Walter Rotary Table

[pete]

Nicely done!!! and thanks for the update Ted. I'd also forgotten about this thread and in the meantime picked up a bit more information about Walter. If you haven't already watched this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXNsR9X1XQk. Yes it's about the Walter universal dividing heads and not there rotary tables, but as usual Stefan provides some extremely well thought out methods for producing very high accuracy dividing plates. It's also the only video I know of that shows the use of one of the rare and ultra accurate Moore Tool rotary tables. It seems anything with that Walter name on it was top quality.

[SteveM]

Nice.

I recently picked up a Walter dividing head. Really well made unit.

I'm missing one or two plates (can't remember and I'm not dragging that box out to look!).

What were the plates you used originally from?

Steve

[neanderman]

Very nice!

[shootnride]

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen.

Pete - I had seen that video before, but since you posted it I felt compelled to watch it again . I really enjoy Stefan's videos and always seem to learn something from watching them.

Steve - I don't have any idea what the plates were from originally. They just met the criteria that I needed, eg; number of holes, O.D. of plate and the capability to be bored and drill the needed bolt circle.

Ted

[SteveM]

Those parts you made look like they belong to it. Nice job.

Mine is the same as Stefan Gotteswinter's.

There's another Walter dividing head rebuild here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCD9Zjd ... wBt1r6gkVQ

Steve

[pete]

Yep Stefan has a way of thinking through any issues and coming up with excellent solutions. I'm the same and almost always learn something new from him. I'd rate him as being well within the top 5 on YT for practical knowledge and machining skills for sure.It would have been a very long and tedious job doing each one of those holes to degrees, minutes,seconds and for a home shop it's somewhat debatable the level of accuracy that Moore R/T provides is really needed on a set of dividing plates for what most of us would be using them for. A whole lot tougher to add better accuracy later though. Stefan's choice of taper reaming each hole was an absolutely brilliant idea imo.I'd also watched that Ayr Cave Shop video when it was first posted Steve, He's another who does some pretty nice detailed work. The internals on that Walter equipment are more than impressive for how there designed to fit together and the very tight tolerances they used.

[shootnride]

Although my RT was pretty clean and in nice condition when I got it, I decided to disassemble it to make sure all of the internals were o.k. and replace the lubricant. I was very impressed with the quality and precision of the various components. The tolerances of the rotating assembly are so close that it is difficult to re-assemble them. The slightest misalignment will not let them slide together. Very nice stuff.

I agree that the precision of that Moore RT isn't likely needed in a home shop, but I think Stefan probably got it at a very reasonable price. He said he bought a whole pallet of tooling from his employer. And, that Moore is beautiful. I could just sit there and stare at it for an hour !

Steve - That YouTube link takes me to a video about a Columbian vise.

Ted

[SteveM]

Steve - That YouTube link takes me to a video about a Columbian vise.

I should have been more descriptive.

It takes you to a playlist that has the Walter dividing head videos.

Look at the menu of videos on the right.

There are something like six or seven videos and I didn't want to get the links for all of them.

I think this will start at the Walter video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noSwiw- ... VQ&index=9

Steve

[shootnride]

Thanks Steve. I should have dug a little deeper. I will definitely check them out.

Ted