New Toys

[PeeWee]

Hi All,

Well i was at the Midland Model engineering Exhibition yesterday and splashed the cash.

I acquired a new Lathe and Mill both from Warco
http://www.warco.co.uk/WM-250-Variable-Speed-Lathe-9DC1EABD7F.aspx#
and
http://www.warco.co.uk/WM-14-Variable-speed-milling-machine---metric-84F32488C0.aspx


got a great deal and some tooling chucked in as well.  i now have 4-5 weeks before delivery to get the shop ready.

[dsquire]

PeeWee

Congratulations. Bet that will put a spring to your step, with a combination of the lighter pocket book and the anticipation of the arrival of the mans jewellery. We will be xpecting more details and photo's over time. Hope a few of the other lads got some deals as well. 

Cheers 

Don

[Trion]

Looks like a nice buy. Looking forward to seeing some chips

[Brass_Machine]

Nice score! 

Eric

[andyf]

Hi PeeWee,

I got the smaller WM-180 version of that lathe four or five years ago, and have been pretty happy with it. Mine only has the same capacity as a 7 x  12 mini-lathe, but is much more robust - it weighs over half as much again. It was a bugger to get upstairs (don't ask!) on my own.

Have fun when the toys arrive!

Andy

[PeeWee]

Thank you all, will definatly put up some pics and can not wait for chip making.

[trevoratxtal]

hello PeeWee you flash b****
No I am only full of envy!
 Congratulations on acquiring some great toys, hope to hear soon what you made with them.
All the best
Trev

[PeeWee]

Hi All,

Well i have some news, i will no longer be getting the WM-14 or the WM-250 

Now the good news  I spotted they had ex-demo equipment on theirr site and have reserved the WM-18 (someone said weight is important extra 100Kg) and the WM280V-F with power crossfeed.  In speaking with them they are clean and trued for demo and have had vertually no use at all.  I have no reason to disbelieve them at all.   

[Stilldrillin]

Hi All,
Now the good news  I spotted they had ex-demo equipment on theirr site and have reserved the WM-18 (someone said weight is important extra 100Kg) and the WM280V-F with power crossfeed.  In speaking with them they are clean and trued for demo and have had vertually no use at all.  I have no reason to disbelieve them at all.   

Ooohhh! 

Great to hear! It's getting better all the time...... 

David D

[PeeWee]

Well they have arrived and in time for the holidays.  i was the happiest man in my garage as i went through all the items checking them.
I upgraded to the WM18 and vm280 VF and looking at them i defiantly think it was the right decision.  shop soiled or not.   
a few quick shots
 





and some of the extras



Now no more excuses on why i can not make chips.

[Bogstandard]

Just a little advice PeeWee.

Spend the holidays setting your machines up to the best of your ability, rather than rushing in to make things.

Time spent now, sorting out the little niggles, and setting things into their correct parameters will be repaid many times over when you come to use the machines in anger.

If you need any help, we are all here to assist if you need it. It costs nothing to ask.

Happy new machines BTW.
I know exactly how you feel, I went thru the same a couple of years ago.


John

[PeeWee]

Hi John,

Very good advice and i will certainly be doing that. 
One of the new items is a test bar for the lathe to help me in this endeavor.   Historically i have been a child with new toys and rushed in, this time however i have deliberately had all the metal removed from the shop to ensure i don't rush in.  A little extream but it does mean that i will have no choice but to spend some time setting up and learning the machines over the next couple of weeks.

I will certainly ask questions that i have no doubt, even if they are a little silly.  i would rather be silly than have a pile of damaged tools.

My first question is, Does anyone know which lubricants these Chinese tools prefer?  Bedways, gears etc?

regards from a happy camper

[Bogstandard]

Ian,

Chronos sell all the lubes you require in reasonable 1 ltr quantities, saves having to search about for them.

http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Engineering_Menu_Oils__Lubricants___Adhesives_etc_439.html

A litre of each, slideway & general purpose should last you for at least a year.

Don't forget a couple of cheap oilcans, I get mine from Axminster, and they work very well.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-axminster-pump-oil-can-prod377355/?sessionid=qol

The brass tip on the flexispout fits ball oilers perfectly.

Gearboxes vary with the manufacturer as to what you use, but I have always used Tellus 32 (a fairly light hydraulic oil) for that purpose, and have never had any trouble. Regular changing is the main thing, getting rid of the metal flakes that automatically shed off the gears, especially during the running in period. Making youself a magnetic sump/drain plug also helps to keep things clean and working OK.


John

[Jasonb]

I use Warco's own head oil in the gear box and carrage of my 280VF which is a light hydralic oil, they do tend to weap a bit of oil. Same way oil as bogs suggests.

You'll be glad you went for the 280, the cross feed is a nice feature to have and I see that they are now doing them with the cam action tailstock rather than having to use a spanner.

Jason

[Dean W]

Nice new machines, Ian.  Congratulations!  Looks like you will be set for years to come.

[billthemill]

Best wishes Ian with the new gear. Many happy hours ahead!
Your mill seems an exact clone of an Amadeal 25LV that I bought about a year ago. The only difference I can see from your photo is that they supplied it with a longer table (700mm). Your table is a better design though. The slots at the ends of the table are wider, which will make it a lot easier to clear out swarf.

To add to advice given by John above I would suggest you dismantle, clean, lubricate and re-assemble as much of the machine as you can before use. I don't know how much of this Warco do before sale but you will probably find that you get rid of a lot of crud and that everything slides so much more smoothly. Clean and lubricate the leadscrews thoroughly! I used graphite grease, rightly or wrongly as I felt that it would do no harm to have some of the graphite embed itself in the freshly machined metal  from day 1 to smooth the action. If nothing else, you find out about all the guts of the machine.
I found it was important to have it bolted to a really hefty base to damp vibration as much as posssible.
To date I'm pretty pleased with the performance of my mill within it's limitations. I would be very interested to hear your own impressions later when you get it into action.

BTW one of the first projects I did on the mill was to make up some of the clamps in Harold Hall's books. I have since found them very useful.

John

[PeeWee]

Thank you all for the advice.  i stripped the mill to clean etc and lighten it for lifting.  good advice as one of the 4 thrust bearings was found to be missing, not to worry easily replaced. 

i have started to align the lathe, i have an accuracy of 0.00 mm over  100mm  see pictures. Question, is this good enough or to i need to extend the length?  i have yet to align the tailstock.



next question to those who have a similar lathe, have you modified the chuck mounting system? as the 3 bolts could be a little annoying though livable.  Listen to me, only had it a week or so and already looking at mods.

all the best

[andyf]

I'd stick with the bolt-on chuck, Ian. I presume that (like my smaller Warco-badged Weiss) there are studs sticking out of the chuck, with bolts which you put on them from the back of the spindle flange. If you have to fiddle bolts through from the back, loctite some studs into the chuck and use nuts.

You will soon get adept at fitting the nuts, but if your fingers are too chubby for the space available, bend a bit of rod into an Allen key shape, and use that to guide the nuts. In fact, if studs are fitted as standard, they may have hex sockets in the end, into which your applicator can be poked while you start the nut.

Bolt-on chucks can't come unscrewed if you run the spindle in reverse, or stop it suddenly when it's turning forwards.

Andy

[Jasonb]

Mine came with studs in the chucks and uses a nut & washer behind the flange. You will soon get used to them, I had an Emco Ecomat for 20 years before the Warco with the same fixing method although it did have a tapered spigot not the 52mm parallel of the Warco.

A lot will depend on how tight the chuck backplates are on the spigot, my 3jaw is very tight and I need to use the nuts and a brass spacer to jack the chuck off, can't complain as this makes chuck mounting concentric. The 4 jaw and faceplate are a slightly loose fit which makes things easier. I've also got a 160mm Bison slim body 4-jaw on mine as I find the 5" a bit small.

When fitting the face plate you really need long nosed pliers to position teh nuts as its tight to get your hand in even with small hands liek mine. Also the slots in the faceplate don't go that near the centre, I've tapped a few extra holes into mine as & when the need has arrisenAnother thing you may find especially with the faceplate is that the chuck gaurd will hit the toolpost before you can get close enough to the work, its upto you to decide whats safe rather than say that I removed the offending item and only put it back when there is a lot of swarf flying about.

Jason