Feed speed

Sam there is a cap head screw that tightens the banjo (arm) onto it's pivot, it sounds like you are unaware of this and just pushing the banjo into mesh. You also need to use the paper method for the fixed spindle gear to the first gear on the banjo. If you are doing it up then post a few photos as I may be able to spot something else not right, can't say I've ever had mine jump out even when taking 6.35mm DOC (12.7mm off dia)

As the lathe comes with the feed gears already assembled I would assume you did not need to ream these so they should still be a decent fit.

Edited By JasonB on 06/11/2021 13:10:40

Those familiar with this type of lathe will immediately know what Sam was talking about when he said "circlip" for that don't know what is being discussed this is the item. The narrower slot fits the groove in the end of the stud, t he wider slot registers against the studs square end preventing the retaining disc from rotating.

Oh and it is also hardened, only tested with a file but it is hardened.

If cutting forces forced the gears out of mesh then either you are asking too much of the machine, or you did not clamp the banjo tightly correctly..

You are obviously new to the hobby, and rushing things without reading the instructions.

You bought the machine new, so have an Operator Manual.

Study it, and make yourself familiar with the machine, the location and function of the controls

You removed from the machine a safety feature which also carried a chart which would probably have answered some of your questions.

SLOW DOWN.

It used to take four years for a man to become a skilled turner. You will not achieve that, as a first time lathe owner, in a couple of weeks. We all started without having even seen a lathe, let alone operated one.

We ALL learn something every day

You need some face to face tuition.

I try to help newcomers to the hobby, but you are being over confident and missing the basics, which makes it difficult for anyone to help you.

You have a new machine, so wear or abuse (Other that which you have applied ) should not be an issue.

Where are you located? Maybe, someone near you will be willing to come over and help you.

Find a local model engineering club, join, and watch and listen.

If you have not got one, buy a bench grinder and learn how to grind tools, and then how to set them

Buy some of the recommended books, and study them. The answers to a lot of your questions will be in them..

Sorry to castigate you, but dashing in without knowing what you are doing, will continually make problems.

Howard

Please give me a bit more sense than that. I am aware of the screw & i used a large allen key to tension it.

All the change wheels were in a tin box & NOT fitted. They could not have been as supplied.

.

Mmm … Sounds like NDIY might have a valid point

MichaelG.

Sam see my earlier edit to the post you just quoted. One simple thing to try would be to add a washer under the head of the cap head screw incase it is running out of thread length and going tight before closing the split. Failing that take the gear off the input shaft and closely watch what is happening to the part the banjo pivots on as you move the banjo incase that is loose. Might have happened when you crashed the carriage into the stop some time back

As far as I'm aware they all come with the fine feed gear train set up as has been confirmed by another poster in this forum, can't explain why yours was different.

Edited By JasonB on 06/11/2021 13:31:33

..it's a far more convenient system for holding changewheels than having to fiddle about in the gloom with oil-covered straight-slot 2BA screws..

..pretty sure I've seen an Emco with similar fittings - was this a bit of teutonic efficiency copied over from the european ancestor of the Weiss machines?

Yes had similar on my Emco

I’m not the only one making ‘blind’ comments.

The gears on a 1950s Raglan never needed the gear retaining set screws removing - just loosening sufficiently to slide off the gear-retaining slotted washer is all that is needed. The gears were of sufficient bore (5/8&rdquo to be easily removed without removing the set screws. Clever design, or what, back then?

Seems to me that either designs have gone backwards over the last 60 years or cheapness has taken over. As for gears that needed to be drilled and reamed to fit (should have been bored and reamed, of course)? That seems to be good example of poor chinese production, don’t you think? It is not really surprising that the gears might be more noisy if the bores were drilled out.

Are these really circlips that are used to secure the gears, or are the gears fixed in a more user-friendly way? The adjustment banjo seems to be only part of the problem. Clearly not all users are as clever as yourself. Perhaps the modern machines need to be made more fool-proof in this day and age? Like many modern items, they seem to be built for a (very) limited lifespan.

I, personally, can understand your defence of the chinese offerings. Sometimes perhaps too defensive, in my view.

.

A logical assumption [whether valid or not] would be that ‘Inspection and Final Assembly” found that the change-wheels didn’t fit … so they took the easy option and put them in a tin box.

MichaelG.

.

Interesting quote from the Warco page :

• The WM 250 is supplied fully assembled and ready to go - once it arrives via our free delivery service, simply plug in and enjoy your new lathe.

Ref. https://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathes/17-wm-250-variable-speed-lathe.html

… One might be forgiven for being a little confused.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 06/11/2021 14:16:27

Sam,

We are all trying to help you.

Be aware that sometimes it is possible to tighten a capscrew hard, but not clamp the item securely

If a spacing washer is missing or misplaced, the screw might be bearing against a shoulder and not actually clamping the the stud tightly..

So it always worth checking that this is not the case, or that there is a burr causing the problem.

In then past, I've been caught out by fitting a spacing washer with a recess the wrong way round!

It is possible that a capscrew could be bottoming in the hole, so that instead of clamping the stud firmly, you are trying to push the bottom out of the hole! The end of the screw will usually show evidence of this..

Taking a couple of mm off the end of the screw could work wonders, rather than trying to drill the hole deeper, and send the bottoming (plug ) tap in to produce the extra couple of threads.. You wouldn't want to risk breaking through when the wall thickness is not known.

Howard  Keys too small for my fingers again.

Edited By Howard Lewis on 06/11/2021 14:20:21

Not sure there's value in comparing a decent Raglan with a Far Eastern Hobby machine. NDIY forgets that few Model Engineers, if any, ever bought a new Raglan! They cost more than all but the very rich could afford to spend on a hobby. It's a good lathe because it cost a lot of money.

In contrast Far Eastern hobby lathes are affordable. But that means they have to be built down to a price. Of course they aren't as well-made as expensive industrial machines, then or now. But my hobby machines do what I want of them and as such are definitely value for money. Nice surprise: I bought Chinese expecting to replace it with something better and it's not been necessary.

Forum friends, I respect you all. Dare I hint though that you aren't keen to spend the money needed to get the wonderful kit you crave? Short arms and deep pockets. Perhaps inclined to enthuse about quality but not prepared to pay for it? We didn't buy enough Myfords or Boxfords to keep two good British firms in business. Instead, people went for affordable second-hand and affordable new machines. With luck second-hand will be in good condition and new hobby will be good enough despite not being the best of all possible machines. The system works well enough for cheapskates!

I'd like to see those who criticise Far Eastern machines go into competition with them. If foreign lathes are so dreadful, why aren't Brits producing better-made equivalents for about the same money? I'd buy one.

Dave

.

Absolutely correct, Dave

I only wish that Warco and others would tell it like that in their advertising.

[see my previous post]

MichaelG.

Can you not see the photos I posted?

I would say things have advanced as these items don't even need a screw to be loosened, saves any fool with a Pozi screwdriver trying to undo Phillips screws . doing away with the need for a screw also allows a button oiler to be used in it's place to make for easier lubrication of the bearing bush on the stud

As has already been mentioned Emco used almost exactly the same method but I don't see anyone running their design down.

Edited By JasonB on 06/11/2021 16:21:50

Well I went to warco to view my lathe before purchase, did not have the cross feed one on display so lifted a crate down with a forklift, prized the top and front off and plugged the machine into an extension lead and said try it for yourself. All feeds worked as they should so in my case it was plug and play. Did not look like the crate had been opened since it left the factory.

I can only go by my first hand experience of having a Warco lathe, all gears fitted without any need to ream. And yes NDIY I do agree that drilling and reaming holes that already have a keyway cut is unlikely to result in the reamed hole being concentric to the teeth, bore to finish size would have been best but this is the only case I have heard of the gears not fitting and all being in the toolbox. Was it a reduced price customer return?

Though this that Sam posted a while ago in another thread by Sam would seem to suggest a set of gears was fitted

"I had a problem with my change wheels on my warco not fitting on the bushes & even the ones fitted had to be removed with a puller."

.

Obviously I cannot speak for Sam … but my guess is that what he meant was :

… even the ones that I did manage to force on had to be removed with a puller."

MichaelG.

.

We shall never know, until Sam clarifies the matter.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 06/11/2021 17:06:10

Despite which :

• Every Warco lathe is fully run and tested by a qualified member of our team before leaving our premises, and is supplied with an individual accuracy test report.

So, does Warco have “a qualified member of our team” resident in China ?

… and does that run count for anything much ?

MichaelG.

[still a little confused]

Doesn't mean they don't open the box and test it before despatch. When they get an order open the box, test, crate up again, ship.

I knew a chap who ran a little business getting things made in China. He had a local contractor independent of the manufacturer check stuff before they sent it. Added a little to the cost, but the quality improved markedly

..No insult intended to your Raglan - I was referring to the ML7 (which even you will have to admit is a prime example of building-down to a budget in a competitive post-war market), with it's fixed dials and other little compromises for which the remedy was a bigger loan, etc..