The vertical boring mill is really just a large vertical lathe. The chuck is mounted horizontally and because of the mounting style it is also referred to as a rotary table. A light set of radial spindle bearings are used to keep the table true to its axis and a set of large diameter vertical thrust bearings are used to carry the weight. I have seen gigantic versions of these machines, and some of them had rotary tables more than 12 meters in diameter with load capacities for hundreds of tons. I loved every minute of the time I got to work with these gigantic machines. They were so massive with their heavy components, but they moved with such silence, such grace, and such power. At the end of the work day I could actually say to myself I did something substantial today. Below are buttons for 2 vertical boring mill projects I designed. Just click on them to view them.

Vulcan 63 - 40 c

Vulcan 80 - 64 c