While setting up my cross-slide rotary table a few days ago it occurred to me that many may not know this "trick".
Most of the time you can center a rotary table by indicating the Morse Taper socket in the center of the table. A cross-slide rotary table has no taper socket to indicate and it wouldn't be a reliable indication anyway, as the center of the table top can move relative to the center of rotation of the table.
The answer is to disengage the worm and indicate to the OD of the quill rather than indicating the ID of the table taper:
Where this trick shines is when you have a part clamped to the rotary table and lose your position. Re-indicating the rotary table concentric with the spindle using the taper socket becomes mighty difficult when it is covered by the part! With this method, simply install the indicator anywhere on the table, or the part for that matter, swing it until the quill OD is indicated in and you're good to go again.
Most of the time you can center a rotary table by indicating the Morse Taper socket in the center of the table. A cross-slide rotary table has no taper socket to indicate and it wouldn't be a reliable indication anyway, as the center of the table top can move relative to the center of rotation of the table.
The answer is to disengage the worm and indicate to the OD of the quill rather than indicating the ID of the table taper:
Where this trick shines is when you have a part clamped to the rotary table and lose your position. Re-indicating the rotary table concentric with the spindle using the taper socket becomes mighty difficult when it is covered by the part! With this method, simply install the indicator anywhere on the table, or the part for that matter, swing it until the quill OD is indicated in and you're good to go again.
