Rotary Table Disassembly help

[Hacker]

How do you get that flexible tip to seal on ball oilers? Do you hold the tip in your hand?

Exactly. I tried using the solid tube ones but found that the flexible worked better especially on oilers that are on a horizontal surface or tucked under a handle or dial.

 

[Dabbler]

Otherwise I can try a lighter weight oil.

@van123d for a RT, consider iso32 hydraulic oil. It has incredible lubricity and gets into small spaces (like iol channels) very easily. the more, the better...

 

[van123d]

I tried as an experiment some spindle oil with the same style oiler. That worked much better but getting a good seal is still difficult. I will try some hydraulic oil and hopefully find a different oiler that seals easier.

 

[Jeff T]

Well just to update. Unfortunately no amount of cleaning got the bearing to smooth out. It was still cogging the same as before. Likely some grease stuck inside the bearing somewhere I could not get at. Luckily the local bearing shop had a replacement in stock and sold it to me at a good discount. When I first saw this rotary table I had expected to be doing a de-rust and paint. In the end it was mostly just a heavy dried grease on the surface and underneath the condition was surprisingly good. It is no show queen but plenty good to be put back into service as is. As everyone likes photos here is the completed clean up.

View attachment 21907


Does anyone know if there is a specific type of oiler for those oil ports? Just trying to use my standard oiler it seems more difficult than it should be to force oil in and the ball seals are not stuck.
Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions.

Great looking cleanup/restoration of the 10" Liang Yu rotary table. I just bought the exact same rotary table. I paid $70 US for it which I thought was a really good deal. I'm running in to the same problems you encountered, namely the table will no release and the worm gear does not want to come out all the way nor can I get it back to its original position. I'd appreciate any tips and how you resolved the issues. Was it strictly a bigger hammer. I'm worried about damaging the worm gear. BTW were you able to find any literature on the rotary table? I thought possibly it was sold under other names, but I've been unable to find anything that looks just like it.

 

[Ironman]

Yes when I first scratched it expecting the usual scratchy rust feel I was surprised when it was more gummy. I do not know what this stuff was but it is unlike any old grease or oil I have come across. It is difficult to remove even with solvents and it worked better than any sleeve retaining compound ever could. Freeing the dials was a similar exercise in heat/brute force to get moving again.

That stuff is dried Chinese Yak fat, look inside the gearbox on one of their angle grinders

 

[van123d]

The table has to come off to free the worm gear if I remember correctly. After removing the locking nut that holds the table from the backside it should be "free" to lift off but in my case needed a heavy hand of persuasion to get moving. I had to modify a spanner wrench to get the nut that holds it on and preloads the bearings. It sounds like you are in the exact same spot I was when I came to the forum looking for help, I had the worm gear pulled out an inch or so before it is trapped by the table and couldn't get the table off. If you have removed the spanner nut and thrust bearing from the back side it should pop off.