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Warco 180M DOA

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Gopherit:
Well, I'm new to this forum, so please excuse me if i am not posting correctly.
Found Madmodders after getting totally frustrated with my newly delivered Warco 180M. It arrived a few days ago and I installed it on it's new sliding tracks (space savings at the weekend. Yesterday, having everything checked i powered up - of tried in vain to be more precise.

Checked all the interlocks, Panic buttons - appear to have more than necessary but more on that later. NO SIGN of life from the Warco. Pulled all the fuses, checked power to socket, nothing.

After an hour on the net found 2 or 3 postings about Warco lathes on this site, impressed by the knowledge og the internals and found 1 post where a m/c that was about 2 yers ols was refusing to play but the cure was to switch everything to "On" and then spin the chuck by hand.
Tried this and after a couple of goes IT WORKED.

Still didn't seem correct as after that it wouls start without the spin, but the Forward/Reverse switch had to be on and then press the Green button under the (2nd) panic switch cover. Didn't think this was correct do called Warco this am and spoke to Tech support only to be told this is how you start the lathe. I/m amazed, this seems a very cack handed way of operating. My experience of lathes runs through Myfords to Colchester 2000s via Boxford etc. albeit all a bit distant now. I have never come across such a counter-intuitive way of starting up.

MORE IMPORTANTLY I was told by Tech Support that:
1. When you start up the Speed Control must be at the lowest setting.
2. Stopping by turning Forward/Reverse to Zero is not good.

Failure to observe 1 & 2 above supposedly leads to circuit board failure. NONE of this is win the documentation that comes with the Warco. I will be writing to them. If I'd known this before purchase I might well have gone elsewhere.

Sorry for the rant but there's a couple of points above might be useful to other owners/prospective purchasers.

John Rudd:
Gopherit,
If the lathe is new,fresh, just uncrated as delivered, it must be under warranty...

If this is so, then contact Warco and reject  under the sale of goods act as being unfit for purpose....

vtsteam:
Yes, return if possible. Doesn't sound like something you'll be happy living with in the years to come.

Pete.:
I'm not sure if I'm understanding this correctly. Did Warco say that having to spin the chuck manually to get it started is normal? If so, that's not right.

The bit about having to set the fwd/rev switch to fwd then hitting the green button sounds correct, that's normal for a lot of lathes. Also you should use the stop button , not the 3-way switch to stop the machine or you run the risk of putting it into reverse inadvertantly. You might even put a huge electrical load on the controller board if you over-shoot into reverse. The easiest way to stop the motor is to lift the chuck guard.

Speed pot should be low when starting because the startup loads are much higher than the running loads and you don't want to blow the board. There are plenty of examples of that and it's similar for many of the dc-motored mini-lathes.

I've no idea why the chuck needed turning the first time. Perhaps the speed sensor needed a liitle signal pulse to get going where it had been off for so long. If it doesn't happen again (or only happens after an extended power-off) I wouldn't worry about it.

Gopherit:
Thanks Pete, that's reassuring and your explanation better than Warco's, perhaps I'll get used to that way of operating!

Thanks also to the other respondents, this is such a good forum. Now, where's that 50mm stainless bar.........

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