My new lathe a Warco 918

Hi Brian,

My mistake the compound mount is not a George Thomas design, that was some other parts on the lathe. The mount is Adam,s (the previous owner) version of a design that he found on the Yahoo 920 forum. I was going to have a look for it but for some reason despite my searching I cant find the Yahoo 920 Forum, I dont know if it still exists, I would have thought it did but I cant track it down.

Should anyone have a link to the forum it would be appreciated.

Ron

Hi Ron,

The files section of the 920Lathe is here, the file might be ABetterCompound.pdf.

Thor

Thanks

I have been getting some chatter using a form tool on my son's DB10 which uses a similar 2 bolt clamp to the 9x, and am looking at the various approaches before deciding which to adopt.

Brian

Thanks Thor, yes ABetterCompound is the one which mine is made to, though the external shape is different on mine.

Brian, worth considering if you are going to modify as it really is a rigid design.

Ron

Pleased with the low speed torque the lathe has, did a bit of a test this morning to check.

With the belt in low range the speed will come down to 35 rpm but I increased it to 50 rpm thinking it would add a bit more torque for the test and 50 rpm is quite slow.

I put up a piece of aluminium and used a standard knife tool.

Started with a 1.00mm cut, no issues and held 50 rpm, 2.00mm cut again no problems and speed dropped to 48 rpm, 3.00mm cut speed dropped to 47 rpm but no hesitation at all.

Put up a piece of free cutting steel, 1.00mm cut held 50 rpm no probs, 1,50mm cut dropped to 48 rpm and a 2.00mm cut dropped to 46 rpm but again no hint of a stall.

I was quite impressed with that, I dont want to abuse the lathe pushing it too far and the above was just a test but nice to know the lathe has good torque at low speed.

Got to say you've landed on your feet buying that lathe Ron! Second-hand elderly Chinese doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but I guess that worked in your favour by keeping the price low. Decent lathe, well looked after, and suitably upgraded. Value for money or what!

Dave

Thanks Dave, I certainly think it is a bargain, I guess it was the "Second Hand Elderly Chinese" part that put people off.

Well the mini lathe is sold and I did remember to remove the ad from the "For Sale" listing.

Ron

Fitted a DRO this morning.

RPM not DRO?

Andy,

RPM yes but it is still a DRO (digital readout) isnt it..? well thats how I always refer to them.

Ron

Yeah I guess so, the display itself is digital though the function is RPM whereas DRO (IMHO) is synonymous with distance measurement, at least, that's how I think of it...

Honest guv, I'm not trying to join the pedant club, I know too little

Andy, I am awaiting delivery of a set of 3 DRO,s for the mill, I guess its the digital display I associate with "DRO" regardless of what its measuring.

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 29/07/2019 15:20:03

The lathe came with a ER25 chuck and a full set of metric collets, I know they are not an expensive set so I thought I would clock some of them to see how good or bad they are. I checked the 4,6,8,10,12 and 15mm and the runout ranged between 0.0004" and 0.0013", I was quite pleased with that and wondered is that about the norm for a budget set.

This morning was the first time I used the jog feature on the VFD, used it to tap the end of some tie bars, works really well and made machine tapping easy. I was tapping M4 and set the speed to 70 rpm, brought the tap (spiral flute) into contact with the work pressed and held the run button until depth achieved then switched to reverse whilst still holding the button and withdrew the tap. At first I was releasing the run button when depth was achieved, switching to reverse then pressing and holding the button again. I then remembered that with VFD switching from one direction to another whilst running the machine slows and stops before changing direction so you can just keep the button pressed.

A very useful feature I think.

I have a couple of HSS 1.5mm parting tools for the QCTP but they are a bit limited in the depth of cut they will handle. However the lathe came with a very well made rear tool post but no holder so I thought it time to go for an insert type parting tool as a number of you guys seem to be speak highly of them. I have ordered a SLTBN holder, blade and 2mm inserts from ARC so it will be interesting to see how it performs. A good thing is the same holder will also take the 3mm blade and inserts so thats a bonus.

The parting block, blade and inserts arrived from ARC and looks to be very good quality, before I give it a try and also been new to insert parting tools a couple of questions if I may.

Am I right in thinking that to fit the insert into the blade you just firmly push it in and then the loading from parting locks it in.

Also, running speeds..? I watched a video recently of a similar tool which was tested on a variety of materials and it worked really well but I was surprised how low the speeds were, example 150rpm on 3/4" steel thats slower than I would use with HSS. Surely thats not the norm with inserts is it I thought inserts always work at higher speeds than HSS tooling, unless I,m wrong.

Havnt had much time today but with the new tool mounted in the rear tool post I gave it a quick try with alu and brass and it was very good with no issues at all. I guess that is to be expected with softer material but I need some 45mm dia x 1.00mm thick steel discs so will see how it copes with those in the morning.

Edited By Ron Laden on 12/09/2019 17:05:53

It is bound to cope as well, or better, than the original which has an extra possibility of reduced rigidity - and far more overhang than with the toolpost directly fitted to the cross slide?

That sounds quite a tame speed, should be able to do 3/4" steel at 500rpm.

Bit of ali at 600 and 950rpm with similar insert and holder

Thats what I thought Jason, the quick test I did today on some 40mm ali was at 650 and it was fine, for the 45mm thin steel discs I am doing in the morning I was thinking of starting at 350 and see how it goes from there.