There have been several version of drive shafts to drive the rotary table. You can see several versions here. My versions were designed to use the Legacy double locking collar.
The shaft for the rotary table sits lower than the spindle. To solve the alignment problem I did what Mike Pung did, and used two universal joints and a shaft to align the assemblies. My first version was designed to place the rotary table near the center of my model 900. I used a 5/8" shaft and two universal joints. A small piece of 1" x 2" steel was turned down to 5/8" to fit the universal joint, and the other end mounts into the double locking collar.
A 2MT Mandrel that has a 5/8" shaft on the end would have been handy. At the time there where none available, now several vendors sell them.
I use my motor to drive the rotary table when I'm using this drive shaft. I cannot reach the handle to crank the rotary table and make a cut with my other hand.
This drive shaft was designed for a more compact setup. The rotary table sits on 1/4" spacers (not shown) which brings the two shafts inline with each other.
This version uses two Lovejoy(BlackStar) coupler hubs. They are the L-075 series, 5/8" bore. They are the same outside diameter as the Legacy double locking collar. Originally I had planned to use my original adapter I made for the first shaft, but I decided to try something new. I bored out one of the couplers to 1" to match the 1" X 1.5" steel shaft that fits in the double locking collar.
Some of you might have noticed that when you tighten a set screw on a piece of steel, a burr is made and it becomes difficult to remove the shaft in the future. Legacy uses set screw in many places that need to be disassembled occasionally. The rotary table crank handle is one of those spots. I try to add flat spots to all of the shafts to make future removal easier.
With this version I can mount the stock spindle handle and crank the rotary table. I feel the handle outside of the rails is both easier and safer to use. I can now use my left hand to make the cut and my right hand to crank the rotary table. I can remove the handle and use the stock main gear and linear drive motor to drive the table if I choose.
Disclaimer: I am not associated with Legacy Woodworking or Phantom Engineering.
If you have any question or comments, please feel free to email me. Tim
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