Member postings for Alan Rawlins

I have been grinding my HSS lathe tools on my bench grinder using a CONSORT Pink grindstone RA60-LV1. Unfortunately Consort have gone out of business and the company that this web site refers you to will not have any of these in for 14 weeks. This seems to be a good stone for grinding HSS and I would also like to obtain another one of these plus an extra wheel that is a little courser than the RA60-LV1 for "roughing" purposes. Does anyone know of any company that sells these or something very similar? One of the problems is my bench grinder takes a 200mm x 25mm x 31.75 which I find is a good size, and better than a 150mm x 20mm one.

Hi Coalburner, are you sure that the 250V comes with a 3 phase motor as mine and the one on their website says it is an AC inverter drive motor or is this the same?

Consider making your own bench for it too. In hind site I would have spent less money making one out of 50mm angle iron with a 40mm top made from two pieces of 20mm marine plywood glued and screwed together. Make your bench before you buy your lathe or arrange for your lathe to be delivered at your convenience. Bare in mind also that to buy a one similar to the WARCO 250 it is not a two people lift. You will have to make some arrangement to get it from the box and onto the lathe. This consideration may may have an influence on the design of your bench stand.

i managed to get mine onto the bench using pieces 1.2m of 150mm x 20mm scrap wood placed alternatively across each other and and a good hydraulic car jack. it was a bit scary but safe as it turned out.

I had to do this two times as the first one I received had to be returned for another one due to a problem with the fist one. On this I must say WARCO were exceptional with the help I received they are very good with their after sales service. I did take some photographs of my lathe being lifted onto its bench but I would be a it embarrassed about showing them on here, even if I knew how to.

I want to machine a small ring of steel to fit a small 30mm outside diameter, ball bearing into it. I want to make sure that the outer ring of the bearing doesn't revolve when in use.

How much smaller should I turn the inside diameter of the ring relative to the bearing outside diameter without decreasing the internal clearance of the bearing so much that the bearing locks up, but still doesn't revolve in the ring?

Hi Kevin, I have recently bought a Warco 250 lathe and have now got it onto its stand and have been practicing using it .I haven't had so much fun for a while now. It's a great lathe.

Make sure you buy or make a decent bench to put your new lathe on and after checking all the usual things like nuts and bolts being tight etc, run your lathe to make sure it runs smoothly at all revolutions. the first one I bought was smooth running through the first part of the range then it started to oscillate, as opposed to vibration, about 0.070" when measured at the top of the safety guard. As the revolutions increased the oscillation decreased steadily up to its maximum speed. Eventually the company exchanged it for me and the new one was perfect

.I did confirm that it was something to do with the headstock as I made a set up to run the headstock shaft independently from the lathe and it still was oscillating.

By the way my stand was two cabinets with a marine plywood top made from two pieces of 20mm ply screwed and glued together with a resin glue. It was cheaper to buy an 8x4 sheet of ply than to buy some 10mm steel which may not have been flat and true. In hindsight the cabinets were a bit pricey for what they were.

Hi I am just a newby and I like to surf the net in my spare time and I have seen a lot of YouTube videos that show what looks like a particularly nice Tool Post.

It is an American Tool Post called ALORIS INDEXABLE TOOL POSTS & SETS.

I was wondering if anyone knows if they can be purchased in the UK?

Better still if there is anyone selling them in the UK, do you also happen to know if they may be at the Harrogate Show in May?

I used to work for a bearing manufacturer before I retired as a chief inspector. Looking at the picture of that bearing reminds me of the larger sizes we used to make, and the all steel cages were pressed on with the rollers resting in the inner cone. The only way to get them off was to cut them off and re-cage the rollers with a new cage. We used to do this as a bearing repair job for about half the price of a new one. New rollers were fitted, after the races had been reground.

If you can, take the whole bearing to a bearing suppliers, they are in most towns and show them what you want. If it is not in stock they may be able to order it in for you. And it will be a lot cheaper too. I used to work for a company making bearings and they were sold for peanuts really so the wholesaler and retailers could make a good profit. Get an OEM bearing and it could cost you the earth. By the way bodging an old bearing with some new bits is a recipe for disappointment.

My garage, now my workshop is fairly well insulated, the only draughts you might say were those coming in thro' the garage up and over door. I used door draught excluder to seal most of these. As the garage is built on the end of the bungalow I ran some central heating pipes from the bungalow to the garage to a 2m radiator. So when the bungalow heating is on so is the garage heating. When it is very cold and the radiator has only taken the chill off the air, I light up an electric gas blower for about 10 to 15 minutes. This soon gets it warmed up and it is only the smallest heater I could buy, about £110. If it cools down I set it off again for 5miutes or so. I bought the large red bottle of propane and one bottle lasts me about 18 months.

Hello Trev, This model of mine has the "idler " fitted and according to the instructions it has to rest against the Vee belt to take up any slack in the belt I suppose. I have had a look at the design of the spindle that is with the spare parts list and it looks quite a simple design and can't see where it could be eccentric. From working in a Bearing Manufactures workshop before I retired, I think these spindles would be ground on what is called a centreless grinding machine.

I forget to mention in the last post that Warco will replace my lathe with a new one but the effort to get it off the bench etc ready to send it back is a bit daunting so I have put this offer on hold for the moment.

Hello Trev, This model of mine has the "idler " fitted and according to the instructions it has to rest against the Vee belt to take up any slack in the belt I suppose. I have had a look at the design of the spindle that is with the spare parts list and it looks quite a simple design and can't see where it could be eccentric. From working in a Bearing Manufactures workshop before I retired, I think these spindles would be ground on what is called a centreless grinding machine.

Hello all, I have just got round to checking my e-mails and I would like to thank everyone for responding so quickly.

I live near to Northallerton in North Yorkshire

The lathe is a Warco 250V with the new type motor. This model replaced the 250VF.

I have run the lathe clockwise and counter clockwise and still oscillates at the same speed of 820revs per min without the gears engaged in case it was these causing the problem. When I bought it new, just about 8 or 9 weeks ago, it was delivered with one of the two belts fitted but, this has been changed with a new one which didn't make any difference.

As far as swarf is concerned there hasn't been much as I have only used the lathe twice since I bought for reasons that had nothing to do with the lathe.

I have checked the spindle bearings and there is no play in them either. It was while running the machine and turning something simple out of some mild steel that I realised that there was something wrong as the cutting edge of the tool seamed to be moving although it was tightened up correctly.

While trying to isolate the problem I have run it with the three jaw chuck fitted and without the chuck fitted, and it still oscillates at the same rpm. I have reduced the oscillating down to be just a bit more than normal machine vibration, by using lead dampening pads under the feet and also fitting pieces of 10mm x 200mm x 50mm under the top of the lathe stand, instead of just the washers, that were provided, to try and make the stands tops more rigid. Although it is now a lot better, I am treating the symptoms and not the underlying cause of the oscillation. I haven't tried it with the four jaw chuck as I thought that this wouldn't be as good as the three jaw chuck.

I don't think that part of the part of the lathe I checked and found to be running 0.005" out is the spindle as it looks like it is only turned whereas the rest of the spindle is ground. I checked the runouts of all the Vee pulleys too and they are within 0.001"

Not in desperation, but not far off, I found the high and low points of the part that is 0.005" out and taped some small pieces of lead to it and run the machine to 820 rpm but that didn't change anything. I don't think the spindle is bent but I do think it is the spindle that is causing the problem but what I just don't know. The only other thing I could think of is, could the keyways be causing the out of balance as the key is harder and heavier than the aluminium pulleys. This I think might be a bit of clutching at straws as they say. I believe that if I attached a piece of 10mm steel to cover both of the lathe stand to give the lathe something really rigid to be bolted too could possibly get rid of the problem but as said before this is not curing the cause, just the symptoms.

Some one said to me 2 why don't you just not use the lathe at around the 820 rpm, well yes I could but it is a brand new lathe and it should be right. Unfortunately Warco, as good as they are, don't have a solution either and say they have never had this sort of problem before. By the way there customer after care is very good.

Hi I am quite new to metal turning and I was wondering if anyone had come across the headstock vibrating at a particular small speed range?

I have made sure that all bolts etc are tight on the lathe, the lathe stand to the 6inch concrete floor and the bolts holding the lathe to the stand, that was bought with the lathe.I have isolated this vibration to the spindle as I ran the spindle from a separate motor than the one on the lathe and it still vibrates. This vibration is more like oscillating than vibration and is about 0.070" at its worst. I can reduce this by putting pieces of lead under the lathes feet to dampen the vibration but I am treating the symptoms not the cause. There is a total indicator reading of 0.005" on one part of the spindle where the locknut and adjustment ring is.Could this 0.005" cause this sort of vibration?