Warco 290V comments n feedback

Hi Martin,

The concrete blocks are a great idea, but this stand that came with lathe just doesn't like been on adjustable feet, have to say the machine feet do have play in between bolt and foot, no matter how much you adjust them the lathe wobbles at a slight touch, hence the stand needs bolting down directly to floor, I'm still debating to attempt to add two nuts to studs concreted in for stand,and use them as away to adjust lathe, that's if it doesn't wobble, otherwise I will bolt directly to floor and shim tail stock either under stand or under tail stock mounts

mark

They have not done too well these last few years. Perhaps this is their problem.

Nick

If you do similar to that photo I posted on the last page you will not need to.

Nick

Hi Nick

i shall be trying that out, although my thread studs will be embedded in concrete base, if I can get stand to be rigid enough with adjustment nuts tightened , problem solved! If not it's will be bolted down directly

mark

Nick,

Funnily enough Mclarens namesake did actually make very good traction engines back in the day. Perhaps I'll give Ron Dennis a call in the morning and see if he needs any advice on frictional reduction via sloppy fits!!!

Mark,

Sorry, got dragged off topic by that naughty Nick for a moment there......

I'm puzzled as to how you are getting a wobble on your lathe if the lathe is firmly bolted to the cabinet and the cabinet feet are all touching the floor and also tightened to the underside of the cabinet. I can only assume that perhaps the cabinet is not stiff enough and is distorting under the weight of the lathe? I understand what you are saying about play between the foot and its bolt but that play will automatically be reduced to zero when screwing each individual bolt down until each is supporting the weight of the lathe on its foot. At this point, disregarding the actual level of the lathe for the moment, you should be able to give the lathe a gentle shake with no discernible rock or movement from the lathe or the cabinet. I assume you are not getting any flexing of your flooring surface which could cause the rocking?

Martin.

Martin,

iv tried everything in the book! No matter what i do the lathe rocks, it could well be the stand is not sturdy enough, and theres defo movement in those machine stands,on concrete floor ,but i will give it one last go with concreting the studs down and using the nuts to adjust stand

So your building a traction engine! I have a 3" Burrell !

Mark

Edited By Mark Tyldesley on 27/10/2014 22:04:11

Mmmm very puzzling Mark, just a thought, you're not installing your lathe aboard a ship are you??!! Sorry, flippancy won't help but a video might perhaps. Have you got someone who could give the lathe a poke whilst you wander around it with a video recorder (one of the many uses for a modern "Smart" phone!)? It might just help to actually see the problem as it occurs.

Yes, Ive just started construction of a 4" Little Samson, taking my new lathe to the limit at the moment machining the 17 3/4" diameter rear wheel castings in the 18" swing with the gap piece removed!

Martin.

I will attempt to take a video if possible! Just had another thought the spacing between each foot is not that big, maybe the spread isn't wide enough, its like balancing an inverted triangle! You know what i mean!

mark

Have you read the small print, I know that one of the suppliers of these lathes has a clause that invalidates the warantee if teh gap piece is removed. May notbe the case with your green & yellow one though

Hi Mark,

seems to me that your stand is not rigid enough? If it is not rigid you have to do as Jason and Nick says, shim or adjust, at the bottom of the stand.

When I bought my 290 I looked at the stands the seller could supply, they where made of thin sheet metal and not stiff enough. I ended up making my own stand that is heavy and rigid. It is not boltet to the floor, just stands on the floor and the lathe does not move.

Thor.

Yea i have to agree with you, its defo not ridged enough, i do think once its bolted down it should be acceptable! We will see!

mark

Seems strange to sell a machine with features that invalidate the warranty if you use them. Too late now to read the small print though! I do however have the instructions that give details on the correct procedure for refitting the gap piece so I assume they must conclude that some users will remove it to make use of the larger swing. Hopefully the lathe won't fold itself in half before I've finished the wheels and refitted the gap!!

Martin.

Oh dear, the 290VF stand seems a bit disappointing. With the lathe weighing close to a quarter of a ton it does need a fairly solidly made stand.

Regarding the gap piece on the other new Chinese lathes, it is very odd to be discouraged from using a feature that they are built with and that is used as a selling point in the advertising.

The improved manuals on the Grizzly Machine Tools website have a few paragraphs on removing the gap piece, but they then strongly recommended that you do not attempt to replace it and that you accept the reduced travel of the carraige towards the chuck because of the open gap section that would leave the saddle partially unsupported, crazy!

I have removed the gap piece on my Warco 1330 lathe, and despite the lathes other faults the gap section had been well prepared and fitted before machining and grinding in situ. I managed to refit it without too much fuss with careful tightening and a few deft strokes with a rubber mallet in the right places, so I don't know why they make a bit of a fuss about it. Maybe there have been some badly fitted examples from the factories that just cannot be refitted accurately enough.

Anyway Mark, have you run your new lathe yet or done a bit of turning with it?

Edited By Lathejack on 29/10/2014 00:02:31

Hi Lathejack

yea im not to happy with this supplied stand, just about to construct a concrete platform to raise things up abit, as im going to lose 2" with no feet under stand, just hoping that once its firmly bolted down the stand will be more ridged, thats the plan anyway!. I was going to try some turning with it before i moved it yet again but the micro switch on chuck guard failed, so anew one is suppose to be on its way from warco on warranty, so lathe has yet to be switched on! Gives me achance to order afew bits n bobs in meantime, surprising how much you need just to make astart ! But  Ido have anew mill to try out, Need to make some slippers for the traction engine slide!

mark

Edited By Mark Tyldesley on 29/10/2014 05:27:26

Hi Mark

I have the 250 V-F bought at Harrogate in 2012 in a package with stands; the stand were made of thin sheet metal which sufficiently carries the weight providing you ensure the bridging piece is securely tightened up. The first thing I noticed was that one side was fabricate well out of square to the point of at least 10mm at the bottom right corner plus out at the top left corner... I contacted Warco with an accompanying letter + pics to which they replaced both cabinets FOC + free return & delivery costs as it was still under warranty... a nice plus for Warco... so what I am saying is check your cabinets are fabricated square, if not this will always give rise to your machine rocking no matter how level your floor is... see pics

Bottom right misalignment..

Top left misalignment...

You can't read the comments but the pointers show where the fabrication misalignments occurred... as said Warco changed without quibble. I don't know how the newer versions match up but looking at the later pics they seem to have a better design now.. I'll bet the metal thickness hasn't improved though!... still they are from China...? Can't praise Warco's after sales service highly enough though, well done.

George

Edited By mechman48 on 29/10/2014 13:46:11

Edited By mechman48 on 29/10/2014 13:47:24

Hi george

looking at your stand the only difference i can see is that yours have the footplate at bottom of stand, other than that it looks similar in all aspects. I checked for squareness and it seems to be spot on, having placed it on floor without feet it all ready feels more stable, so bolting it down directly seems the way forward, shimming to level it maybe a problem but will come to that once its all in place, what method did you use to level, adjustable feet? Or shim under stand or between cab n lathe

mark

Edited By Mark Tyldesley on 29/10/2014 16:49:12

I have a similar size Taiwanese lathe, and I designed and built my own stand as the retailer refused to accept the light weight sheet metal stand supplied . My stand is built of 2" x 2" x 1/4" angle iron, all welded, if I was building it now I would use 50 mm x 50 mm x 6 mm square tube. Ian SC    ps this stand has survived two quite good earth quakes without needing adjustment 

Edited By Ian S C on 30/10/2014 10:10:06

Well my WM290V arrived today - I'm curious to see how straight and level my stand is having seen George's pics!

It is one beast of a 'hobby' lathe - I forgot to allow for the effect of seeing it in a big exhibition hall - I think it will make my WM18 look puny!

Hi Mark - what does your stand look like - do you have any pics you could post? Mine has three little drawers on the left, 2 shelves in the middle, and a tall cupboard on the right. It seems pretty sturdy to me, but I haven't had a chance to try leveling it up yet, or done any test cuts either.

Hi Joe

yea mines exactly the same as yours, iv bolted mine directly to concrete floor, made it very sturdy now, I checked the level and found it to be very much spot on, don't think any adjustment will be required although I still have to give it a test, and that should be any day now!.

let me know how you get on

cheers

mark