Maybe They’re Finally Taking Him Away

Today a truck pulled up and ejected 219 pounds of Enco on a pallet. My rotary table arrived. I think I’m finally done with the basic accessorizing of the machine tools. I still want a band saw, but other than that, I may be set for a few months.

Really! Don’t snicker.

I can’t believe how big a 10″ rotary table is. Half the people I quizzed said “go big,” and half said, “I’ve never needed anything bigger than 8 inches.” The people who said to go big seemed to like 12″, so I split the difference. Guess what this thing weighs? I’ll spoil the surprise. About 118 pounds. And it’s oily and has no good parts to grab onto when you lift it.

I had the truck guy wheel the pallet into the garage. It had several wooden boxes strapped to it, along with a cardboard box containing a cheap chuck. I always try to resist the temptation to lift heavy things, so once I got the lid off the rotary table box, I had to figure out how to get the table out without picking it up. I ended up running a nylon rope through the center hole and tying it to my hoist. I got it up to waist level, figuring I could sort of swing it over to my bench. In reality, the last foot or so was not much different from plain old lifting, but I did try.

At least I avoided lifting it out of the box. One of the worst experiences in life is lifting a heavy object out of a heavy box that tries to come with it. Then you find yourself shaking the object and the box, rupturing disks one after the other, trying to make the box drop. I didn’t have to do that. This is one of the great things a hoist can do for you. Even if you don’t mind lifting an awkward 80-pound tool, you will not enjoy lifting that tool plus the 10-pound box it came in.

The tailstock looked small in the Enco picture, but I would guess it’s about 40 pounds. Hey, I can check. Hold on. Okay, 33 pounds.

Right now I can lift the rotab onto my mill, but I haven’t put a chuck on it yet. Let’s see. It’s 35 pounds, so add that to the rotab and the backing plate, and it spells “truss.”

The chuck looks really nice. I’ll check the runout and see what the story is. You never know. Sometimes a Phase II turns out to be as accurate as a Bison. Actually, I’m not sure checking the runout is possible. Can you do that with a chuck on a rotary table? I would think the table would have its own error to worry about. I’ll figure it out later.

I couldn’t figure out how to manage getting this thing on and off the table. I wanted to put a hoist over the mill, but then I’d have to have a shelf or something nearby, to put the rotab on. And that would be a pain. It would be in the way, and I’d have to screw it to the wall, and I’d have to go around behind the mill to get the rotab onto it. Bad idea. Then I realized there was perpetually empty floor space beneath the mill table, to either side. I can make a little wheeled platform about a foot square and put the rotab on it. When I’m not using it, I push it back under the mill. When I need the rotab, I pull it out so it’s under the hoist. I think this will work. I could make it a little longer and stick the tailstock on it.

A hoist is overkill. A small block and tackle would be faster and easier, but I don’t know where to get stuff like that. I could go to a boating store, but I’m sure the stuff they sell for boats would be insanely expensive. By the time you run all over town looking for something that costs $25, a $50 hoist doesn’t seem like such a bad compromise.

I’m going to try to get this thing working. I have enough junk to make things now. All I need is inspiration and something resembling drawings.

I think I’ll go fondle my new drill bits before I go to bed. Enco put a cobalt set on sale for over 50% off. There was no way I could turn that down. It beat the snot out of the great Ebay deal I was planning to go for. People said I was stupid to get cobalt. I suppose I should listen, but so far, the cobalt bits I’ve used have been incredible compared to HSS. FINALLY, I have drill bits and a nice box in which to store them. Big hurdle there.

I am so grateful for this stuff. I’ve wanted to do this for so long.

I’m open for business. Look out.