Equipping a workshop

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

If the Far Eastern lathe makers have stopped putting pot metal / die cast carriage control and threading control levers on lathes, that is great news, and good on 'em.

I only mentioned it as something to keep an eye out for, when buying new or used lathes, because they are quite hazardous to the lathe and possibly the operator if they jam, as I have had happen to me.

In industry I have seen some top notch machines of all kinds, and component parts of all kinds, made in China and other Far Eastern countries. There are plenty of highly skilled and talented people in the shops there turning out world class work. However, there is also a lot of really poor quality stuff from there too, and quality often varies shipment to shipment, so it is "buyer beware". Check out what you are buying and deal with a good supplier (lots of people are happy with Warco it seems) and you will likely get great machines. Obviously Jason B did, he is turning out top quality models on his Warco lathe.

JD

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

Callum. I bought both my lathe (DB10VS ), and mill (Champion 20V ) For less than £2000.00 and that included stands, allthough the mill stand was a bit worse than useless. The lathe comes with everything you need apart from cutting tools, but the mill will need a fair bit of tooling to get you started.

Cheers Derek.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

My X2 (one of ARC's first batch) had mazac slide locking levers. I ended up replacijg them with straight M6 screws. All the other levers on that and my mini late are steel.

Neil

[MattKParticipant @mattk47317]

Don't underestimate the tooling costs. I think it is a good idea to accumulate tooling over a period but my experience is that you really need quite a bit initially to get going. This will of course depend on how much you are prepared to make yourself, how much you already have and what comes with the machines, but even then there is a base requirement of bits. There is nothing more frustrating to me when I am trying to make something and I just don't have the right tool or drill bit etc. But to balance this I don't want to waste money on things I don't need. A bit also depends on your own personal balance of funds versus time.

HTH

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Hi Exmoor

Jeff Dayman & JasonB have just about covered all the requirements for building up your workshop; I have a Warco WM250V-F (with power x feed) lathe & the WM 16 mill, both bought at last years Harrogate exhibition. I had a very good look at Chesters, Amadeal, Arceuro to compare prices & 'package deal' offers & Warcos came up with the best deal (stands included) so I parted with my cash.

As far as support goes I can only give you my experience..Warco initially sent me the wrong machine, a standard 250 as opposed to the V-F, a telephone call to them soon remedied the mistake & I had my V-F within the week ,delivery costs taken care of, on checking the second machine I found that the saddle was severely binding along the bed at three points, poor casting manufacture & finish, the stand was of a quality that a first year fabrication apprentice could have done better,again a phone call, plus e-mail with photos had another machine & stand on its way, all this with profuse apologies & delivery costs taken care of. This machine has proven satisfactory to date & apart from a clean up of the travel grease etc I've had it working ..'straight out of the box' .. & apart from blowing a fuse ..my fault, I was testing how much a cut I could take off.. it has handled what I've thrown at it (not literally !!). I can concur with Jeffs comment on checking the drive belt though, it is only 1/4 " wide..so bought another .. 'just in case', & not cheap, any how ref back to the support point, Warco were very apologetic & immediately acted on the issues mentioned so I can't complain. I did mention during the phone calls that a better quality control & inspection system at point of manufacture would have prevented a lot of issues & I was assured that this has been taken on board.

The mill was ok from day one, again 'straight out of the box' & a general clean up soon had it running, a bit of a rattle coming from the head but I put that down to the plastic intermediate gears (seems to be a common denominator with most of these Chinese machines). I did check the bearings via the old mechanics trick of listening with a screwdriver as a stethoscope on both top & bottom bearing housings & did not detect any overloud rumbles or clicks so have left it at that. It also has coped with what I have asked it to do, including intermittant cutting on cast iron (bloody awful stuff to clean up!) & so far is coping with DOC of up to 1mm with a face mill & more with a HSS 4 flute end mill on cutting MS T bolt..so I can't complain. All in all both machines are doing what they are given quite satisfactorily,& accurately, & as we all know 'you don't get a Rolls for mini prices'

As far as tooling goes I have over the past I have bought a 4" tilting rot' table, a set of ER 25 collets & MT2 & 3 holders, various milling cutters,drills, mini chucks, keyless chucks,etc,etc, from the usual suppliers.. Arc Euro,Chronos, CTC (Hong Kong) ..usual discalimers, & flea bay, did actually manage to get a carbide 12mm ripping cutter for .50 pence, & 8 & 10 mm carbide end mills for a £ 1 ea. on fleabay..mind you postage was £3.40ea. from China..hmm! wonder who came out the winner there ?

So Exmoor, there you have my experience of setting up shop; NB; set yourself a budget, decide what you want to do, get the largest you can afford & have space for, & bear in mind the old adage ..'what you spend on machines you'll spend as much if not more on tooling ' in one form or another. I have a couple of photos of my machines in my album should you /anyone wish to have a look

Cheers & happy hunting.

George.

[Exmoor309Participant @exmoor309]

Hi all,

Many thanks for all your comments. They are all very much appreciated! I will be going to Ally Pally on Friday and will look at the respective companies and *might* make a decision!! Will anybody be there on Friday 18th?

Regards

Callum

[JonParticipant @jon]

Good advice by George but my experiences with Warco have been much worse.

Dont assume beacaus eyou are buying a new machine parts are available! If by some chance they are available, they will cost you big time.

With £1500 budget your in the realms of a decent machine from Harrison M300 or Colchester Bantam or Student, new square head type, in fact mine cost half that and will last 10 times longer. The other issue that will deter you is faffing about changing change wheels over with the chinese machines, dont need to with English.

Chinese machines are made in same place with a name on it what you want together with colour scheme. So check out all the sites for best price. Chester prices gone through the roof the last few years approaching 45% more then they were. Also wouldnt advise on chinese tooling either, they flex bide your time for discounted decent stuff ala Iscar, Kennametal,Ceratizit, etc on the bay.

I have a large bench drill (dp16 12) robust for a chinese not used for 21 years doing nowt if passing, just want out the way with a Clarke CMD1225 miller/driller and extras.

[Exmoor309Participant @exmoor309]

Jon,

I have sent you a message via PM.

Regards

Callum

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