Warco lathe owners – what is this feature?

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Hi

WM250V. What is this feature (circled)? It looks suspiciously similar to the sight gauge for the gearbox oil, however it is not referenced in the manual and neither is a fill point. What is it? If it is a sight gauge, its empty.

 

Cheers

EDIT: Uneducated guess – that large allen screw is an oil port? 

Edited By Ross Lloyd 1 on 04/06/2018 14:02:49

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

[TrevorhParticipant @trevorh]

Its the oil level sight glass for the saddle gears

cheers

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Thanks Trevor, is the fill port that big allen screw on the left side of the apron? I didnt fancy unscrewing things without being sure, even with the big picture of the oil gun under it!

Edited By Ross Lloyd 1 on 04/06/2018 14:13:25

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Its a sight gauge alright. Fill point is on LH side. If I remember correctly, WARCO advised to fill/top up until the oil spilled out from the back of the casting. So why the sight glass? You'll need to ask Mister Warco. You'll get more better info if you download much better GRIZZLY manual for their version of thee WM250.

Rik

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Ross Lloyd 1 on 04/06/2018 14:06:54:

Thanks Trevor, is the fill port that big allen screw on the left side of the apron? I didnt fancy unscrewing things without being sure

Edited By Ross Lloyd 1 on 04/06/2018 14:08:05

That's where the filler is on a WM280. It's just a plug.

Have a careful look before assuming it's empty. It may be slightly over the top. Hard to tell with clean oil.

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

It may just be a bit low and with a very light oil. This is what I can see with my phone camera, looks like a little sliver of oil at the bottom of the glass. This is on the saddle:

Compare that with the one for the gearbox. May be a heavier oil, but is clearly visible.

Reckon it just needs a top up? I did see another thread on here discussing the need to do a full drain and re-oil.

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by Rik Shaw on 04/06/2018 14:14:05:

Its a sight gauge alright. Fill point is on LH side. If I remember correctly, WARCO advised to fill/top up until the oil spilled out from the back of the casting. So why the sight glass? You'll need to ask Mister Warco. You'll get more better info if you download much better GRIZZLY manual for their version of thee WM250.

Rik

 

Yeah the grizzly manual is a bit more comprehensive isnt it, cheers!

Edited By Ross Lloyd 1 on 04/06/2018 14:47:30

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

When I was getting occasional splotches of brownish oil falling into the swarftray, I phoned Warco to ask their advice. They said I could regard the apron gearbox as lubricated for life and that small losses were unimportant.
I tend to agree – so long as the gears don’t go dry for months of heavy use, it’s not easy to imagine them coming to much harm. I poured in a bit of sae 30 mower oil when I had the apron off for another reason, but I don’t think it’s worth much anxiety.

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by Mick B1 on 04/06/2018 19:26:40:
When I was getting occasional splotches of brownish oil falling into the swarftray, I phoned Warco to ask their advice. They said I could regard the apron gearbox as lubricated for life and that small losses were unimportant.
I tend to agree – so long as the gears don't go dry for months of heavy use, it's not easy to imagine them coming to much harm. I poured in a bit of sae 30 mower oil when I had the apron off for another reason, but I don't think it's worth much anxiety.

Thanks! Good to know. Do you put any lithium grease on your gears? I note the grizzly manual for the equivalent lathe recommends this.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

I have had the same recommendations, but I now use motor cycle chain spray lube, I find it light enough to prevent any swarf sticking to gears, but heavy enough to give good lubrication, most auto shop will have it on the shelves along side cans of WD 40, Redex, Slik 50 etc.

​George.

Edited By mechman48 on 05/06/2018 10:45:43

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Hm so it seems there wasnt any oil in the apron. We took the sight glass out, nothing emerged. So we took the drain plug out and this is all we got

Seemed to be a lot of grit in there too, so we are going to flush it out with paraffin and then refill with machine oil.

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by mechman48 on 05/06/2018 10:35:40:

I have had the same recommendations, but I now use motor cycle chain spray lube, I find it light enough to prevent any swarf sticking to gears, but heavy enough to give good lubrication, most auto shop will have it on the shelves along side cans of WD 40, Redex, Slik 50 etc.

​George.

Edited By mechman48 on 05/06/2018 10:45:43

Cheers George, that seems to be a popular solution so I will check it out.

Ross

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Far eastern made machine gear boxes used to have a reputation for still having moulding sand included. Good idea to flush and refill.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Ross Lloyd 1… my WM250 looked like that , once! … now

George.

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