Member postings for Christopher Taylor 1

I also had a WM180 and did have to replace control board for starting with the speed set fairly high, a large flash when it happened and not cheap. I have now up graded to a WM250 and have replaced the plug fuse to 5 amps as a precaution and must say the fuses do seem to pop frequently, no doubt due to my over ambitious cuts. I seem to recall there was a sticker on my WM180 warning about starting with the lowest speed setting. I would recommend changing the plug fuse and keep a few spare fuses as a precaution..

Gerry, do be careful, as an aircraft owner and operator for many years, I have seen numerous hangar doors with this problem, some run on steel rollers let into the concrete base with a roller running along a top track for guidance and others hanging from a top track with rollers running along a ground track for guidance. They all seem to suffer with neglect and wear in nearly every possible location. As they are usually large structures they can easily be moved by the wind and can, whilst trying to repair, be blown over and once they are down they are a devil of a job to get back up. I did see such an event at Biggin Hill some while ago when a door whilst being repaired was caught by the wind and was pulled from its temporary fixings and fell on to a Citation parked on the apron in front causing substantial damage. The company doing the work in this instance were insured I believe.

I think Clive's suggestion to replace the system completely by a specialist is the best option.

Christopher

Hi Paul

I live in KT20 and may be able to help. What sort of items? I do make spare parts for my own old motorcycle & cars when the need arises. PM me your contact details.

Sam

I have not found the need to replace any other fuse than the one located between the on/off switch and the forward/reverse switch which is of course accessed by just turning the cross slots with a screwdriver however, when looking at my operators manual it does not show the fuse located in this position but at the rear adjacent to the power lead entry point same type of fuse holder accessed externally. There are not any other fuses listed in my parts list and I have not had to dismantle this part of the lathe - rebuild the apron gear box when some swarf got in and jammed it bending a shaft (new gear & shaft £70, from memory), apron now added to carriage assembly.

My lathe is now 5 or 6 years old now, one of the first WM250V-F I think and of course later machines may be different, but it is free standing so whilst it can be moved to access the rear it is not easy because of the weight and I am not sure much will be gained by just peering inside. Perhaps Warco may be your best bet for info.

Christopher.

Mike

It sounds very much like the fuse located between the on/off switch and the forward/reverse control. I found the fuse supplied with my machine, some years ago, was of very poor quality and blew early on. I purchased a pack of ten from Maplin expecting them to regularly fail however have not needed to replace again - pack just gathering dust on a nail above machine.

Hope this helps

Christopher

Martin, I have an identical machine and had a similar problem which turned out to be a bent shaft within the carriage gearbox (easy to determine by seeing if the lathe will run with the gear train disconnected). Once I replaced the shaft all was well. Getting the old one out was problematical which resulted in damage to the gear wheel it carried. Both obtainable from Warco but quite expensive and if I had to do it again I would make both parts. I also found quite a lot of casting sand in the bottom of the casing which I naturally removed in the process. Hope this helps.

Hi Rik

I have a similar setup to you save that I have mounted my reader on top of the switch/control box and have noticed that if I do not reduce the speed to the lowest setting before switching off the reading sometimes becomes corrupted. I just reduce the speed to zero and all seems to be fine.

Hope this helps.

Christopher

Hi Dave

I have a WM250V-F which is I think slightly different but when my lathe stopped - too deep cuts I think - it was the fuse located between the on/off and the forward/reverse switches. I think the original fuses supplied by the manufacturers were of a low quality. I replaced mine with a 10amp time delay fuse from Maplin, keeping a spare near by, but have not had any further problem.

Hope this helps.

Christopher

I have fitted a DRO to my Warco WM-16 which may give you some ideas. Photos herewith.

Hi Peter

My first lathe was a Warco WM180 which I purchased some years ago to make various small bushes to restore several small tools which I did quite satisfactorily. I did have an experienced engineer show me how to use it and found it so useful for all sorts of other work such as brass light fittings, brass rail hangers, those difficult to obtain non metric bolts - I have and maintain a couple of old cars and rebuilding a friends diesel boat generator to mention a few. I have now moved on to a Warco WM 250vf lathe as I think for the money and the type of use (hobby) they represent good value however, they are not perfect when compared to the more expensive machines and I did have to remake some parts for the WM180. For example the shaft that holds the gear wheels I found to be of a soft metal which soon distorted with the regular changing of ratios, and the tool post top nut with screw in shaft I had to weld together as they finally parted. I traded my WM 180 in against a new WM 250vf and dropped about £150 from the original purchase price which for 4 years use I thought was not bad. The only reason I up graded was to have a greater swing over the bed and to have the benefit of a power cross feed. You will of course, need many other small tools to use it which can add up when on a budget.

Hope this is useful

Christopher

Hi Wolfgang

I have only found the need so far to clamp a bar at 90deg to the cross slide to facilitate setting the combination slide at various angles for screw cutting etc. and made up suitable studs as per the photo below, I started with 20mm round bar and cut a metric thread as metric nuts are easily purchased for little money.

Hi Wolfgang

I have a similar machine and it also stopped whilst I was parting off, can't remember if it all went dead but the problem was a 10amp fuse located between the forward/reverse switch and the on/off switches - small plastic fuse holder with a cross head that just screws out. Purchased a pack of similar fuses from Maplin for £3 - problem solved.

Hope this heps

Christopher

Hi Eric

I have a WM14 and the measurement from the base to the top of the table on my model is 142mm.

Chris

Hi Rik

This might seem a daft reply but you are using the same handle as for the cross slide but in the alternatibve position and not the lower handle? I have an identicle machine and made this mistake.

Chris