Warco WM 280V Variable Speed Lathe With AC Motor Inverter Drive

[Arron Davison 1Participant @arrondavison1]

Good afternoon.

Looking to purchase the lathe in the title. Can any of you give honest reviews?

Pro's and cons?

Kind regards.

[Arron Davison 1Participant @arrondavison1]

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Arron,

I have the 290 version (different colour scheme though) with a 3-phasemotor and inverter. The lathe has served me well for the past 5 years without problems, I like the 38mm hole through the spindle and the ability to change speed while making a facing cut. A better spindlenose would be welcome as would a gearbox that had more than three gear ratios.

Thor

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

I have an equivalent of the 290 that Thor has, ( although mine originally had a dc motor which I changed for 3 ph and vfd).

Although mine has a D1-4 chuck mount, has the 38 mm bore. Otherwise Thor's comments apply.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I've had one of the first WM280VF machines that is about 10 years old now, mine has the earlier DC motor but has done all I have wanted with it ond only a couple of minor issues in that time.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Pleased with mine. Decent amount of grunt (1500W) and able to handle largish jobs as well as small ones. (The lathe is bigger than a Super 7). Power traverse for facing as well as normal cuts is a boon. Runs at full speed in forward and reverse. Main objection is it's a bit noisy – two cooling fans running continuously, with metal gear clatter when it's running. Not unreasonably noisy in a workshop, but loud enough to just stop me listening to a radio at normal volume.

The built-in 3-speed gearbox isn't as useful as I expected when threading. I usually find that the next thread needed requires change-gears to be moved, rather than being in gear selector range. The banjo is the straightforward type and easier to set-up than that on a mini-lathe. Belt change between high and low speed ranges also easy provided you can get at the right-hand side of the lathe.

Worked out of the box and only required a mild clean-up. After 4 years only one fault, a loose wire on the contactor. In very cold weather the computer type cooling fan on the VFD sometimes rubs on first start-up, but it's no where near worth fixing (yet). Finish under the tailstock a bit rough but OK where it matters.

One problem with owning a lathe with a few convenience features like the 3-speed gearbox is that I would like more of them. A clutch would be nice…

Not seen a lot of complaints about quality issues on this particular model.

Dave

[BC ProfParticipant @bcprof]

After the usual clean up I am very pleased with the accuracy of the lathe. Substituting a spring and ball bearing for the bent strip of metal improved the smoothness of the friction dials immeasurably. Brian C

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