Member postings for David Watson 3

Having inherited my late fathers early Warco Mini Lathe I have got used to its limits and found it quite usable for most tasks. It will never be on a par with the Boxford, Myford or Harrison lathes I have worked on in the past.

I recently needed to use the face plate for the first time. After a struggle to clamp a large disc to it and make it run true I watched Ades Workshop on You Tube. He had problems making a Warco face plate run true.

I checked mine for run out on its face finding it was 30 thou out of true and twelve thou on its outer rim. I was able to true it up by machining both faces, it is quite soft cast iron. To my surprise there were flecks of what looked like brass in the dust after I had finished.

I had thought of buying a Warco lathe many years ago when I was struggling with an old Myford ML4. I still think Warco are worth considering but need careful checking.

As mentioned some time ago I am building an unfinished Clayton and have started to build the trailer until the funds are right for building the boiler. I know there are other Clayton owners out there and I wondered if any one has used any other wheels rather than the rear wheels for the wagon. The reason for asking is the price of wheels and tyres. This retirement project has one or two costly parts to it. I suppose this is a sign of the times with all hobbies.

Thanks for the advise, I know the club is the most logical choice but its timing I found difficult before. I used to work shifts and missed the boiler testing day. The tester wasnt very helpful and wouldnt put himself out for another test day. I will put feelers out for now, maybe the local club have a more understanding boiler tester now.

I intend to start building the boiler for my Clayton next year. I realise it should be tested for safety reason, even if I wont be running the wagon much in public. The logical people to test it being a local model engineering club. Apart from having to pay for a years membership I cant always fit my plans in around there test dates. Has anyone had a boiler tested in the Lincolnshire/ Yorkshire area other than via a club.

Thanks folks. The photos from Robo prove my thoughts that they are Myford only collets. I think starting again with ER 32 and a collet holder for the Mini Lathe is my best choice. My next thoiught being do I go for metric or imperial?.

I was offered an ML10 recently and if it wasnt thirty plus years old and a lot of money I would have found a use for the collets. Sadly my father gave his ML7 away when I was stationed abroad later followed by his Rivet 608 to be replaced by the mini lathe. Sad times but I am getting some use out of the mini lathe.

Along with the Mini Lathe I inherited from my late father are some odd lathe parts not related to the Mini Lathe.

There is a Myford threaded nose cone and a set of collets that mach the nose cone, probly from his ML7. They are MT2 taper. How can I identify wihat collets they are. They look like ER collets but I am not sure what size they are?. The other problem may be that the Mini Lathe headstock is MT3.

I would like to use collets on the Mini Lathe having seen my Father using collets on his Rivet 608 for his clock making.

My old Myford ML4 had a huge stack of gears with it but I never got as far as screw cutting. The mini lathe gear lay out for 12 TPII must be in line with the standard set of gears. I think wasting a couple of bits of off cut round bar is my first move. Its not a problem if this proves more than me or the lathe can cope with. The shaft that is fitted works of a fashion.

I can see the mini lathes limit points already. If I want to make a two start thread as planned, the gear charts smallest set up is for 12TPI. It may be simpler to stick to a single start thread. I am going to exsperiment with different screw threads this weekend.

Thanks Neil, I have ordered the imperial chart from them for the change wheels. The chart for the lead screw on the front of the cover is different on the Warco. I have asked Warco if it still available.

Warco say my lathe is imperial if it has a 16TPI label on the lead screw dial bracket. This dosnt ad up with the invoice etc. Maybe my father fitted an imperial lead screw kit from Warco?.

I am getting things in order and gathering information about screw cutting on the mini lathe. I have a copy of the gear layouts for the end cover, imperial threads. If any one out there could copy me the lead screw dial indicator information from the front cover it would help.

I treated myself to a cheap digital vernier gauge from Lidle for use at work bench fitting. Thinks me no one will steal a cheap one. It was in regular use until I found a Kennedy digital vernier in the bin,complete with case. It had a flat battery. As usual with any tools found in the workshop I put it in a box marked lost and found. It was never claimed along with Snap On spanners a digital multi meter and a good selection of other tools. Some people have no respect for there tools any more.

This is part of an on going problem with my Clayton. The steering shaft is tapped 1/4 Whit as per drawings. This is ok but means a lot of free play and a lot of turns of the steering wheel to move the steering much. A suggestion is to use a 1/4" Acme two start thread.

The shaft was available from Blackgates ready machined with nut to match. Sadly no more and a shaft ready machined is rather costly. As you said taps and dies are not available for that size and of course two start makes things more difficult.

I havnt tried screw cutting yet but it might be worth a try if I can sort out the confusion about the gearing on this Mini Lathe.

Hi Rick, I was having a senior moment about acme threads, I am imperial orientated. I need a 1/4"- 2 start acme threaded rod and nut. This is could be some thing beyond me and the min lathe. I have found a gear to change from metric to imperial but its the screw cuttng that might throw me.

I started with a battered Myford ML4 until I closed the workshop due to other comitments. Inheriting a lathe seemed a good chance to start again.

I inherited a Warco Mini Lathe from my late father. So far I have managed to carry out most of my projects within the lathes capacity.

As my father was orientated to Myfords and a Rivet lathe I assumed the mini lathe was imperial. The cross and compound dials are in duel increments. The change gear information on the end cover is not in English, Italian I think. Having recently found the invoice for the lathe it appears it is a metric lathe.

My latest project may require some screw cutting, Acme Thread. I am a bit stumped as to gear settings etc. Also I have found a small shaft that appears to be part of the lead screw indicator. Maybe I should be thinking metric Acme threads- 6mm instead of 1/4"

Hi Nigel, Thanks,PM sent.

I have been unable to find the magazines that published the modified gearing for the Clayton rear axle. I assume the 40 tooth on the diff and a 10 tooth on the lay shaft. I had thought of a 10 on the crank shaft to a 20 on the lay shaft. The brackets for the lay shaft wont be a problem.

At last I have a result regarding the drill chuck.,it was JT6 . New keyless chuck from Chronos for £21 is a good result after a bit of a search. Now I can get some holes drilled the block for the clayton. Still thinking about an ML7.

I had one of those bright ideas today. The chuck for the mini Lathe has B16 stamped on it and it wont go on the stub in the drill. I took the drill chuck to work today to give it a good clean up and as I thought it says RJ6-13 on it. As I said I will try the JT6 from Chronos. I am starting to think I might upgrade my workshop . I had an ML2/4 before I had a break from model engineering. My father had an ML7 with a long cross slide and a few other simple modifications that kept him going for years. I could justify the cost of a decent one as an early retirement present maybe. The Super 7 seems a bit pricy for occasional use.

Hi Folks, Thanks for all the information regarding the taper for this chuck. The nearest I can find to match the drill is JT6. As I said the chuck has RJ6 scribed on it this seems to be my best clue. After a bit of cleaning up I realise I was wrong with the make..The data plate on the side of the head say J Sanders, 1982, not Saunders as I first thought. The bench grinder that came from my fathers workshop is the same make. I have ordered a keyless chuck from Chronos this afternoon so I hope its correct.

A little more information regarding the taper for the chuck. I found a list of tapers on the ARC web site. The nearest I can get is JT 6. Could this relate to the RJ6-13 stamped on the body of the chuck?. The 13 I assume relates to the capacity of the chuck.