Understanding Positioning Accuracy vs. Repeatability

Introduction

When reading rotary table specifications, two terms often cause confusion: Positioning Accuracy and Repeatability. Understanding the difference is key to evaluating a table's performance.

1. Positioning Accuracy

This is how close the table gets to the exact angle you commanded. For example, if you command the table to rotate 90°, and it actually goes to 90.005°, the positioning accuracy is 0.005°.

2. Repeatability

This is how consistently the table returns to the same position. If you command 90° multiple times, and the table goes to 89.998°, 90.001°, and 89.999°, the repeatability is very high (usually measured in arc-seconds).

3. Why Repeatability is Often More Important

In most production environments, CNC machines can compensate for absolute accuracy errors. However, they cannot easily compensate for inconsistency (poor repeatability). Therefore, repeatability is often the most critical spec for mass production.

Conclusion

A high-quality rotary table must have both good accuracy and excellent repeatability. We publish our data only from verified engineering tests. Contact us for the exact specs of our tables.