Rotary table (drilling rig)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Rotary table[1] is a mechanical device on a drilling rig that provides clockwise (as viewed from above) rotational force to the drill string to facilitate the process of drilling a borehole.

In the diagram, #6 (in blue) is the rotary table. The kelly #5, is inserted through the center of the rotary table, and has free vertical (up & down) movement to allow downword force to be applied to the drill string, while the rotary table rotates it.

Rotary speed is the number of times the rotary table makes one full revolution in one minute (rpm).