Reply with QuoteYou do have the table locks loosened, right?
Brand New Vertex Rotary Table Won't Work In The Vertical Position
I think it's time to send this Vertex HV-6 table back. I put it on its side (in the vertical position) and it bound right up. It won't turn at all, even with the worm gear fully disengaged; i.e., I cant even turn it by hand. When I first put it up on its side, it turned a little bit, maybe a quarter of a turn or so, and then it just stopped.
Has anyone had this problem before?
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You do have the table locks loosened, right?
I took the locks right off, just to make sure they weren't causing/contributing to the problem.
(Out of curiosity I'm tempted to take the table apart, to try to see what's going on...but then I tell myself, it's brand new...it should work properly right out of the box, and if I mess around with it too much, they might not take it back).
Anyway, with the table sitting in the horizontal position, it seems to rotate ok in either direction (although it does have a little bit of noticeable drag), either with the worm gear disengaged and turning the handle, or with the worm gear disengaged and spinning it by hand.
The problem happens when I flip it onto its side, into the vertical position. And when I do that, it will not rotate in the clockwise direction - either with the gear engaged or disengaged. But it will rotate in the counterclockwise direction...with a little noticeable drag.
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Edit: Now it's binding up even when it's in the horizontal position and it won't rotate in either direction. I don't know what's wrong with this thing.
Last edited by Nelson_2008; 07-15-2012 at 06:40 PM.
I assume that you have a 'genuine' Vertex, rather than a clone? Certainly the clones I have seen needed a lot of crud removing from the inside and then re-greasing with CLEAN grease, so I would probably ask your supplier if they expect you to have to clean it out before use ...
Lester Caine - G8HFL
http://medw.co.uk - Home of electronics for the Model Engineer
Based on the documentation that came with it (sparse though it was) I think it's a "genuine" "Vertex". (I don't know if it's correct or not, but somewhere online someone said that Vertex doesn't actually make a lot of stuff...it subcontracts other manufacturers to make things, and then tests the stuff and puts its name on it).
This isn't worth the effort in my opinion, send it back, you got a lemon.
Sounds like some fod is floating around inside.
Even my harbor freight poc works better than what you've described.
Hoss
Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here. - Roy Batty -- [URL]http://www.g0704.com[/URL]
Mine was a 'clone' so I was expecting to have to 'prepare' it, but the muck in the 6inch Rotary Table Conversion Guide will show you how bad it was inside. Having cleaned everything and reoiled and greased it, it ran nicely for 359 degrees, but needed loosening off to get past a bulge of some sort. Grinding paste and lapping it back ad forth over the spot has resulted in a nice tight set-up with negligible backlash.
I think even with a new table one would perhaps expect to do a little prep work to hone it in, but at least the table should go round when supplied
Lester Caine - G8HFL
http://medw.co.uk - Home of electronics for the Model Engineer
I just sent the seller an email requesting a return authorization. Now I'll get to see how well the seller, "Machine Shop Discount Supply", and possibly the manufacturer, Vertex, will handle this problem. I'll report back here as to the response I get.
And to make matters worse (for me), I just bought a 5", 3-jaw Vertex chuck for it. The chuck is supposed to be front mounting, but it didn't arrive yet (scheduled to be delivered today) so I can't say for sure until I see it.
In hindsight, I wish I went with the Grizzly G1049 table instead. But if I now return the Vertex table for a credit, then I'm stuck with a $110.00 chuck that I can't use (unless I make an adapter plate), because AFAIK, the G1049 (and all the other 6" rotary tables out there in the $200 to $300 price range), have 4 slots, and not 3 like the Vertex.
With heavy items like this table and the high cost of shipping these days, you'd think the manufacturers would take a little extra care, maybe an extra 5 minutes per item, to properly inspect this equipment before it goes out the door, wouldn't you?
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Edit: I just received the chuck and it does have the three through-holes for front mounting (I think they're M8 clearance holes).
Last edited by Nelson_2008; 07-16-2012 at 12:51 PM.
Ok Machine Shop Discount Co. sent me another Vertex 6" rotary table. They've been very good about this so far. Now I have two of them here; the first one, which definately has a problem of some kind, and which will be going back, and this new one.
I took the new one out of the box, and tried to turn it...and guess what? It's really stiff. It's nothing like the first table - at the time when the first table appeared to be working correctly, that is.
With this new table, with the worm gear engaged, the handle is rather difficult to turn, and the unit needs to be bolted down in order to turn the handle and rotate the table.
With the worm gear disengaged, the handle is slightly easier to turn and you can turn it without bolting it down, but just barely.
And also, with the worm gear disengaged, you can spin the table by hand, but it's stiff and takes some effort.
What I want to know is, is this normal?
My problem is that I've never had one of these tables before, so I'm not sure what to expect.
There should be at least three points where the tightness can be adjusted (table, worm engagement and worm axial play).
Your table sounds a little tight, but it all depends on how much backlash is acceptable.
I understand the worm engagement and axial play but I don't understand table tightness. By that are you referring to the drag (friction) as I spin the table by hand? And if so, can that be adjusted out somehow?
There should be a black metal disc on the back of the rotary table with 8 screws. If you tighten the set screws and loosen the socket caps it should loosen the table.
It isn't necessarily something you want to do though. It wont really change how difficult the handle is to turn since it is getting rotated at a 1:90 reduction. If you loosen the table too much awful things will happen when you try to cut.
That's it, I give up. I'm done. Both of these tables are going back. And now since the chuck is also useless to me, that has to go back, too.
In fact, I think I'm going to sell everything - lathe, milling machine, tools and accessories, at a good price - and forget about machine tools altogether.
It was fun for a while, but I didn't get into machine tools for their own sake; I got into it to support a hobby/science project where I needed to make mostly plastic and brass parts for one-of-a-kind high voltage transformers and spark gaps and related things.
Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever bought any tool or accessory that I was fully satisfied with. Even simple T-slot nuts...I ordered some from fastenal for the 7/16 slots in this Vertex table...even they didn't fit. I had to call the company that made them, and complain about it, and then they sent me ones that were within spec.
They were nice about it, but this is starting to get way too burdensome....it's becoming nothing but a PITA. It'd be like an auto mechanic who earns a living working on cars, but he can't work on any cars because he has to spend all of his time and energy getting his tools to work properly.
Anyone want to buy a Micromark 7x14 lathe and a milling machine, cheap?
I broke down and took the second table apart (except for the eccentric housing, through which passes the worm shaft) just to see what the hell was going on.
It's built very similar to the Grizzly model G1049.
For some reason, the worm shaft is turning extremely hard inside the eccentric housing...almost seems like like something is bent. Something is definately not right with this assembly.
I thought that when I took the table and worm gear out that the eccentric and worm shaft would come out, but it didn't.
The Grizzly diagram shows an M4 set screw holding the eccentric housing in, but I don't know what it is in this product as it's a lot smaller than M4, and I cant even see inside the hole.
Ok I was wrong, it was just an M4 setscrew holding the eccentric housing in, and I took it out, and then I pounded the worm shaft out of the housing with a rubber mallet, and it doesn't look like anything is bent; rather, it's just an extremely tight fit between the ID of the eccentric housing and the OD of the worm shaft.
I guess there's nothing I can do with that, is there? Unless I take the other unit apart and maybe try to make one good unit from two bad ones.
Anyway, I have to say, I'm not happy with the general quality of what I'm seeing with these things.
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Edit: I took some measurements and it's possible that the worm shaft or the eccentric housing bore aren't perfectly straight, and they wouldn't have to be off by much because of the very tight clearance.
Last edited by Nelson_2008; 07-20-2012 at 07:19 PM.
I took both units apart, and the first unit bound up because there was a loose machine screw floating around inside.
And the second unit was defective apparently because of a bent shaft or something.
So that's two Vertex rotary tables I received, and both were defective. Not to mention the tooling marks and some other cosmetic defects.
this is a bit late but just in case someone is reading I also had problems with the a vertex table but mine was more due a sag when mounting hotizontal. By this I mean when trying to tighten the back nut to eliminate any play I found that the machining was rather terrible, .1 of a mm if I remember. I decided to mill it with the table face down on the mill using the worm drive then ground it. So far it performs perfectly and I can imagine its an easy thing to look at and test when you get one to bring it to a higher spec than delivered. I also imagine there could be some thrust bearing used to make it even work better.
