Powering my rotary table

[charles scozzari]

Hi, I would like to show you what I came up with to motorize my 10" R/T. I used a mill power feed to achieve this and it worked out well, giving me control of the speed for much better finishes. I had to mount the feed horizontally in order to clear the mill knee. Thanks for looking.

[metric_taper]

Nice job making the structural stand mount for the power feed.
I have used these as well, one I put on my lathe tail stock, the smooth slow operation controls the drill speed so I don't get chatter. This is on my small 10x24 bench lathe, and I can use very large drills (I've used a reduced shank 1.5" drill) as the feed depth is very well controlled.
I also put one on my drill press as a down feed, the only problem, it can't drive the pinion gear directly as it needs some gear reduction. I found a 10:1 gear box intended for stepper motors and put that in series with the power feed unit.
I have a future project to put this on my manual surface grinder, one would traverse the table back and forth, the other feed the table.

[charles scozzari]

Thank you for your reply, I love the idea you had of mounting the feed to your tailstock and your drill. I have a Nicols horizontal mill that uses a pneumatic table feed system that has seen better days and have intensions of mounting a power feed to that table. The method you used to power you drill is genius. Thanks again for your reply.

[metric_taper]

Once the importance of the mounting stand is understood, these power feeds become general purpose variable speed drive motors. And the price for them off ($106) eBay is cheap. I've not seen any quality differences between the expensive Servo brand I purchased years ago from Enco for my Wells-Index. It did have a custom mounting stand for that milling machine brand. But I put two more on the table lift and saddle feed. I did have to make custom mounting stands for them, and for the table lift, I made a new shaft to the bevel gear, but it was a zero talent machining task.

[charles scozzari]

thanks for posting what you've accomplished using the power feeds. Very nice work. I love the p/feed on the drill and am going to copy that soon. Thanks again for the video's. much appreciated.

[DIYer]

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

Rotary Table Power Feed by charles scozzari

tags: rotary table

[DIYer]

Thanks metric_taper! We've added your Drill Press Power Down Feed to our Drilling and Drill Presses category,
as well as to your builder page: metric_taper's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Drill Press Power Down Feed by metric_taper

tags: drill press, power feed

[DIYer]

Thanks metric_taper! We've added your Lathe Tailstock Power Feed to our Lathe Accessories category,
as well as to your builder page: metric_taper's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Lathe Tailstock Power Feed by metric_taper

tags: power feed, tailstock