Rotary table is a work positioning device that has got high usage in metal working as it enables the metal worker to cut or drill the piece at exact intervals. There are some rotary tables that also enable the worker to perform indexing operations while the others can be fitted with dividing plates for work positioning.
Rotary Tables are mounted flat on the tables that are rotating around vertical axis in the plane of the vertical milling machine. There's also an alternate setup where tables are mounted on the ends of machine for rotating around horizontal axis.
When the table is mounted on a secondary table, the workpiece lies at the center around the axis of the table that is centered around the axis of the cutting tool. All these three axis lie in coaxial form. In order to set the cutter at the desired distance from the center of the workpiece, the secondary table is offset in X or Y direction. This will result the worker to perform concentric machining operation on the workpiece. If you want to cut more complex curves, it is suggested to place the workpiece eccentrically at a fix distance from the center.
If you are setting the table on vertical mill, you can either drill concentric or equidistant holes as well as cut semicircular shapes & contours.
If we list the benefits and uses of rotary tables, they are used:
For machining spanner flats on bolt.
For drilling equidistant holes on the circular flange.
For cutting round pieces with protruding tang.
For creating large diameter holes on small milling machines through following a circular toolpath.
For milling helixes.
For cutting difficult curves.
For cutting straight lines.
For cutting arcs.
A rotary table has a solid base so that it can be clamped onto another fixture or table. These tables have an important usage in the metal work industry because of numerous functionalities.