Warco WM240B – levelling feet?

[Jeremy PaduanoParticipant @jeremypaduano78634]

Hi everyone,

I’m just rebuilding my WM240B after a bit of a winter strip-down and clean.

Does anyone think it is worth putting the bed on levelling feet? It’s sitting on a bench made of two sheets of 25mm plywood sandwiched together and bolted to the wall and box-section steel legs, which are in turn bolted to the floor. The lathe itself is bolted down – although I now see that there are a variety of views on whether this is a good idea or not – and has a number of shims packing out each corner as required to achieve reasonable level.

Seeing as everything is stripped down, would it be advantageous to introduce the feet, for easier levelling?

What do people think?

Thanks,

Jerry.

 

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Does your current setup – which is far more engineered than my WM250 heaved onto a 60yearold kitchen worktop and with the tailstock end swung around whenever I use the milling machine – produce usable parts?

[Jeremy PaduanoParticipant @jeremypaduano78634]

Hi Nick,

It does, yes. I’m just aware that I have never checked the level since installing the lathe, and I suspect that subconsciously, I am avoiding it due to the amount of effort it took originally to get work out the shimming and get the cut pieces into place by myself. With everything stripped back, I wondered if I had an opportunity that I shouldn’t miss.

I might be over-thinking all this, and it’s really not necessary…

🙂

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Not sure why you found shimming so hard. Use U-shaped shims cut from squares of shim stock and slide them in from the side with the slackened off bolt in place. If needed you can gently lever the lathe bed upwards to let them slide in easily and then tighten down the bolts.

But if your lathe is producing parallel parts, leave well alone.

Adjustable feet may be nice but certainly not a necessity. And mounted on wood it is all a bit moot anyway as it is not a solid surface by engineering standards. Stick with what you have it works for you.

 

[Jeremy PaduanoParticipant @jeremypaduano78634]

Sounds like I’m over-thinking – again!

Thanks both, I’ll finish rebuilding and get on with actually using it rather than fussing 🙂

Not like I haven’t got a stack of projects waiting to be completed or even started!

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