rotary table recommendation

I've got the AET 6inch table, pleased with it. One simple mod was to add a thrust race. Is it better than the Vertex ones? Don't know.

Steve

Hi Ifoggy, I have the Vertex and am happy with it, I also have the tail centre and dividing attachment. The rub was after I bought all the bits they were on offer as a set for very much less than I paid, boo hoo! If you are going to buy a RT,check how many Tee slots it has, some have three, some have four. If yoiu get a four one you can mount a four jaw chuck, which comes in handy sometimes. T.W..

I also have a Vertex that I'm entirely happy with...but I don't understand why you can't mount a four-jaw chuck on a three slot table?

.....I should have added to my own post, the Vertex has a 2MT centre hole which can take an adaptor to mount just about anything within reason.

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Hi Chris, A lot of 4 jaw independant chucks have four holes all the way through the body, something not possible with a three jaw scroll chuck. This means you can simply bolt the chuck on the RT with Allen bolts screwing into Tee nuts in the 4 Tee slots. Ubviously direct mounting to headstock chucks or mounting studs at rear of chuck wont work. I have a six inch independant four jaw that has proved very useful, when mounted on the RT. T.W.

On Tue, 27 May 2008 14:49:59 -0700 (PDT), the wizard wrote

I'm still not sure what you're saying....I know you can bolt a four-jaw directly to the face of the Vertex...but you can also fit a four-jaw to a spigot fitted in the 2MT centre hole. I have a 4-jaw, with a threaded Myford body, fitted at the moment.

I suspect that the problem with that is the very significant loss of rigidity.

Mark Rand RTFM

r way!" =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0

Hi again Chris Four Tee slots allow a rigid fitting of a 4Jaw independant chuck . What can you bolt to three Tee slots? My point is, given the option of

Hi again Chris Four Tee slots allow a rigid fitting of a 4Jaw independant chuck . What can you bolt to three Tee slots? My point is, given the option of

Its quite easy to make a backplate one side of which will fix to both a rotary table and to a lathe spindle, and the other side to a 3-jaw and a

Pat

I have a 6inch RT from AET which has four slots and comes with a backplate that allows 3 and 4 jaw chucks to be mounted. I didn't realise I had a problem mounting three jaw chucks on my four slot table until I read this thread....

ANyway it's a great table, though more expensive than the vertex.

Steve

Everybody is right, of course. There is certainly less rigidity if the chuck is spigot mounted. However, I'm a modeller rather than a production engineer and my four-jaw chuck on the RT is a small one, four inch diameter, and is only used for 'light' work. As Pat says, it's certainly not beyond the wit of man to produce a 'universal' backplate.

Another solution to the mounting problem is to simply drill and tap holes in the surface of the rotary table to take the mounting bolts of the 4 jaw chuck if you have only got three T slots. I'm not averse to drilling the odd hole in my tools if necessary.....although many would consider this sacrilege !