Graham Butcher’s Warco Mill

[David BinghamParticipant @davidbingham70252]

I have one of these. A nice machine. Bought second hand and was equipped with a wiper motor to provide X axis feed (required over voltage of around 25v to give decent travel rate).

Tired of reaching up and round to operate the Z axis feed and column lock, I, crudely fitted a Daewou wiper motor and toothed belt drive from a food processor plus a simple lever at the front linked to the rear column lock.

Hardly CNC, but this has saved me suffering ” Miller”s elbow” from the awkward position of the top mounted Z axis handwheel and reaching to the rear mounted column lock.

Cost was £5 for the motor from the local scrap yard (sorry, vehicle dismantler and re-cycler!) .

My 25v + power supply is by 2 battery chargers connected in series (12V SIDE ONLY!!!) with a smoothing capacitor paralleled across the output. Speed is controlled by a lamp dimmer switch to supply the battery chargers.

All very crude but I am very pleased with the arrangement.

 

[David BinghamParticipant @davidbingham70252]

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I think my Rexon mill is a little larger tha yours, I use a lucas wiper motor to drive the bed. I have a 10 tooth sprocket fitted on an extention to the wormwheel shaft, and a 20 tooth sprocket to the lead screw. 18V from my work shop low voltage supply, and this seems adiquate. The thing that interested me was the use of a light dimmer, I tryed that but could not get satisfactory results, so I,v got a series of resistors operated by a rotary switch. Suits me, so I’m not complaining. Ian S C

[David BinghamParticipant @davidbingham70252]

The dimmer switch needs to be suitable for inductive loads and they can require a minimum load to work. Nonetheless you have come up with a solution that meets your requirements and that’s all that matters. Its good to hear from someone else who recognises the capabilities of wiper motors in the workshop. I also built a wiper motor powered hacksaw from a feature in an early Model Engineer’s Workshop – not very speedy but beats the drudgery of manual sawing – which I only do when absolutely necessary! Dave.

[adyParticipant @ady]

Cost was £5 for the motor from the local scrap yard

 

They won’t let us in to buy stuff any more where I’m at.

‘elf and safety…

[David BinghamParticipant @davidbingham70252]

We’ll never beat H & S – Too many cushy jobs and big profits for PPE etc. suppliers!!!

[Michael MallesonParticipant @michaelmalleson22793]

Hi David. My milling machine is the same as yours. How about a short article in ME magazine on how you did your motorised Y-axis. Can you still use it manually ?

Mike.

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

I second the above post

[David BinghamParticipant @davidbingham70252]

Hi Mike and Mick. Just to clarify, My machine already came with its X – axis feed. I’ve added a drive to the down travel only ( have I got mixed up with my Z’s and Y’s ??).

As I said, my arrangement is pretty crude – for manual downfeed I simply slip off the drive belt. If it is the downfeed which interest you, I could try to post a couple of photos, though this might not be for a couple of weeks. Dave

[John ShepherdParticipant @johnshepherd38883]

David

Can yo tell me where the title for you thread comes from? The reason I ask is that I used to work with a Grayham Butcher and I wondered if it might be the same person.

 

Regards

John Shepherd

[David BinghamParticipant @davidbingham70252]

Hi John, I picked up the thread from Albums page 9. Unfortunately, he has not entered any personal details, so I don’t know how you might contact him? Dave.

[Graham ButcherParticipant @grahambutcher80356]

John

 

I have sent you a message

 

Graham

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