And now I can make a new base plate for the compound.
Ha. How deep into the side project weeds can I go?
This all started by getting a rotary table. It has an MT3 center, and I want to put taper in there with a space for a threaded insert so I can do some radiuses around holes.
So I was fixing the compound slide because it wasn't keeping angle while indicating in the MT3.
I was going to mount the new slide on a face plate, but I lack any way to easily center the new slide blank and hold it in place, so I figured I'd put it on the rotary table and to the excavation with the mill.
You guessed it, the rotary table T-slots are 1/2", all my T-nuts are 5/8":
![1703811330285.webp 1703811330285.webp](https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/data/attachments/49/49930-830391e41e2abf23e0d5f308367bae6a.jpg?hash=mrUiVCp_By)
And the T-nut slots are awkwardly rounded, so in the absence of the RT alignment pin, I hit them in the vise with a file:
![1703811413050.webp 1703811413050.webp](https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/data/attachments/49/49931-0bab074cf5066dfd2db0cf249e8da757.jpg?hash=-M41lTs1Gt)
Which let me learn how to indicate both the rotary table and the part on top of it. Really too bad I don't have an MT3 center thingy. This is after remembering to raise it up off the table to avoid carving up the table:
![1703811538989.webp 1703811538989.webp](https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/data/attachments/49/49932-838dcb8a5ad24c9d5560d51969acb585.jpg?hash=9h6baqNdVA)
I got quite a ways further wasting away a pile of circular cuts before somethign went "clack" and the RT started to judder with about 1 degree of backlash during the cuts. Grump.
I at least managed to strip down the table without removing the work from the top, and I think the problem was "just" the backlash nut in the crank slipping since it's only held with set screws attempting to crush the threads it's on.
I now get to re-indicate the RT to the spindle. Thank goodness for the DRO. No-thanks to my brain that neglected to set a DRO datum at the base edge of the RT which would have made tapping it back into place trivial.
Tomorrow I'll fuss around with an indicator in the spindle again.