Warco WM250 Lathe and Warco WM18 Milling machine (Advice please)

[VicParticipant @vic]

Did anyone mention bearing nuts? Much nicer to use, I have them on my lathe and mill.

**LINK**

[STK2008Participant @stk2008]

Ohh not a bad price to tbh.

Edited By STK2008 on 11/04/2018 18:20:55

[STK2008Participant @stk2008]

Just another update .

Sent them an email this morning as I am a bit confused tbh

I was told that we was waiting for a stand for the lath but they will send out the milling machine and stand etc.

that was fine with me.

The invoice I got for the milling machine dated 6th showed that and did state we was waiting for a stand for the lathe and few bits of tooling for the lathe etc.

I got another invoice dated 11th as I purchased the ER32 collet set a lady rang to take payment for that I assumed they wanted payment asap for the ER32 collet set as they wanted to ship it with the milling machine etc

BUT

it showed at the bottom we are now waiting for a lathe and a stand plus some tooling?.

Wait when I placed the order it was in stock infact every thing was so I was told but now we are waiting for a lathe as well as the stand?.

I assumed they would have reserved a lathe but seems not.

Got to admit getting a bit worried here spent over 3k.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by STK2008 on 16/04/2018 09:51:06:

Just another update .

Sent them an email this morning as I am a bit confused tbh

I was told that we was waiting for a stand for the lath but they will send out the milling machine and stand etc.

that was fine with me.

The invoice I got for the milling machine dated 6th showed that and did state we was waiting for a stand for the lathe and few bits of tooling for the lathe etc.

I got another invoice dated 11th as I purchased the ER32 collet set a lady rang to take payment for that I assumed they wanted payment asap for the ER32 collet set as they wanted to ship it with the milling machine etc

BUT

it showed at the bottom we are now waiting for a lathe and a stand plus some tooling?.

Wait when I placed the order it was in stock infact every thing was so I was told but now we are waiting for a lathe as well as the stand?.

I assumed they would have reserved a lathe but seems not.

Got to admit getting a bit worried here spent over 3k.

Don't panic! Like as not you're comparing apples and oranges. You're focussing on the individual item's delaying the order, I think Warco's Invoices relate to deliveries. They're saying they're going to deliver the stand and lathe together, and they owe you both, not that they've lost your lathe.

Dave

[STK2008Participant @stk2008]

Hi thanks for replying

TBH I have no idea whats going on.

They have took the money for the milling machine and stand plus tooling so cant be much longer before they send it.

As for the lathe and stand etc no idea how long thats going to take to come back into stock any one got any ideas from past experiances?.

Thanks

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

Posted by STK2008 on 17/04/2018 09:21:18:

As for the lathe and stand etc no idea how long thats going to take to come back into stock any one got any ideas from past experiances?.

Thanks

That depends on when the next boat from Taiwan arrives, assuming it is on it

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Posted by STK2008 on 17/04/2018 09:21:18:

Hi thanks for replying

TBH I have no idea whats going on.

They have took the money for the milling machine and stand plus tooling so cant be much longer before they send it.

As for the lathe and stand etc no idea how long thats going to take to come back into stock any one got any ideas from past experiances?.

Thanks

So they have not yet debited your account for the lathe? What are you worrying about?

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

I reiterate…

I ordered my two machines at the Harrogate exhibition in May 2012 & was informed that they were waiting for next shipment so it would be a month or so, which was fine for me as it gave me time to convert garage… received notification that shipment was in & delivery was organised… mid August 2012, so 8 – 10 weeks so I wouldn't worry.

​I wouldn't panic, Warco is a reputable company in my experience, Just e mail them on a weekly basis requesting an update.



George.

[jimmy bParticipant @jimmyb]

I waited about 8 weeks for my Chester Crusader. The wait will soon be forgotten!

Jim

[Cabinet EnforcerParticipant @cabinetenforcer]

STK2008, no-one here can tell you when your machines will arrive. Funnily enough, I think warco might have some idea, maybe you should give them a ring and ask?

In the meantime, look up Stefan Gotteswinter on YouTube, he has a 250 type lathe and has a video about improvements he made, and discusses the abilities and shortcomings of Chinese machine tools, as well as making lots of interesting stuff in his other videos.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by jimmy b on 17/04/2018 11:36:52:

… The wait will soon be forgotten!

Jim

+1 to that! I had a short delay with one of my two big orders. It seemed important at the time. Today I can't remember how long the delay actually was! (Two or three weeks)

The early part of my career was spent computerising Stock Management and Stock Control. I started with simple ideas about how to do the job, imagining for example, that stuff was neatly lined up and a chap had all the details in his head. This is how it might be done by a small operation. Not so in a bigger outfit. As soon as the stock range expands, a team does the work, and the office is separated from the warehouse, it gets tricky to trace exactly what's going on. So, you ring a man in the office, who looks at his computer, and sees your order has some bits missing. He may have only a rough idea when the shortfall will be met. There may be a shipment in the warehouse awaiting inspection; or the shipment is in a container on the dockside in Hull, or on a ship off the Cape of Good Hope. When the shipment is opened, items (like stands) might need to be painted and paint takes time to dry. Mistakes, sickness and accidents intrude: at the very moment you are told it's on it's way, someone might be nicking the lorry!

The effect of small problems is people get a range of delivery experiences. If everything is in stock and nothing goes wrong delivery takes about a week. If your order hits a bank holiday, or you ask for a low-stock item, or a new employee breaks the forklift, drops your lathe and gets sacked, it might take a bit longer.

It's Warco's job to meet your order without worrying you with gory details. They aren't fly-by-night and they have a reputation worth protecting. It's quite likely for the reasons above and many others that delivery dates wobble. You're not buying an off-the-shelf commodity. Things occasionally go wrong; if they do I'd expect Warco to be up-front and honest. I've had no problem getting sense out of them. I hope they treat you decently too. (Hint: don't start the conversation with a rant!) It's unlikely that they've made off with your cash.

For what it's worth the worst delay I've ever experienced at home was 3 months. This was furniture upholstered to order; with hindsight it would have been a lot quicker to buy a bog-standard suite.

Dave

[STK2008Participant @stk2008]

Hi all yes its me again LOL.

I have now got my Warco WM18 mill.
I am tramming it up and checking the tolerances I have managed to get it perfect along the table because the head swivels which allowed me to tram that up nice but front to back the head does not tilt and I am getting about 0.006" difference any one have any ideas how to tram this up?.

I was thinking of using shims behind the head to kick it forward a little.

Other optoin is to unbolt the whole upright from the base and shim that or better still scrape it but thats a lot of work and its all very heavy which I am not to keen on doing.

Thanks in advance

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Do they supply test results with the mill?

They did with my WM250V lathe. In my case one value I cared about – 3-jaw grip concentricity – appeared considerably better than their test sheet, and another – parallelism with tailstock support – a good deal worse; however I could fix that with tailstock adjustment.

Whatever you might think of their test sheet if they supply one, it's a starting point for any discussions you might decide to have with them.

Anything irreversible you do will obviously void the guarantee – though they'll probably only get difficult about that if they think you're being unreasonable. So shimming might be OK if you can't get a better solution, but scraping's certainly a no-no.

My own experience of Warco has been that it's sometimes difficult to get hold of someone knowledgeable to talk to, but once you do they're very willing to help.

Edited By Mick B1 on 23/04/2018 11:44:43

[STK2008Participant @stk2008]

Yeah I have checked some other tolerances and the table is flat if I run my DTI over it well within 0.002" or so.

The head moves sqaure to the table to within 0.002" front and back.

Still checking a few other things but yeah so far it realy is just the tramming of the head front to back where I have zero adjustment.

0.006" is just a bit to much for me over such a short distance 180mm would others agree?.

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

Is there a test result sheet for the mill? Does it have a front-back tolerance value stated?

Before you start stripping down/shimming/scraping, it may be worth a fone call to Warco and query the reading you are getting. Ask them for advice on how to improve the reading if its not acceptable.

The mill should be fit for purpose without user intervention, especially on a brand new machine…Granted over time ( considerable…..) as parts wear, adjustment may be becessary to maintain optimum performance..

Ultimately if the machine doesnt meet your expectations and see no resolution from Warco of your issues then tell them to come and collect it……

[STK2008Participant @stk2008]

Hi yeah test results show

Squareness of spindle axis to table

A right to left
B forward and backwards

A = 0.05mm
B = 0.05mm

On B I’m getting about 0.14mm.

[STK2008Participant @stk2008]

OK if ya check my pics under warco wm18 I have taken a pic of the tolerance sheet.

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

What method are you using to check the alignment?

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

Exactly what references are you using and how are you taking your spindle squareness measurement in the Y axis?

 

EDIT:  Snap – I was typing as John had posted!

Edited By David Standing 1 on 23/04/2018 14:08:58

[STK2008Participant @stk2008]

I’m fitting my er32 collet chuck with 10mm insert.
I fit my shaft from my stand into it and place my verdict onto that.

I have verdict at the front of the table and slowly rotate the spindle by hand so verdict does a 180 placing it onto the back of the table I get 0.006″.

I do same for left and right but I’m able to rotate the head just wish it had a tilt function.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

It's interesting to see that permissible and actual readings coincide in eleven out of eleven cases.

[Gas_mantle.Participant @gas_mantle]

My advice would be to take a step back for a while and not jump into things while excited to have your new machine.

I wouldn't start shimming things on a new machine with a test report just yet, why not play around cutting scrap for a week and see how it cuts? After a week of 2 you may find a minor adjustment to the gibs, a bit of oil, and a clean then the problem has gone.

Have fun with it then re-asses the problem in a few weeks (it is still there) with a fresh pair of eyes.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Are you testing it with the head locked to the column?

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

I agree with the 'slow down' advice! Use the mill for a while before messing with it.

It's possible that undoing the bolts to adjust the head right-left has disturbed the front-back setting. Tightening the bolts unevenly can disturb the tram and there's a bit of a knack to nipping them both up correctly.

The method you're using to determine tram isn't ideal; have a look at the arrangement shown in the following pictures. Quite easy to make when you have a milling machine and a lathe!

It's a simple arm used to swing a DTI through180 degrees on the table. Rather than judging tram with a wobbly set-square, you compare levels about 250mm apart. This distance and the DTI gives you a much more accurate and repeatable idea about what's going on, front-back and right-left. Tramming a mill can be quite a fiddle. Beware of chasing small adjustments, it gets much, much harder the more accurate you try to get. My WM18 has a small front back error that I haven't bothered to fix; for type of work I do the error is trivial.

On the other hand, getting the very best out of your machine can become an enjoyable hobby in itself. Loads of fun to be had without the need to produce dirty swarf!

Dave

[STK2008Participant @stk2008]

Hi yeah my setup looks like yours but useing parts from my dti stand .

May I ask what your error is front to back more or less than 0.006″?.

Agreed I may have actually done the bolts up and caused the error I’m seeing when I adjusted the left and right shall take a look at that .

I want to make sure I find all possible errors now before its to late.

Don’t get me wrong I expected some issues just trying g to sort them out if possible my self but so far I am happy with it just that one tolerance I would like to lower.

Shall see if it was me when I adjusted the tram left and right.

[Author]

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