]

Yeah, at 16:43 you can see it kick over by a good amount

[@GeckoCycles]

@@canonicaltom clamped on the threads only with the nose of the jaws

[@itsamemario8014]

@dieselwelds Those 3 jar Chuck's are marvelous things aren't they, you can keep pickled onions in one jar, fingernail clippings in another jar and grandmas ashes in the third jar. Superb.

[@TrevorDennis100]

I worked 40 years as a toolmaker and design engineer at Ford UK Product Development, and I loved the rotary table we had in our workshop. For many years, we had no hoist, and the dividing head was too heavy to be easily moved by one person. But most of all, the rotary table is so simple and quick to use if you just needed half a dozen indexed holes that you could click into the marked indents. It looked like you were using a multitoothed rose bit to cut the chamfer. My experience is they try their very hardest to chatter and leave a poor surface finish. I use Chinese cheep-as-chips single edged countersinks in my home shop and at the Menz Shed, and so long as you keep the speed down they do a lovely job and last for ages. I have even seen Kurtis from Cutting Edge Engineering Australia use one to machine wide chamfers on parts, although he would be using high quality, and expensive, tooling. This is the first of your videos I have watched, and I'll be subscribing for sure.

[@angrydragonslayer]

And here i am, using a spot drill

[@Michel-Uphoff]

My reply from 5 hours ago has gone? OK, rinse and repeat: It turns out that the construction of this particular device leaves a lot to be desired, which reminds me of my old crappy rotary table. But, you can fix it I think. Unscrew the hex bolt from the bottom of the table spindle, and put a longer old bolt in there, so that you can tap or push the table out of the bearing. You will see that only the bottom has a bearing, and the top of the table has none. I have changed this lousy construction by turning a recess in the housing about 2mm deep, into which the underside of the table fits accurately. The housing just fitted in my 4 jaw chuck. I also removed a few tenths of a mm from the bottom of the table, now it runs true. The axis of the table has been shortened slightly (2 mm and a bit), so that the table can sink 2 mm into the recess. I tightened the hex bolt until the underside of the table nearly touches the bottom of the recess. The table is now also supported at the top by the recess, which improves the rigidity enormously and now it turns much more accurately.

[@artisanmakes]

Yeah sorry about that, it must have gotten flagged by the spam filter. Great advice. Cheers

[@artisanmakes]

I’ve gotten it apart and I can see exactly how you have gone about this. Might require a few late nights but I might and go about this in a similar way

[@Michel-Uphoff]

@@artisanmakes Would be great if you made a video of your approach.

[@MatthewHolevinski]

I about spit out my coffee when I saw the effects of that locking screw, that is absurd, and such an easy manufacturing and design fix.

[@tylerhensley2312]

I've been using a rotary table for years but just bought a dividing head for cutting axle splines and excited to use it for the first time today!

[@Hilmi12]

We use worm gears a lot in astronomy, many times performance can be drastically improved by lapping the gears. Also setting backlash settings too tight will cause binding especially if worm gear or the ring gear are not concentric

[@Mikesmeyer88]

Yes. I did that, just cleaned up the edges n polished them. Felt good but theres no adjusting the backlash in these. At least not mine 3 inch from India

[@mwistrach7809]

Hello Artisan, I have been following your channel very closely for some time now and have been inspired to come up with interesting solutions when implementing my own projects. Since owning my own milling machine, which is now three and a half years, I am aware that all this is not a low budget hobby. I find it very positive that you also present and test inexpensive tools and show possibilities for modification. To be able to realize my own projects I had to buy various accessories for my milling machine over the last years. Sometimes it es also in Germany quite difficult to find products in the right cost range. My general experience is not to save money on equipment even if you have a small budget. With a dividing head in this price range, I don't think you can expect the quality reserves that you need for long-term precise work. This video shows this very clearly. Given the variety of products, it has become very difficult to find sufficiently good and precise quality for an acceptable price. If in doubt, I think it is better to spend a little more and buy a product that is stable, precise and reliable. With good tools, work is simply more enjoyable and better results are achieved. Thank you for the honest product presentation. Please keep up the good work. With kind Regards form my Workshop in Germany

[@billdoodson4232]

The major advantage you have in Germany is that you still have a huge manufacturing base. There will always be a pretty good supply of used, but high quality machine tools and accessories easily available to you. Here in the UK we are better off than Australia, but it is nothing like as easy these days to pick up good quality used accessories. Most of them, particularly dividing heads and rotary tables suitable for a home workshop are at their end of life.

[@Island_Times]

I have the Vevor 100mm version (AU$118) , it looks almost identical casting wise , but def has holes in different places and other minor changes .

[@WhenDoesTheVideoActuallyStart]

People don't understand that businesses in continental china seem to share a lot of tooling with eachother. You can see products using the same parts coming out of opposite ends of the country. And often it'd make no sense for the parts to have came out of the same factory.

[@jaro6985]

The vevor just has a thumb screw for the lock, so not as much force, does it still tilt upwards like his did?

[@daxgilmore4374]

I bought the same one a few months ago. It's Awesome after a few little mods and about 6-7hrs of Black Dog-inspiring work. I had to fully dismantle to clean out all the swarf from manufacturing. The operation was rough as guts! Add a Brass 'Race' between the Face Plate/Body. Debur and re-Index the Worm Gear before it sheared the teeth off its mate, which was also re-indexed. Added a sealed bearing to either side of the Hand Wheel. I would also Slot one of the Mounting Holes, as the unit won't sit parallel to your Table. Add a Spring under that cute lil Table Lock Bolt before it vibrates out and shoots your neighbor. Nipping this Bolt up to drag helps reduce Harmonics. However, you can get the s**Ts, coupled with an optimum RPM for the Spindle around 3000+ to take advantage of the Chatter. The table practically revolves itself!

[@robyoung1890]

I would agree with the comments made below re the Vertex brand. I have always had great success with their products. Old saying - "The sweetness of quality is remembered long after the pain of price is forgotten". Good luck mate!

[@mftmachining]

That was a good one, Rob.👍

[@ToreDL87]

The version I heard and always stuck with me was "Pay once, cry once." Biggest mistake I made was buying a Sieg, the money could have been far better spent on a proper quality mill.

[@KayleeKerin]

I bought basically the same from amazon here in the US (about 120 USD), and ran into the exact same issues. Still need to tear it down and modify/rebuild it, but i got it planning on having to basically treat it as a raw casting kit.

[@MattysWorkshop]

Gday, frustrating when this happens, I brought the 8” vertex RT and super happy, mate of mine brought the 6” vertex and can’t fault that either, Taiwanese made is the way to go I think mate, cheers

[@HM-Projects]

Agree, my 4" vertex has been great.

[@AdrianMNegreanu]

Hats off for the non-click-baity title 👍

[@peter.stimpel]

Once more this makes just one thing clear: no matter what you buy and from which brand you buy: it is about the expected QC, not so much about where the factory is located.

[@Nobody-Nowhere-USA]

These cheap rotary tables actually have their uses , you can use them to make precision (sort of) specialty fixtures you want to leave set up permanently! As someone that has spent thousands of dollars on rotary tables I can say it’s a lot easier to handle not having access to a cheap one rather then that really expensive RT you trust with tight tolerance work!

[@ionstorm66]

I would look for a rotary table with a center taper. It will have much larger bearings to fit the taper, plus the taper is super useful.

[@harmlesscreationsofthegree1248]

Gotta love a video with a title like that! I’m in for the ride 🙂

[@larryschweitzer4904]

I always seem to run into having tooling not quite big enough for the next project. I bought an 8" Vertex H/V rotary table. It seems quite OK except it only has 3 T slots. By the time I get a part clamped in place, the useful area is down to around 6". I cast an 11" disc of aluminum and mounted it to the RT. With 8 T slots it makes the table much more useful. I have an 8" chuck that thru bolts to the RT but makes it too heavy for my old body to move as one piece. I have the set of indexing plates and footstock but rarely use them.

[@christurnblom4825]

I have the same table. (different brand but same table) I ran into all the same problems but there's solutions, as you have illustrated. I just put brass inserts into my stops or locks as I was afraid the stock hardware would gouge the surfaces, making it that much more difficult to get accuracy & precision over time. I also adjusted the pointer on the tilt but you should always indicate with something better if you need accuracy. It's not terrible but I think I got it for 75 or 80 bucks about five years ago so I'm not nearly as disappointed.

[@stevebloke5455]

I bought a non tilting rotary table from Qtech tools who claim to be an Australian company for $150. Wish i had saved my money because it is a piece of crap! it looks good on the outside and that's about it. i mounted a piece of mild steel to open up a curved slot (cutter diameter was less than the slot) with a light cut the end mill grabbed and spun the table (10/15mm) and painted a racing stripe in my jocks. Nun the less i finished with a hand file and wont use it again until i strip it down and assess the issues. Qtech had very poor customer service, I won't buy from them again!! Great video keep up the good work. Ps. i haven't forgotten that gearbox casting you did a while back.

[@SweetTooth8989]

Yea i bought a cheap small 3" one of Amazon and it's really cheaply made. But it's not the tilting variety. I did buy one of those also previously but those are even worse as nothing is square and accuracy is way off. That's also the case for the fixed one but to a lesser degree but still far from being anywhere close to a precision tool. It does work OK for my purposes since my machining is done strictly as a hobby but I'm still going to invest in a higher quality one at some point. I've just been procrastinating that for a while since I don't end up needing to use the rotary table that often, but when I do it's frustrating sometimes. Although the rotary plate on it is quite flat, within less than a thou over all sides. After disassembling, cleaning, deburring sharp edges and putting new grease it operated much smoother. The only issue is that there is a bit of lift when machining, that's what makes it frustrating and the other frustrating part I've found is that the chucks I've bought for it are nowhere near accurate enough, so these issues compound on one another. Altogether i can still make ok parts on them but they are quite a bit off from the accuracy i'd like even just for hobby work.

[@Cenedd]

Only a few seconds in and already I'm impressed. That looked like a Rolson penknife....and he managed to cut something with the blade!

[@joergengeerds360]

I did modify a 100mm chuck by drilling 6.5mm through-holes from the face to the back and adding recesses to the face for socket head screws. I am using 1/4-20 bolts, but M6 is fine as well. my t-nuts are 3/8-16 threaded, but I have tons of reducer bushings from the photo/video business, so the bolts thread easily into the t-nuts. this allows me to mount the chuck straight onto the mill table without using strap clamps, as well as straight to my rotary table... no backplates necessary.

[@machineshopinagarage4699]

I've got the same rotary table, and the same issues as you have. The little thumb locking screw has a taper which is supposed to lock the table via an angled groove in the table, which tends to lift the table upwards. I stripped mine down hoping to machine a better groove to apply downwards pressure but there isn't enough metal to do it!!!

[@ferrumignis]

Could you drill and tap another hole in a slightly lower location to use the original locking screw?

[@machineshopinagarage4699]

@@ferrumignis no because there is not enough metal, the rotating table is very shallow in the main body. The worm and wheel take up most of the space. A downward clamping force is needed,but it might stop rotation! Can't win really!

[@ajosepi1976]

Years ago I got the cheaper version of this. Calling it hot garbage would be a kindness. Yours is in much better shape than the junk I ended up with. I didn't return it because I didn't use it until after time ran out. I now use a Sherline rotary table. It's not perfect, but it is very usable and gets the job done. The only issue I have is the locking mechanism is fiddly and could be improved, but accuracy is top notch.

[@jaro6985]

Looks like the Sherline is $300 plus another $120 for the tilting, not that bad. Not as beefy though.

[@ajosepi1976]

@@jaro6985 Weirdly it feels a LOT more solid and stable. It was designed for a light machine so there is nothing there it does not need. I got it at 20% off. Sherline does a 20% deal every month on something.

[@liampollard2908]

Hmmm ... I bought a 75mm rotary table - an RT-1 - for a job in a fctory where I was making up cable loomsand I gotsick of being "screwdrivered"; I made up some plates whuch I mounted to the RT and I fitted M12 sensor sockets and ecomate connectors to take the plugs - no more screwwsdriver injuries! I have since moved onfrom the factory job and I am now in the process of making a rotary welding table using hobby gearhead motrord and a toothed belt to drive the RT; my variable PSU is my variable speed drive - its only a few hundred mA. I found the backlash a little worrying, but its new job, this won't be a problem. I'll be using it mainly for small pipe welding jobs.

[@liampollard2908]

I have a three inch non angling version of this yable - I bought it to be used a work-piece rotator - and I am quite happy with it. I am going to mate a small Jaycar motor gearbox to it with a 2.1 to 1 toothed belt drive, enclosed on plastic boxes to keep out rubbish and drive it with my variable PSU. It should be good!

[@Designments]

I have a version from RDG in the UK; looks identical. The T slots are not even on centre or 90° to each other on mine. Absolute garbage. Had the same issue with the lock screw too.

[@ferrumignis]

RDG and Chronos sell a lot of this cheap crap unfortunately.

[@oddshot60]

It would be pretty interesting if you took a hard look at it and made mods and repairs necessary to make this one the rotary table of your dreams.

[@oddshot60]

@@real_mikkim At least its cheap and keeps us out of the pubs at night. I'm doing a variant on the theme ... turning a made in INDIA 4" X 7.3" VEVOR Cross Slide Table into a milling attachment for my 70 year old Craftsman 12-24 lathe. So far it looks like the Indian made crap is somewhat better than that made by the Chinese.

[@oddshot60]

@@real_mikkim Oh Yeah ... You win at Internet -hobby machinist division today!

[@weevilinabox]

I feel your pain. I bought one of the cheap ones, which had all the same problems...plus one more: the mounting holes were misaligned. A line marked through the centres of the holes wasn't perpendicular to the tilt axis, which meant that I couldn't set it up with the tilt axis aligned with mill's y-axis. I mostly cut plastics (and some aluminium) on my micro-mill using high speed steel tooling...which wouldn't cut the cast base. I ended up spending an hour making cast iron dust with a die grinder in order to get things aligned ☹️

[@shiro-r4m]

I still really like the look of the scraped base of your vise. No one else I've seen has that

[@nikhilbhale79]

I wanted to make a backplate for my rotary table. I liked your idea of bolting the backplate to rotary table for machining OD. I have a 6" India make table that I got for about $150. It has 72:1 ratio and comes with indexing plates. It also has the clamps that you had to make. Overall I think it is a good product for that price.

[@billsmith5166]

Nice job fixing that locking mechanism. That backing plate machined beautifully.

[@17ftAbove]

yup I bought rotary table and dividing head from China while ago. It is kinda interesting as almost everything seemed to match its spec, but not working well at all. I then realized that once you received it, you have take it apart, wash it, clean it, lube it, and assemble it in correct way, then you can make it work well.

[@msmith2961]

Yeah, HAFCO aren't always the cheapest option out there. Always a good idea to shop around.

[@RobertLBarnard]

Thank for the video, as always you provided great content. You're competency seems to be well beyond the level of machines and budget you're working with. Watching and learning you techniques as you "bootstrap" with cheep "Chinese quality" machines and tools into a capable shop is really helpful. I also bought a rotary index, thinking I could use it as a rotary table. But my machine is also limited in it's Z. Great advice, I'm sorry the rotary table won't likely have much future use. I'll look now to see if you have a Patron site I can join and help offset your cost, you certainly saved me from wasting money on one of these tilting rotary tables. Thanks again.

[@larryschweitzer4904]

I have a Vertex 8" HV rotary table & indexing plates that seem decent. I can take the back plate off my 8" chuck & face mount to the RT. The combination is so heavy that I can't handle it so have to take it apart to move. I have a BS-1 semi-universal indexing head with a cheap 6" chuck. Again the combination is pretty heavy for me to handle together. It is also quite tall when used vertically. By the time a drill chuck & bits or especially a reamer is mounted there is little or no room left for work. And I've got a 9x49 knee mill! I thought when I got the RT that I could cut everything I wanted including all the gear spacings and radius work. Turns out the Indexing head is better for gears & the RT for many other things. I ended up casting an 11" aluminum plate & 8 T slots for the RT because of the needed room to clamp parts. I bought foot stocks for both but have rarely used the one for the RT. The rabbit hole is deep! I've made indexing blocks for the bottom of all the things that fit on the mill table, so setup times are less. I made wooden trays with a slot for the blocks to drop into. I'm slow at setups! Hope some of this helps others.

[@aeroearth]

I have similar 100mm tilting rotary table which came with 100mm three jaw chuck fitted. It has a similar rotating table lift on the body problem not when clamping but when rotary milling, so what I have in mind is to dismantle it and see what has been used for the rotating bearings. My guess is two close coupled sealed ball races. I which case that would explain the lift on actuating the radial clamp. Current thought would be to re engineer it and fit it with two tapered roller bearings with slight pre load. Another thought would be convert it to a precision plain bearing which should handle radial loads better than rolling element bearings.

[@NASA-AU.]

Hey thanks for all the great videos- I bought my mill after seeing you using the Seig. Anyway I recently purchased the exact same RT. After watching the vid I rushed out to the workshop to check mine as I didn't notice anything bad about mine when I used it. The lock on mine moves the plate about .10mm, and the hand wheel shows about 2 seconds(?) of backlash. The plate revolves nice and smooth and no binding whatsoever. Im really happy with it. I know you probably didn't have time but they would have swapped it out for a better one which you could check on the spot. Cheers!

[@SvdSinner]

Love your videos. Every once in a while, you might want to do a video on some of what you actually make. We'd love to see what you do when you aren't machining the machines that you use to machine what you actually make.

[@john2478]

Interesting. I have just come across your video which has exactly the same issues I had. I bought the same size rotary table but without the tilt function and it too wobbled in exactly the same way. I did not want to spend ages re-machining surfaces so the underside of the top part fitted flush with the nicely ground surface. I checked and the table was nice and concentric and after a lot of thought decided to fit 4 M5 brass grub screws with flat tops inserted through from the top held in place with thread lock. I could then adjust the wobble until there was none but at the same time there was not too much drag. I too had problems with the poor fit of the worm against the gear but in my case there was no way to adjust it. The inside of mine was filled with grinding dust and it needed a good clean. It is a shame that someone went almost all the way to make a reasonable tool but tried too hard to do it cheaply. Mine is workable but disappointing. Not aware that there is an alternative in the 100mm size. John

[@JETHO321]

I'd love to see you upgrade to a larger lathe. I went from a mini like you have to a Bolton BT1030a benchtop and then finally got a Smithy 14x40 which I use for gunsmithing. Life is much easier when you can hog through work.

[@cooperised]

Yes and no. I mean yes, you're right about a larger lathe helping. But I don't think it's good for the content necessarily. There's a real niche here on KZbin for content creators showing how they work with (and around) small, low cost tools. I've seen more than one successful creator upgrade their shop and lose their foothold in that niche.

[@philf5043]

Have you stripped it down and cleaned the inside yet ? I bought an identical RT and it felt gritty . When stripped it was full of grease and casting sand making an excellent grinding paste ! It's now much smoother and feels better in use. I certainly wouldn't recommend this RT to any one. Having said that it has been useful for my intended uses.

[@jackdawg4579]

Bit of a let down, but then again I suppose if you are not buying high end precision gear, you have to accept that will happen occasionally. But overall for the home shop, this sort of price bracket is still the way to go and overall far better value for money spent. Hopefully your new clamp will prove to do the job and make it a useful tool going forward.

[@hogan6216]

I picked up a 6 inch rotary table about 15 years ago and yes it is also an import.I have had good luck with it but after 16 years being a hobby machinist i have learned one thing about import tooling...ONLY AS A LAST RESORT...I just replaced an import 3 ton arbor press.Bent the shaft while trying to broach a 1/4 key way....Bought a Greenerd 3 ton....I payed more for the import then i did for the Greenerd...Now i shop around before buying..Used in good shape is the only way to go...

[@patrickbeck4062]

10:33 Not really sure which one you're measuring with the dial test indicator, as you didn't say, but I'm hoping you were checking if it has any run out from factory, and not getting it centred perfectly with the spindle. You have to rotate the spindle with the indicator in it to find centre. I also have the 6" Vertex like a bunch of others here, and seems pretty decent to me. I bought the version with indexing plates, but I don't think I've used them yet, as the one time I wanted to I couldn't find the number I wanted, so had to use the hole function on the D.R.O for I think 24 holes. The thing I was making, (and I would recommend making one yourself once you find a need) was a round fixture plate to go on the rotary table. I think mine is about 210mm diametre on a 150mm table. With I think 94 tapped M8 holes. Makes it alot more useful clamping things being bigger and not being so limited by the 90° seperated T-slots. I partially got the idea from a Click Spring video, who got the idea from someone else.

[@artisanmakes]

Yes that’s not the right bit of footage i intended to use

[@iancraig1951]

Do not worry about it too much--a couple of years ago I bought a set of adjustable reamers--3mm--20mm--totally useless they could not ream lead---I learn the hard way

[@snowgorilla9789]

Got the same one different name (Canada) was all but useless out of the box. Tear down, CLEAN, lube. useable but did not expect a lot for the price and needed it for ONE job at the time and with a little finess did the job great

[@jeffcurrey8765]

I think most of the small cheap tables come from India. I found a Vevor 6" non-tilting for about $160 USD. Very happy with it so far. It comes with indexing plates which I haven't used.

[@Alwr400]

I have the same set up with the same issues. I’ll be making a lock like yours now. Great video

[@oldschool1993]

That's a lot of monkeying around- 1- Drill through the threaded mounting holes from the back to the front. 2. Counterbore the holes on the front side for socket head bolts 3. Use the chuck jaws to grip around an arbor in the center of the rotary table to center the chuck on the table 4.Punch mark through the mounting holes and drill and tap the table for your socket head screws. Keep your centering arbor in your toolbox and you can mount the chuck perfectly centered in seconds. You should have bought the 4.3" table which has a whole different construction and also has optional dividing plates.

[@lawriealush-jaggs1473]

Hi mate. If you are going to buy the six inch from H&F, get the one with dividing plates as it has four T slots ratherthan three. I had a three slot one a few years ago and it was rotten for trying to hold stuff to it. I enjoy your vids, thanks for making them.

[@campbellmorrison8540]

I too looked at a similar tilting table but decided I didnt really need the tilt, quite pleased I did now. I ended up with a fixed rotary table with indexing plates which is OK but also needed stripping like most Chinese stuff. I have to say I have found those San Du chucks pretty good after cleaning

[@ottomakers]

Was shopping these and you saved me troubles, thanks

[@samrodian919]

I have a 6" rotary table with just the ability to be mounted flat or on its side at 90 degrees it has two downward pressure locks at 180 degrees to lock the table and I have had no issues with it. I used a 19 mm thick round aluminium plate to make a back plate for the 5" four jaw independent chuck that came with my lathe and used that for work holding. The rotary table has a morse2 taper in the centre and I had a spare mt2 arbor so I bored a hole in the aluminium back plate to I think 15 or 16 mm and fitted the MT 2 arbor into a 2-3 adaptor and again into a 3-4 MT adaptor to fit into my MT4 lathe spindle and then turned the MT2 arbor to fit the back plate. So the chuck mounts to the back plate by the normal 120 degree 8 mm bolts then the centring arbour goes into the rotary table and the whole chuck and back plate fits onto the centring arbor and I only use two home made long tee nuts and bolts through the very limited room I've hot either side of the chuck ( 1/2" a side) to get a turned down headed 8 mm hex head cap screw to hold the chuck and back plate down. I've recently added a brand new Vevor 5 three jaw which I bought to use on my lathe as it came second hand and without the reverse jaws for the 5.1" chuck with the 100 mm back register. I didn't know that there were two different 5 inch' chuck ' standards' one with 95 mm register and one with 100 mm register, well the Vevor one was 95 mm so I made a back plate for it from 20 mm steel plate and that works fine on the lathe. I adapted the rotary table back plate to accept the new Vevor chuck so I have three jaw concentric with two sets of jaws capability and four jaw independent capability for my rotary table now and I'm very happy with it.

[@DudleyToolwright]

Thanks for the review. I had been considering getting one of these off and on for a few years and now I have a lot more info, sadly to the negative.

[@shawnmrfixitlee6478]

I bought a 80mm from India for super cheap and I took it apart straight out of the box and cleaned it well, I was expecting JUNK .. Turned out to be great ! ya, Just never know these days with over the pond tooling .

[@joostgudde1989]

Thank you for the video and detailed information given. Especially about locking the rotating top plate.

[@caseytailfly]

I know you probably don’t want to buy another one, but I have heard that Vertex makes a good quality rotary table. Also I like how you approach the problems you have with your tools. Instead of complaining you try your hardest to make it work. Imo that’s the way to be. Kudos!

[@artisanmakes]

No I probably will buy a replacement when the time comes, I have a few bits of tooling from vertex and they seem to make good stuff for the price. Cheers

[@werner.x]

@@artisanmakes looks, like the tilting 4" vertex costs around 1000 US $. plus shipment and maybe taxes. Compared to the (normally) 130,-(taxed and shipped to Germany) for this one. That's a lot headroom for home made improvement, if there is a way.

[@robertwalker7457]

Nice work, mine is a 4" Soba and it has a similar clamping arrangement. You may be able to make a stepped plug that goes into the mounting plate and the spindle to center it? An old machinist warned me against getting the 6" because of the weight. When I get a 4 "chuck on mine it is quite heavy if I have to reach to put it on the mill. The older you get the heavier they get! I can use the micrometer on it effectively if I do not want to set up the dividing plates.

[@RobB_VK6ES]

To make the sub plate repeatable for concentricity a very good method is to cut in keyways into the sub plate and fit keys @ 90 degrees to form a cross or simply cut the keys directly into the sub plate. As a bonus, this arrangement does not reduce the thru' hole diameter of the table like a spigot would. Good files are expensive and like any cutting tool have a optimal cutting speed. Running the lathe at the speed shown here will quickly destroy the file and severely pin it up. As a guide imagine you were drilling a hole the same size as your workpiece using HSS. This speed range is better for the file and a lot safer to boot.

[@artisanmakes]

Yes thankyou. Good idea on the keys idea. I know that the speed is less than optimal but I don’t have much control over it with this set up

[@ShedBuiltStuff]

I bought the “cheap” one the same as yours and experienced similar issues. Also it’s almost useless set at an angle as it’s just not rigid enough. But it still works sort of ok if I’m careful.

[@taiwanluthiers]

You should get a Vertex 6" rotary table. I don't know if they have 4 inch rotary tables. They are decent and have none of the problem you described. The bearing on it however is simply a sleeve that runs against the spindle... I notice you are using mini mills and lathes... is there any way you can use bigger ones, like an old Bridgeport type machine? Even ones from Taiwan is much better than any of the Sieg stuff. My mill is a Dalih, smallest one they have (which is roughly the same size as a Bridgeport) and it's actually pretty heavily built. My lathe is a Victor 400 x 750. Nice thing about Victor is you can watch all the Abom videos and he'll have a lot of info about it. The Taiwan version of it doesn't have D1-6 spindle nose... shame. It has a A1-6 which is bolt on. The only downside with getting a full sized mill is that you may have to replace your R-8 tooling. In Taiwan nobody uses R-8 except for the mini mills, even the bridgeport series 1 sized mill don't use R-8, they use ISO tapers, which in Taiwan it's NT30. Mine uses NT40 tapers. They are better in every way compared to R-8 because of the positive drive keys. If you ever get CNC machines the ISO tapers will serve you well as they all use ISO tapers as well.

[@keithammleter3824]

Is not Victor a USA-based importer that sells Chines lathes identical to what Machinery House sells in Australia - jus branded "Victor" instead of "Hafco"?

[@taiwanluthiers]

@@keithammleter3824 I don't know, victors are all made in Taiwan.

[@ferrumignis]

Vertex do have 4inch tables and they are good quality items, but new cost for is around 6x more than the Chinese crap.

[@taiwanluthiers]

@@ferrumignis I paid about 150 for my Vertex 6 inch tables, but it was used. No idea what it is new. It pays to look at used ones if you can find it.

[@ferrumignis]

@@taiwanluthiers 4 inch tilting Vertex is currently about 650 UKP new...

[@indian.techsupport]

i have the shop fox rotary table, its around the same size and price, but it has not tilting, so its much more stable

[@HM-Projects]

Recommend vertex rotary tables. They're not the best but the 100mm one I got from General Tools in Adelaide has been very good. (Edit) Vertex 6" tilting rotary table is ~$1600 🙀

[@wizrom3046]

Haha, yeah funny enough a $1600 rotary table is better quality than a $130 ebay unit. 😁

[@HM-Projects]

@@wizrom3046 I bought Vertex HV-4. Cost me around $365 on sale. No tilt function, but very decent quality, usable and accurate out of the box.

[@ferrumignis]

@@HM-Projects I managed to pick up a new HV04 with dividing plates for £120 a few years back (eBay auction from private seller), really nicely made and perfect for my small benchtop machine.

[@65cj55]

You shouldn't have to, but i'm sure you could fix it, maybe a shim to take up the slack or shorten the shaft etc..

[@ajosepi1976]

I have one. The gear is out of round so if you shim it it stops rotating. His may be better, but the one I got was totally not fixable.

[@Mikesmeyer88]

Definitely pay more for your tooling. It will bring you more joy and most is actually ready to use, all of these cheap Chinese/ Indian tooling isn't finished, its only cheap because they leave the finishing work to you so hopefully you know how. Honestly i don't understand how people use these types of things without cleaning or anything. Mine had chunks broken off with metal and coating inside.

[@mervynprice7009]

As soon as I saw that screw lock in its side I knew it was no use. I purchased a plain one sometime ago It let me down immediately. Stick with the 90:1 type with the locks that clamp down. The problem is the clearance between the outer casting & the table is too great. Resulting in around 6 thou of movement. It hurts to see when you put so much effort in to do the work correctly. Mervyn Price

[@lesmaybury793]

I have Vertex rotary table. It is probably a mid price point and has suited what I do. It has a 90/1 drive ratio which gives better resolution but takes alot of cranking to get there 😁. Fitted with dividing plates I have produced great gears and other exciting stuff. The only downside is it is not tilting but I can live with that but it can be mounted vertically & horizontally. It needed stripping and cleaning before first use but I tend to expect that with any tool and satisfys my craving to take stuff apart to see how they work 🤪. I have the matching tailstock and that has proved invaluable to provide rigidity on longer projects and when using mandrels.

[@gordonclass1]

Machinist for over 40 years and most rotary tables need to be used with the locks partially tightened. The backlash in the gears tend to cause problems on all the manual ones.

[@PaulSteMarie]

Indexing plates aren't going to care what the worm ratio is. It will just give a different multiplier from the holes on the plate to the number of divisions.

[@artisanmakes]

Yes, it just seems that they need different hole patterns

[@IvyMike.]

That rotary table is arc furnace fodder. Well done for making it work, after it furiously resisted the improvements.

[@samdobbie8286]

I have the same rotary table and have had all the same issues, poor design, not rigid at all, would not recommend

[@lpjunction]

A cheap tool is a good bargain, you get a tool and an improvement project to work on.

[@paulpahl1607]

A while ago I bougth a Vertex VU-150 rotary table and at the same time an 'identical' no-name chinese type for comparision. Yes, the Vertex was more expensive. And yes, the difference was a little bit painful. But what a difference in quality and especially in practicability! I can adjust the worm gear to nearly zero backlash and it still works smooth as silk. And the table has no play at all, it's absolutly no problem milling curves with it. Different story with the no name: It was impossible to adjust the worm gear so on the one hand it has no play and on the other hand it doesn't jam. And the table fit was looser so you had to clamp it every time to prevent chatter, milling curves wasn't fun at all. Long story short: You get what you pay for, and in case of such a rotary table it's well spend money. Don't make the same mistake again sparing money here, you will be annoyed sooner or later.

[@peterrabinovitch8513]

I can second the vote on the Vertex being of much better quality. Also, try to purchase the largest size that you can accommodate or afford - what backlash there is will be proportionately smaller and the mass of the table much larger.

[@subuser9627]

The Vertex has locks close to what you made, but two on each side. The Vertex 110mm looks better, but is about 465 Euro...😮‍💨

[@Carpenters_Canvas]

I wonder if you could drill and tap more holes to lock it in place, equal pressure in the locks might help, sort of like how you have to adjust the jaws on the lathe i dont know?

[@nlo114]

I found that the first thing to do with any chinese gear is strip it, measure everything, square it all up, then clean, oil and reassemble. All of my cheapo kit has been 're-manufactured' where possible to improve very poor accuracy, which is now up to 'home wshop' standards, give or take 0.01mm.

[@LittleAussieRockets]

This could be the perfect starter for a rotary welding table. Just a thought.

[@sassmastersq]

It’s not hard to get the backlash out: remove the rotating handle, loosen off the screws holding the shaft assembly onto the body, then adjust the grub screw perpendicular to it until you have no backlash.

[@_RsX_]

Nice video, easy to enjoy. Now, where is the video where you fix this rotary table and make it the best in the world? 😄

[@XXCoder]

That sucks. I wonder if full rebuild could find issues and fix them.

[@ajosepi1976]

I have one, tried fixing it myself. No. It needs melted down. What it would take to fix it would cost more than buying a good one. That is what I did. Got a good one.

[@XXCoder]

@@ajosepi1976 Hmm too bad. Oh well.

[@manofausagain]

You might find the locking screw is not pointed and is actually winding the plate over.

[@jimsvideos7201]

I have a similar one, no tilt though. Guess I have nothing to lose by cracking it open.

[@dollarbill93]

can we not utilize most of the bits on this unit and develop a better one yourself? you have a great guide?

[@wizrom3046]

Yeah like most chinese stuff you need to think of it like a kit of spare parts that might work well... after you do heaps of rebuilding and mods to it.

[@Mikesmeyer88]

I got the 3 inch, Indian kind. Mine didn't come with that big dial tho. Only because i offered the seller 42$ and they accepted it lmao. Still there Only worth 25 at most. Literally looks like a coin I took it apart and it smelled awful, like they dumped Gee from a roadside food stand on it to prevent rust. There was grease on the brass gear but something else was just nasty. I put the parts in ziplocks and dumped wax&grease remover then just let it sit. Can't figure out how they're supposed to go together tho because the handle just pulls out now but i did file and polished the the edges of the worm gear teeth because they were squared off & the brass gear had triangle so they barely matched just the most miniscule amount didn't take that much off. It spins nicely anti clockwise but clockwise it pushes the shaft out. I was pissed by the end and haven't touched it since so maybe tonight but probably not. Ima just drop the $ for the lms precision 4 inch rotary table with indexing plates. No since in buying this garbage when you can save your money. Buy actual precision tooling and not cheap eBay or Amazon Chinese or Indian "precision" tooling because its not. They just say that so the ad pops up when you search anything with precision in it.

[@beautifulsmall]

Makes me wonder with machining required anyway ,just a couple of 45 degree interlocking plates turned on the lathe with an on-axis magnetic encoder underside. and some clamping mechanism. maybe made from an old topslide .Ah the rabit hole of indexing head accuracy .

[@the4thj]

Great Ep, of This Old Aussie! or, Bob's yer auntie! But not the Canadian version the Aussie version aahhhrrr I have gone cross-eyed! I made the mistake of buying the sqaure one of those and it's junk you still have the better one your'll get better use out of it I think. I also think those things they charge way too much for what you get! You have to make everything on them right and they still fail somewhere. Hey, great fireside chat! Have a good one, my man!

[@sandortimar2442]

It was an instructive video, thank you! It helps some people not to spend money on such a device.

[@Timmays]

Rebuild it and fix the dumpy parts. There are several parts there you can reuse that are hard to make but the base and innards are chunky and you can solve the cheap Chineasium issues.

[@garygruber1452]

good work. One suggestion. You have too much of your boring bar protruding when you make your cut. This can, and usually does, lead to deflection issues.

[@artisanmakes]

Probably but it’s easier for me to film it if I have a bit more stock out. Filming on that old lathe tended to be very awkward

[@courier11sec]

😮😮 Has the hacksaw's time run up?

[@nicolashuffman4312]

Not sure if you can get Phase II rotabs in Australia, but I'm happy with mine.

[@badjuju6563]

I cant believe that after seeing the lock "working" you didn't just return it. Id get a flat one and tilt your mill head to make the difference.

[@artisanmakes]

My mill head doesn’t tilt and I really was running out of time to make the parts that I needed. Not a great situation but I did need to crack on. Cheers

[@mealex303]

your locking issue maybe the size of the pawl on the locking lug if you file it down or grind it it may help from lifting

[@mrb.5610]

Thinkingvof buying one just to convert into a welding positioner....

[@marcellinden7305]

Where oh where did you find that tooth cutter disc for your mill ?. None of the places I look have anything like it.

[@wizrom3046]

From machinery warehouse, they just buy the same $130 unit from china and rebadge it and sell for $220. That price difference gives them a bit of profit and covers the cost of units being returned and refunded because it is chinese crud.

[@johncoops6897]

The "returns and bargains" section out the rear often has some good bargains. I used to live just up the road, and dropped in periodically to see what I could score.

[@jhbonarius]

Thanks for talking the bullet for us