Member postings for mechman48

Thanks for the reminder Sid, I have a heat gun somewhere in my shed that I used for paint stripping some wood a while back..never dawned on me at the time .. just goes to show the old grey matter is not as quick as it used to be, you know what I mean.." now where did I put so 'n' so, what did I do with....! even better.. now why did I come in here! .

G.

As mentioned in previous post; I made a larger knurled grip to fit over the friction collar on the top slide as I could not get a grip on it to set 'zero' due to 'chubby finger' syndrome. I was going to make it a shrink fit but couldn't quite get the dimensions right for hot water expansion method & had no hotplate in the w/shop so I made it a press fit.

1. Original as supplied with machine:

2.Manufactured new knurled collar

3. Press fitted to handwheel over original collar.

4. Reassembled to top(compound) slide

Obviously the OD can be made to suit your own dimensions but I made this to look cosmetically in keeping with the topslide scale & I can now easily grip to set zero.

Cheers

George

Did not work for me either; went to the website & found that it did not contain any 'win this manual' competition only an ad for the manual 'on offer' for £3 +.... can't even get onto the website now... 'cannot find page'...?

George

I tend to stick with 12mm 4 flute cutter for general narrow stuff, usually approx' .5 - 1 mm doc & cut dry, although I have used a 16mm carbide end mill. Any large material I use a 4 bit 2" indexible tip face mill, also cutting dry, hand fed. I try to use the nearest size material to the required finished size but as always needs must when it comes to available material. Was toying with the idea of getting a power feed too (for my WM16) but priced at £280 from Warcos..!! maybe Santa Claus will visit me this Xmas? but for the moment I go by 'feel, sight & sound'

George

Edited By mechman48 on 06/06/2013 13:18:15

TD4

Thanks; precisely what I meant, sometimes the old grey matter tends to forget what was meant to be said..even though I always try ..KISS.

Rik, We must belong to the same club ! .. arthritis in my left shoulder, left knee, base of spine, now signs of it in my right shoulder.. tried using WD40 to ease it but somehow doesn't seem to work ..have to revert to prescription linament rub.

G.

Much as I support & welcome Daves idea for inclusion of charts; look in Roebucks 'ZEUS' pocket book (usual disclaimer).. available on flea bay etc, it has everything you would need .. tapping sizes, drill coordinates for jig boring, trigonometry, tapers, BS 4500.A ISO hole & shaft fits, etc,etc. The latest version I have.. metric revision, now includes - symbols & abreviations used on Engineering Dwgs, Misc' function words from USA-EIA standard, G code addresses for NC, letter addresses used in NC..

Cheers

George

Rik

Looking at my copy of Warcos catalogue It does not mention a cut off switch is provided, nor does the pic show one fitted, also the same on their website. If you need a cut off switch then you will have to relocate & rewire the on/off switch to a plunger of some description near to the frame end (IIRC there was a write up of this mod on a similar thread.. here or on another forum).

The tension on the spring should be adjusted by turning the rubber handled shaft that the spring is fitted to; the best way is to lift the saw frame vertical to release any tension on the spring, then you should be able to either unscrew / screw the shaft ..Anti clockwise to release tension, clockwise to increase tension so when you lower the frame the spring will take up any preset tension, as you have probably found out, you will have difficulty adjusting the spring once tension is set as the spring is stretched, &, as is with my M/Mart 6x4, these are pretty hefty springs & I can't adjust mine when the frame is down.

The finish on all these Chinese machines leave a lot to be desired, even the mills & lathes could be much better finished (re. your new mill ?) my 250V-F doesn't have the greatest of finishes. I looked at all the machine finishes, amongst comparing other bits 'n' pieces, when at H'gate exhib' this year & wouldn't say any of them were top class (Warcos, Chesters, Amadeals), if you had this standard of paintwork on your new car you'd demand a complete respray, but, as the adage goes ...' you pays your money ' ! so if any existing / future customers want to see improvements or a better product the the only way is to send feedback to the dealer (firstly, then comments in forums like these)  in sufficient quantities re QA/QC, poor assembly etc,etc, then there might eventually be improvements... but I wouldn't bank on it just yet.

George

Edited By mechman48 on 05/06/2013 19:59:53

Ditto as per Ian P; on other web sites I often see a little box appear in bottom corner with ' Auto saved' ...... so why not possible on this site?

George

I have one of these too, bought from DRO (usual disclaimer); as stated it is only an indicator, the scale is not defined so you could in effect call ea. div' what you want, imperial or metric; I chose to call mine 'units' & always followed up with a DTI as confirmation when checking things out, so in effect it gets you in the very close ball park, virtually next to 1st base as our cousins might say, but the DTI gets you ON 1st base, decent piece of kit to set up with although not what you might class as 'Cheap'

ps. I used mine to check out tailstock to head alignment & tram my mill head in to zero.

Cheers

George

Edited By mechman48 on 04/06/2013 01:44:54

Along the same lines ; why is it that when I reply to posts & I refer back to photos on my pc to copy & paste, when I get back to the reply box all my writing has disappeared ?? cannot this site do as many others have & 'auto save' it seems that to post pics all pics have to be put into an album, what if I want to put just one pic from another file into the thread, do I have to put that pic into a separate 'album' (one pic) just to ensure that it gets include in the write up? I'm sure that I'm not the only one that gets frustrated with this inability to maintain continuity ? come on editor / web site programmer get with it & modernise ! include 'auto save' in the programme

G

Hi all,

I bought one from Machine Mart during their VAT free days after Xmas & initially seem to cut ok but I decide to check the blade guide alignment anyhow after reading other comments on this thread.I ended up machining the back blade guide as the tongue was well out of true even though the initial test cut seemed to be ok, I also drilled & tapped the guide for lateral adjustment(4mm hex bolts) to allow extra movement. Having reset the blade square to the bed as per directions, reset the bearings to just bear on the blade & rotate, I had to change one of the bearings as there was a definate rumble & it was sticking,took off the shield & found some chrome had come off the bearing cage, the bearing was replaced under warranty, thanks MM, Have some pics somewhere but need to sort my album out !

I cleaned out the old bearing, regreased with Lithium base grease & have now used it for my little quick truing device, works just fine. I digress!.. on reassembley & true up the saw cuts just fine, with the original blade as well! I test cut a 1mm sliver off the end of a 19mm square ms bar and all 4 corners measured out equal to within .001" on one corner..damn well good enough for me considering the ends of any material will be machined true anyhow.

Have tried it on ally, brass & ms, using WD 40 as coolant for the ally' soluble for the ms (intermittent spray) & dry for the brass (& a piece of CI IIRC) all have cut well, & still having the original 14 tpi blade in. I did buy a pack of spare original blades as an 'on offer' at the same time but so far still have the original blade on although I haven't cut any 'large pieces' yet, although I did cut a piece from a 11/2" round and it was square enough, but then a one off might differ from multiples? must have struck lucky, again ! so I can't really complain on this piece of kit, does what I ask & saved a bit of 'elbow grease', fingers crossed etc.

Cheers

George

Rik / all

Glad to be of assistance to you & others on this thread; check out my post as I've added a bit on the electrickery, just bear in mind that my write ups only apply to my machine & not neccessarily to other members machines, Thor, Mark P etc... you may hopefully get an updated version by the time the next shipment arrives, &/all where QC may have been improved... ?

Stub Mandrel..nice one, but if I see any fish floating around in there then I've got a BIG, BIG problem

Have been giving it the once over tonight & have noted a couple of other bits re the change wheels,but am burning the midnight oil so will double check & write up later. I would be interested to know if other members have noted any other items / concerns on their machines that I have not covered..so far.

in retrospect; before anyone pulls me up re the drill pulling in, I thought of the drill bit running out of true..but checked it out on my surface plate & no discernable eccentricity / out of round... constructive criticisms always welcome but please be gentle with me , after all I am only a junior member ..

Cheers

George

Edited By mechman48 on 03/06/2013 01:14:15

Rik,

When you get your WM250V-F I would carry out the same checks as the mill, backlash, snug up gib strips etc .NB. Make sure that you test the saddle for free travel all the way from tailstock to headstock without it binding anywhere, on the first delivery of mine this was a major prob' as the saddle was binding on the bed casting.. manuf /assembly / QA fault' this was soon remedied as I sent it back after a few phone calls, plus e-mail with pics to Warco, received replacement within the week so thumbs up to Warco for after sales response .

The compound slide gib strips are of MS & are not exactly what you would call a good fit so I intend changing them to brass... eventually ! I also checked the alignment of the tailstock & found it to be out approx' .006" ,how I found out was when using a drill once I noticed the drill (new one) pulled in toward the small center drilling, which indicated a misalignment of the tailstock barrel so out came the indicator & DTI's & after a bit of tweaking on the tailstock adjusters(I also noted that the scale on the tailstock rear didn't quite line up on the 'zeros', I've managed to get it to wtihin .0005" now & the scales read 'zero', also today when I tried drilling again the drill lined up with the centre drill so Bob's your auntie so to speak.. so check yours when you get it!.  I had a similar problem with the electrics on the lathe; no power on start up, checked around & found the tab on the drive end guard was bent & not pushing in the microswitch cut off to the motor, bent the tab out ..still no power.. found  the emergency stop retainer was loose & had also disconnected one of the wires, reconnected the wire, resecured the retainer,power on...bingo !  so much for QC, & supposedly also been checked by one of Warcos engineers... hmmm? ..  so check out your electrics first when you get it.

Another mod I did was to make a larger collar to fit over the compound slide friction scale as I couldn't get my (chubby) finger & thumb in to set a zero, obviously made to fit Chinese size fingers, . Thought I had a pic in my album but not, will post it later. So that's it for now,will post again when I move pics into my album.

Cheers

George

Edited By mechman48 on 02/06/2013 22:41:58

Made a simple mill vice stop 'outa my bits box.

George

Hi Rik

Congrats on getting your 'new toy'' sorry to hear your initial probs, forunately I didn't have any electrickery probs with mine,but as with all these chinese imports QC leaves a lot to be desired & the 'test record' can be construed as much relevance as the proverbial chocolate fire guard! as proven with my 250V-F, a few not so small probs with that on delivery but that's another story albiet resolved by Warco, I can hazard a guess that 'Dongfa Yan' may be related to Hu Flung Dung..!

As with Mark P I removed the guard as it was interfering with my vice too so I ended up fabricating another version out of 2mm Acetate bought from a local DIY store, I also removed the side post ,just leaving the microswitch bracket fixed & the switch permanently in contact so no bother rememberng to close the guard to energise the switch. The guard can be lifted on & off & is secured by a couple of small brackets with small nemo... neomid... neodim.. aah b*****cks! a couple of small earth magnets which stick it to the table.

As supplied with machine..

2 mm Acetate fabrication..

Much better view..

Have yet to fit rear panel, can't decide whether to fit another panel or a clear PVC flexible sheet... I think The PVC sheet is the way to go .. mmmm! maybe switch the front panel to the back & put the PVC sheet in front, held on with more neo..*******! earth magnets,  that way I can move the PVC easier than taking the acetate on & off, & it should act like a cricket net if anything untoward happens, absorbing any impact...?

Regards

George

Edited By mechman48 on 02/06/2013 12:30:05

Rik,

When you get your mill some would say strip it all down & do a clean up job on it before use as quite a lot seem to have done (some just for the hell of it ?), I personally did not, apart from cleaning off the transport / factory grease & applying oil to the leadscrews & dovetails as looking at mine.. with a torch under the table, & in the column I could not see anything untoward so left well alone..my motto .'.if it aint broke don't fix it ' .

All I did was to ensure all the leadscrews operated ok without any feeling of binding or slackness, locking screws were in good nick & not broken..these are made of some sort of Magalloy or pot metal & can be easily stripped, I have replaced 2 of mine (under warranty) even tho' no undue pressure has been applied (am looking at making alternatives).

Make sure your gib stribs are snugged up as I found on mine as there was a bit of slop on the table, check your backlash too as most of these eastern machines will almost certainly have some, can be adjusted but can be awkward to do. I fitted DRO's on my machine X & Y axes so this eliminates the need to check the dials & wondering which side of the line you were set at..( or on the line.. photos in my album) making all a much more accurate measuring method.

Tramming your milling head before use is a must; I checked mine with a centering indicator followed by a DTI & found  0.000" right to left on X axis & '0' to .-0005" (minus half a thou' front to back on Y axis so pretty good 'straight out of the box' but I wouldn't like to say this is the norm on all machines, check yours. I fitted a couple of head locking blocks once everything was locked up so there would no chance of the head tilting (Pics in album)..well virtually no chance..nothing is guaranteed 100%,  I've checked mine a couple of times & nothing has moved. Some say fit a 3 bolt locking system to the head..up to you! since mine has all the above I have not felt the need to..but that's just me, so all in all 'straight out of the box' has been pretty damn good for me..or I've been bloody lucky !!

You'll have received your machine by the time this post is read, & no doubt have 'made swarf' but even so 'enjoy'.

Cheers

George

Edited By mechman48 on 30/05/2013 22:45:12

Edited By mechman48 on 30/05/2013 22:53:45

Hi Sid

Haven't actually tried it in the vertical.. nor the horizontal yet.. not had the need so far as been piddling about with making stuff to make stuff or replace stuff, if you get my drift e.g had to replace the supplied clamping bolts for my mill vice as they were the usual chinese crap as far as bolts go, inferior metal & too short, i.e. today when I finished making a vice stop & was aligning the vice along the 'X' axis, as I tightened the clamping bolts the threads stripped, no excessive leverage used just a normal open ended spanner so ended up having to make 2 new bolts.. out of proper steel! I reckon all of the far eastern machinery is supplied with the basest of clamps / bolts as far as steel quality/composition goes.

G

Advertised in local rag, bench drill for £45 got it for £35, mint condition, guy was clearing out his garage & wanted rid. M/Mart price- £115 ! not boot sale treasure but a bargain all the same.

George

Rik,

I have a 4" Rotab' I bought some time ago from Chronos(usual disclaimer) that hinges to vertical, I have just fitted a 80mm 4 jaw to it this weekend & although it does look 'dinky' I think it will suffice for my needs..at the mo'. I like the idea of using my face plate as an addition to it (thanks for the idea Mark P), anyhow I made an adaptor to fit as when I looked in the centre to identify the taper I found it had a 5/16" BSW thread ..? anyhow I ran a tap down the thread & all the way through to clear out any crap & ensured the thread ended up full size and  an adaptor made to suit, which can also be used to center up the table. I have include a pic of the working height left; from the top of the chuck to the bottom of cutter, 6", with the head at max' elevation, so if I take half the length of the cutter again I will have 61/2" of working headroom, pics are available in my album but have included the main pics here:

Adaptor fitted,

Free headroom approx' 61/2" but will change with whatever is in chuck or if drill chuck is fitted but gives you some idea of set up & measurements.

Cheers

George

Edited By mechman48 on 28/05/2013 12:20:16

Sid / Mark

Thanks for the update, will check it out tomorrow.

G.

Edited By mechman48 on 20/05/2013 22:09:58