The Sherline Rotary table comes with a bracket to mount it directly onto the table in a horizontal configuration.  Unfortunately it only works with the Sherline table because of the placement of the t-slots.  I decided to make an adapter as the first metal on my new mill.  The first thing I did was designed the adapter.  You can see a picture of the design below.

I’ve attached two more pictures below of it installed.

What is the point of having it horizontal?  It allows me to mill threads, hollow out wheels, or do anything that requires a rotational element.  In some ways, it gives the mill the capabilities of a lathe.

I learned a few lessons.

First I need a work table to mount on top of this table.  I hit the top of the table with the bit, but just barely.  A work table on top would have prevented that.

Second, I needed to lower the spindle speed when drilling.  At 10k rpm, the bit chattered and had a real though time.  I dropped the speed down to 1100 rpm and it cut through the metal like butter. I don’t understand it yet, but it was amazing.

Third, I couldn’t fit one of the larger bits to countersink the hole.  The shaft was too large for the Jacob’s chuck.  I didn’t have much vertical room either.  Things are going to be tight.

Fourth, I did lots of strange clamping because the vice couldn’t open large enough.  Either I need better hold down equipment or a bigger vice.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I planned to add a 4th Axis to my Taig.  With a 4th axis, the items that you can mill open up significantly.  For example, gears are very easy to do with the table in a 90 degree position.  You can also cut threads inside or outside of an item by laying the table flat on the x axis.  Lastly, if you use a tailstock as well, you can mill the top and bottom of an object if you build the right jig.

In order to make it work, I first had to add another stepper controller to my CNC controller.  You can see in the picture below that I’ve added the board all the way on the right.  I also added a relay board, but I haven’t put that to use just yet.  More on that to come.

On the stepper driver itself, I added a piece of angled aluminum to act as a heat sync.  Running 3 amps of current through those motors generates a bit of heat.  Its a little smaller than the one that Probotix used, but it should work well enough.  Time will tell.  There is a nice large fan that blows across them as well.  I’ve used another xlr connector to connect this new stepper to keep consistent.  I actually believe the xlr connectors work very well for this.  The next picture is one of the power supply.  This is a 40V linear power supply.  Its a beast!

The following picture is the Sherline Rotary Table installed on the Carter Tools right angle adapter mounted to the Taig Mill.  I’ve installed another Probotix 280 oz/in stepper.  I don’t think that much torque is necessary for just using the 4th axis, but if I convert this to a 5th axis machine it will help with the additional weight.

Lastly, I’ve captured a video of it running.  It looks awesome and I can’t wait to use it!