Member postings for David Cambridge

Michael -  yes the key is present.

Edited By David Cambridge on 03/11/2015 12:11:47

John - Oh dear , I feared you may say something like that. Coupled with the 0.07mm taper over about 65mm I’ve talked about on my other thread, I’m starting to get a sinking feeling about my new purchase. My previous lathe was the WM180 and that was great from the start and without any problems. I had it for a year of two and got on with it very well. In terms of competence I’d still consider myself a beginner but I have successfully used the 180 lathe to make a working I.C. engine so I do know the basics. Where I’m completely void of experience, and indeed confidence, is fixing these sorts of problems with the machine tools themselves. Hence any help is really appreciated. I’ll take some photos when I get home tonight.

Anyway, to the subject in hand, yes there is a lot of backlash. It’s probably takes about ¾ of a full turn of the cross slide to take it out. I'll look at the other things you ask when I look at the lathe tonight, but yes there is a key on the handle\lead screw.

I'm using slideway oil from Chronos.

David

Edited By David Cambridge on 03/11/2015 12:09:59

Hello

Just to clarify. I am very slowly turning the cross slide handle to bring in more cut – fine tuning to take those last few finishing cuts. What’s happening is that the tool does not move, instead something seems to slip. If I speed up rotation of the handle then everything is fine, but of course then the tool movement is quite course. I don’t believe I have overtightened the cross side Gibbs –any loser and the cross side would be too free.

Yesterday I found I could very slowly move the cross slide handle round and round indefinitely, with the tool never moving. I’m not talking about just moving the scale, I’m talking about turning the handle to move the tool but the tool not moving.

David

Hello all

Having diverted from problems of my band saw blade snapping I decided to try turning a length of bar stock on my new Warco 250 for the first time– I’ve run into a couple of problems and I’ll launch two threads to talk about the two independently.

My first problem is the dial on the cross slide – it seems as though if I turn it slowly it slips and doesn’t move the lead screw. It took me a little while to figure out what was going on, and why winding the cross slide didn’t seem to be making any difference. Warco advertise that it uses friction dials, and I’m guessing there is some way of adjusting it ?

Thanks in advance

David

Edited By David Cambridge on 02/11/2015 23:51:10

Thanks for a very comprehensive set of answers everyone – hopefully I should be able to improve things. What I didn’t say in my original post was that I was using an 18TPI tooth blade, and it’s been helpfully pointed out to me by the suppler that this is a little too fine for 3 inch steel. I’ve ordered some 14 TPI and will try these as well.

If you don’t mind I won’t say who the blades are from. I think it’s more likely that fault is with either my band saw or the wrong type of blade (or me!). The blades are from a trusted and reputable source and I think it would be unfair to cast doubt upon them when they are probably not the issue.

David

Edited By David Cambridge on 02/11/2015 12:31:54

Thanks all – I’ll get a new blade and try with considerably more tension.

David

Thanks Neil

As in tends to snap so often I also happened to be videoing it when it happened – I notice each time the blade weld runs past 'something' the band saw gives a little jump. Although I’m not sure what that tells me!

David

Thanks Neil

As in tends to snap so often I also happened to be videoing it when it happened – I notice each time the blade weld runs past 'something' the band saw gives a little jump. Although I’m not sure what that tells me!

David

Hello All

I keep snapping band saw blades like there is no tomorrow – I’m worried I’m not getting the tension on the blade correct. I would be grateful if those in the know would take a quick look at the you tube video below and let me know how far off the mark I am.

Thanks

David

Tom

I mentioned on the previous thread that I recently upgraded my Warco 180 to a Warco 250. There was nothing wrong with the WM 180 and indeed it served me very well, but the time came when I wanted something bigger.

I did look at the Sieg equivalent, but for me the Warco 250 was a better option because it included a power cross feed and lots of accessories. I didn’t consider second hand as I don’t have the skill set to judge and wanted the support of a retailer. Anyway, if you get the 250 you might be interested in my recent YouTube post – it shows how I got the lathe off the floor and onto the stand (The usual disclaimers apply - this worked for me but isn’t’ necessarily best practice!)

David

Edited By David Cambridge on 29/10/2015 12:44:16

Thanks Graeme

You have confirmed my worry that it was a bad idea – luckily I have this forum and helpful people like yourself to guide me!

When changing chucks I find it easier to hold the spindle still as I undo the bolts on the studs. Normally that’s dead easy because it’s straight forward enough to find something on the chuck to take hold of. However, at the moment I’m sorting out a back plate to mount a collet chuck and it’s tricky to keep it still. (It will be fine when it’s done - it’s just during the machining that I’ve got this problem. It’s nothing I can’t work round though).

David

My new WM250V came with a C spanner that fits the slotted nut shown below. Can I use this to hold the spindle whilst changing chucks – for some reason it feels like this is a bad idea (will it do something bad to the main bearing setup?) so I thought I’d better check with those more knowledgeable than myself first? (I need to find a way of locking the spindle without using the chuck - all part of making a back plate for a collet chuck)

Edited By David Cambridge on 29/10/2015 08:05:48

Thanks Mechman48 – you have gone to quite a bit of trouble for me and that’s really appreciated.

In the end I bought one from ebay from someone in Illinois ( I live in Cambridge UK) – it only took a week to arrive and seems fine. Certainly better than my lathe tool grinding skills!

I’ve noticed on my new 250V lathe that the dial on the carriage hand wheel is calibrated with each division shown as 0.25 mm. So far so good, but the scale on the wheel then counts 10 graduations as 1, 20 graduations as 2, and so on and so on (see photo). This seems really unhelpful as to work out how far it’s moved you have to multiple the wheel by 10 then divide by 4. I’m just curious as to why it has been done like this ? Surely it would have been better for the first major graduation to read 2.5 ?

In the photo, the topslide is as far left as it will go and at the end of its travel.

It’s not obvious to me on how to remove the lead screw cover without a major disassembly (???), but even if I get past that hurdle the rear splash guard will get in the way and so only get me about a cm closer than shown in the photo (Without the rear splash guard swarf will get into the motor). I’m also puzzled on how to use the faceplate for the same reason?

I’m not following the boring bar idea so I think there must be something I don’t understand. My boring bar is right handed for the inside of a bore so I can't see how to use it to machine a spigot for the chuck.

Sorry if I'm missing the obvious!

David

Hello All

As soon as they are in stock, I’ll be buying a back plate for my new WM250 lathe so that I can attach my collet chuck.

According to the Warco web site, I’ll need to machine the back plate to fit the recess on the collet chuck but I’m stuck on how to do this.

In the photo I have the tool post as far over to the left as it will go, but as you can see there is no chance that the tool will be able to reach the back plate.

Although not shown I’m imaging the back plate will only be abput 15 mm deep. This seems out of reach of any cutting tool?

What’s the obvious thing I’m missing ?

Thanks

David

I’ve recently changed by Warco 180 lathe for a Warco 250V lathe. If anyone else is thinking of buying one, they may be curious as to how it arrived and how I got it on the stand. I’ll add the usual disclaimer that this worked for me, but is not necessarily best practice. I’ll be leaving levelling as problem for a different day.

David

To save me another few hours of fruitless Googling, does anybody know of a UK supplier of these

David

The thermite and grinder thing is rather worrying and that’s because this would have never occurred to me as a problem.

I was rotten at chemistry at school so I have no idea what I’m talking about, but I thought thermite was metal and metal oxide ?

David