Member postings for Mick Burmeister

I've found some generic centre drills have overlong and fragile pilots. If you're cute with a bench grinder or patient with a hand stone you can reduce the length, as said above. When I tried paying a bit more for a good brand, I got shorter, more robust pilots that worked better. I still use the cheap ones as well, but don't put hard pressure on them in strong materials.

I've found some generic centre drills have overlong and fragile pilots. If you're cute with a bench grinder or patient with a hand stone you can reduce the length, as said above. When I tried paying a bit more for a good brand, I got shorter, more robust pilots that worked better. I still use the cheap ones as well, but don't put hard pressure on them in strong materials.

Thanks George. I wasn't chasing tenths or working large lengths, so the 0,25mm ~ 10 thou approximation was good enough for work I've done in the 6 months I've had the machine; but I'll bear your results in mind for future jobs!

Compared to the Myford Speed 10 I had for the previous 15 years - the WM250V may not be as 'nice' in some respects, but it's given me substantially improved capability in many areas. Maybe I've been lucky, but bar stock in the 3-jaw runs true within 6 tenths. The vertical slide I bought with it is none too good (haven't really worked out what unit on earth the calibrations are supposed to be!), so I modded the Warco baseplate to fit the Myford double-swivel milling slide I already had, and that works very well.

Regards,

MickB

I phoned Warco with the same question, and their response was that the unit was effectively lubricated for life, and suggested I don't bother.

But I've another issue that I think will cause me to take the apron off, so I'll probably lose the oil doing that.

What happened was that I engaged longitudinal feed when I intended to use cross feed, driving the milling slide into the chuck-mounted endmill. It was one of the first cuts I engaged, so I didn't recognise the growl for a second or two. When I hit the emergency stop I couldn't at first disengage the feed or - obviously - move the saddle. I eventually succeeded, and found that the shearpin on the leadscrew hadn't broken, but the keyed sleeve in one of the changegear pairs had. Warco were very quick in sending a replacement.

But since that time I've been living with a stiff tight-spot on what I think is the rack to apron gear mesh, about every third turn of the carriage handwheel. My guess is that the crash bent the shaft a bit, but I won't find out till I drop the apron. Hopefully, releasing the telescopic leadscrew covers and removing the 4 vertical socket screws will let me do this. Anybody know?

I have found, by the way, that the saddle handwheel dial - although coarsely graduated in 0.25mm divisions - is actually pretty accurate, and you can judge it to a thou or two with reasonable confidence. I've milled slots for flush-fitting components with it with good success. The fine crossfeed is a delight, giving a silky finish on facing cuts and cross milling.

Regards,

MickB