Rotary Table warning

[tonyfoale]

This is not a "how to make" post but a "how not to build stuff" warning.
The following pix. are pretty self explanatory. The Tee slot grooves on a rotary table were machined too thin at the top. In this case it only took very light force to break.
I fixed the table by machining it flat and drilling and tapping to bolt on a 12mm thick piece of steel plate, which I then machined flat and cut grooves for the Tee nuts.
The moral of the story is to always look for the probable failure areas of any new tools. Especially those from the east.

[mklotz]

Did it break from normal clamping force or was it a result of a through-tapped T-nut allowing a jacking action?

[tonyfoale]

Did it break from normal clamping force or was it a result of a through-tapped T-nut allowing a jacking action?

Marv,

It doesn't matter whether the nuts were through tapped or not I would NEVER do the jacking thing. It broke simply because too much metal had been machined away leaving a very thin lip to hold the T-nut. I was promised a new table top piece from the US stockist but that never happened. It seems that I was just unlucky, it turns out that the thickness of that lip varied a lot between different examples of the same spec. rot-tab.

[DIYer]

Thanks tonyfoale! We've added your Rotary Table Modification to our Machining category,
as well as to your builder page: tonyfoale's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Rotary Table Modification by tonyfoale

tags: modification, rotary table