Warco Major Mill/Drill

[TREVOR WILSONParticipant @trevorwilson84457]

[TREVOR WILSONParticipant @trevorwilson84457]

Can anyone please offer any help or advice! My aging Warco Major Mill (1992 vintage) appears to have developed a bearing problem within the spindle head, it has become very stiff and notchy to turn. I would appreciate any guidance/advice on how to strip the head down with view to replacing the bearings – not keen to charge in and risk causing more problems than I already have!

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

Grizzly manual here showing assembly drawings in section9

http://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/g0705_m.pdf

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Trevor,

Will provide more info later, but most important note that the lock nuts holding the spindle in the quill are Left Hand thread!

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

I would contact warco themselves as they are still selling this model and would probably be helpful.

Michael W

[TREVOR WILSONParticipant @trevorwilson84457]

Thanks to all of you for your help, especially concerning the left hand thread!. I will now feel happy about dismantling the beast.

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Trevor,

I have added a new album (in my "Albums" – ho ho!) called "Warco Major Parts List". This has a drawing of the quill/spindle area of the head, plus the 5 pages of parts numbers to go with the drawings. I find this drawing easier on the eye than the exploded type. (It is an "official" Warco drawing)

You may of course already have a Warco manual containing this, but it may be of interest to others if that is the case.

If you don't know, just click on "69 photos" on the left of the posting to get into the albums.

There was a 3-part article in MEW last year called "Rebuilding a Warco Major Mill/Drill", but it was mainly concerned with changing the motor and drive/speed control completely rather than rebuilding to original spec. That's where I found out about the left-hand thread.    I'll have a look at it and see if any parts of it are relevant to your job, and message you if so.

Edited By Robbo on 25/02/2016 14:48:49

Edited By Robbo on 25/02/2016 14:50:27

[egaParticipant @ega]

Robbo:

The drawing was indeed of interest to me as it looked very similar to my ancient Warco Economy Mill/Drill (which came without a manual). I was not surprised that I could not find the corresponding drawing for my machine on their website and I wonder where you found the one you put in your album?

One useful piece of information from Warco is that their Super Major Mill comes with a "Pedant Control" switch!

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

ega,

The Warco drawings apply equally to all three of the Major, Minor, and Economy models. The design/structure is similar, just the size of some components differs.

The drawing came from an old Warco manual, written in the usual Chinglese, so as an operating manual it's not much help, but the drawings are good. If you want a copy then message me your email address and I'll do one as a pdf file. Can't put pdf on the albums, only jpeg.

I noticed the "Pedant Control" on the Super Major, so that model is no use to me – I refuse to be controlled by a switch!

[egaParticipant @ega]

Robbo:

Thank you – I'll PM you.

[TREVOR WILSONParticipant @trevorwilson84457]

Robbo

Thanks very much for the drawing/parts list – I have now started the strip down!.

[Mike RidgeParticipant @mikeridge53609]

Hi Robbo or Trevor , I would much appreciate any help you can give me ,, I have the Warco economy , which I believe the head quill is the same as the Major models ( I looked at Robbo drawings ) .. It's getting Hot around the bottom of the quill area ,, I think that the bearing is causing the problem ,number 45 on your drawings , looks like a taper bearing ,, has Trevor got any best procedure for stripping it down , I had just read he may be starting it ,, or if anyone has any tips on tackling the changing of the bearings on this machine I'd like to hear from them the best way to tackle it .

Thanks Mike

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Mike,

You are correct, the upper and lower bearings are roller taper, No 30207, readily available.

I've never had to dismantle mine, as although 20 + yrs old it was previously owned by an ex-toolmaker who used it for building locos, and was carefully used. (The mill not the toolmaker)

The full manual that I sent to ega might be useful to you, if you PM me with your email address I'll send a copy.

I'll have a look at the MEW I mentioned previously and see if there is any dismantling tips.

[Mike RidgeParticipant @mikeridge53609]

thanks Robbo , and appreciate the help /info,,,i like the machine ,I believe it has stood idle for many years ,so if not serviced on the start up it is possible a bearing could fail , I intend to change them , keep you updated ,

cheers mike

if anyone on the site does have any more experience on these machines / info ,,let me know cheers ,

[TREVOR WILSONParticipant @trevorwilson84457]

Mike, the spindle runs between 2 taper roller bearings as Robbo said but on the Major the bearings are different sizes – 30207J2 and 30206J2. Both of these I obtained from Brammer. They also supplied the lower seal part No NBR45X72X8A. Total cost was approx. £65. The rebuild was straight forward, just remember the 2 locking nuts to set the shaft endfloat are left handed!!.

Regards Trevor

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by ega on 25/02/2016 15:31:39:

One useful piece of information from Warco is that their Super Major Mill comes with a "Pedant Control" switch!

Excellent, I wonder if they sell them as an off the shelf spare

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by TREVOR WILSON on 18/06/2016 08:40:00:

Mike, the spindle runs between 2 taper roller bearings as Robbo said but on the Major the bearings are different sizes – 30207J2 and 30206J2. Both of these I obtained from Brammer. They also supplied the lower seal part No NBR45X72X8A. Total cost was approx. £65. The rebuild was straight forward, just remember the 2 locking nuts to set the shaft endfloat are left handed!!.

Might be worth trying Arc Euro first, they list 30207 at £15.50 inc vat and 30206 at £9.26 which will save you a few coppers.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 18/06/2016 09:56:11

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Thanks for that useful info Trevor. In my parts list they are both shown with the same number.

Parts list will be annotated with the difference, thanks

[Mike RidgeParticipant @mikeridge53609]

Hi Trev,Robbo, Neil,

I know this seems like its turning into a pain , I have replaced the bearings top and bottom packed them with top quality grease ,,the bearing are actually a 30206 and a 30205 the lower seal is vc 38–62 ,and you wouldn't believe it the problem is still there ,,that bottom area around the quill is still getting hot after 5 minutes ,,I thought I had sorted it installing the new skf bearings, it wasn't a bad job .and ive taken off preload and set it again ,,but it still runs hot ,you can feel the temperature with your finger on the outer of the quill and in the 3 morse taper up the middle ,,the top bearing is fine .

don't know what to do now ,as im writing this ,im at a bit of a loss what to do

mike

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Is it getting hot due to too much grease? Add oil, then allow it to leak out?

[Mike RidgeParticipant @mikeridge53609]

That was an idea, but before I decided to do the bearing change ,I flooded it with wd40 ,and pushed oil through from the can , still warmed up

What I was thinking , going to make enquiries if I can get a sealed pre loaded bearing the same size

[Mike RidgeParticipant @mikeridge53609]

thankyou to…. `not done it yet `,,what he said got me thinking , along with asking the guy at the bearing services shop as he said just put a small amount of grease inside just enough to let the rollers turn, not too much as it causes heat ,,,!!!!! he could be right too much grease on that bottom bearing would stop the rollers from turning in the race ,they would just slide …,well I took the whole lot to bits again ,wd 40 cleaned the bearings up ,and applied some good engine oil ,put it back together and magic ,, I ran it for half an hour and it stayed cool ,,brilliant.

then I put the oil seal on last ,and you wouldn't believe it ,the shaft started warming up because the oil seal against the shaft is rubbing constantly ,so I took the spring out of it to relieve its tension ,and it works fine ,,its really now just there to stop chippings getting into the bearing .

you live and learn eh ,,them you tube videos showing a guy smothering the inside of a roller bearing with grease ,,,,,mmm bad idea ,you`ll get all the problems I got

thanks guys for all the help,it gets you thinking ,to get a result

mike

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

It's sometimes worth washing a suspected bearing in petrol, allow to dry, then spin it with your finger through the shaft hole. a shot bearing will catch or 'trip up' a good one will keep going.

[Mike RidgeParticipant @mikeridge53609]

Thanks Dave I shall bare that in mind , if I'm dissembling bearings again , of course I shall monitor the work I've done and check the mill regular ,, for the moment I'm just going to get on and using the mill , I've made engines on and off for many years now , and recently made 6 oscillating all aluminium engines ,, all my own design ,and done on the boxford ,, I also make what I call engineering sculpture paintings made from copper and brass and steel to hang on the wall ,, they are well liked and a pleasure to make .

Mike

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

Regarding heat in bearings, there is too much in them. Have a look at SKF regarding lubrication and quantities. I know from many years in design off machine spindles that too much lubrication can cause more problems than too little. Heat is generated by the grease not allowing the balls or rollers to rotate properly, if you think of the wife's cake mixer and the difference between rotating in a liquid and in a stiff cake mix. We used to design spindles rotating at all speeds up to 8000 rpm and believe me it became a science over the years with lubrication methods, bearings and seals.

Howard

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