Feed speed

That's how I understand it Duncan as has been covered on here a few times before. Looked like mine had not even had the crate opened before so have to assume it was OK as it left the factory.

Must say that I have had very few problems with my WM250. It came with the fine feed change wheels fitted and worked straight 'out of the crate' so to speak. The banjo needs only a gentle tweak with an allen key to lock it in place and the gears are not , in my view, particularly noisy when set up as suggested in the manual. The manual might not be particularly good but I did read it before setting the lathe up. The table on the headstock cover of mine contained and error for setting up 1.75mm pitch thread but I assume this has been corrected on later models. Still working well after 14years although it doesn't get as much use as Jason's.

John

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So which bit of running and testing results in a machine being delivered with change-wheels that don’t fit ?

MichaelG.

This all started out as a simple enquiry about feed speeds & now I feel that I am being put on trial.

First the machine came with all the wheels in the tin box. It was a long time ago & I am sure of that & I think that the bushes were in a couple of the wheels. If I remember rightly, the adjustable spindles, that slide up & down,were not fitted-  . But my memory has faded over 9 years so I may be wrong. I do know that I had to make some spacers for when there is a situation where one does not need a gear wheel so as to fill the void. I also know that the retaining washer still jumps out of the spindle because it does not necessarily sit vertically if the square end of the spindle finishes at an angle when tightened. That lets the gear wheel come off.

But while we are at it - some explanation, before I get slung in jail

I bought the machine through my business before I closed down to make use of the VAT & depretiation tax advantages etc. I intended to keep it for my own use after I retired. So I bought it before I needed it. But I did not use it for a long while as I went sailing for a couple of years when I did sell up. So it was out of warranty & i did not want the hassle of uninstalling a lathe that I had built up onto catnic lintols ( So its working height is 9 inches higher than the norm) & would need lifting down etc.

When I did get to use it, the on off switch often had to be pressed lots of times before the lathe would start- Up to 6 presses of the on/off button- If I pressed the green button & nothing happened & did not press stop, it sometimes engaged a little while later & started running, without warning- With my hand in the b...dy thing.

My solution was to remove the back cover place a bit of wood against an electrical part that seems to engage on a rail of some sort. Then refit the cover, forcing the wood against the part & forcing it onto the rail. Now it works first go 95% of the time & if not, I invariably get it to go second push. In any event I have learned the hard way to make sure I turn it off if it does not start.

As for machining I purchased the QCTP. I do use this for boring, but only that. It is not much use for anything heavy due to deflection.  I donot use the topslide because when parting off one can see it dip up to 6mm if the tool catches.-Yes I know about gib strips-  I have had to remove the topslide & mount the 4 way tool post on a block on the cross slide so as to get rigidity. At least I can now part off easily with an eclipse blade. This is really what prompted me to look at powering the feed again so I can get a nice even cut when parting off. But one should be able to mount the tool holder on the topslide & still part off OK

So as far as I am concerned there could not have been much quality control. But I had the machine to long   before I actually used it to complain to Warco

I do not have a lot of faith in the WM16 mill either. But that is another subject.

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 06/11/2021 22:32:28

Thanks for the input, Sam

I will try to refrain from saying or asking anything more about this.

But hopefully you still have all your fingers.

MichaelG.

Sam

I think that you really need someone to come, study the manual and look over the machine with you.

Where are you located?

Chances are that it may be possible for someone experienced to solve your problem, hands on.

It appears to have the facility to alter feed rate / thread pitches by means of the one of the knobs on the control panel.

Have not yet been able to find an image large enough to see clearly.

What changewheels were "in the tin box"?

My particular lathe has a Norton gearbox, giving 48 combinations.so only two alternative changewheels came in the toolbox with it

And the manual only mentioned one alternative!

The extra one has turned out to be a real boon to extend the range of threads that can be cut, or feed rates.

Will you please list the gears that came with the machine, including those already fitted on the machine.

If everyone has all the facts, it will be easier to help you.

Howard.

Thanks for the offer but personally I would rather call an end to it. I have lots of info to digest & I believe that having studied the above i will be able to move forward Ok. I really need to spend more time. My boat is being lifted out of the water next week, so I will have that time to experiment.

But I would like to thank everyone for their input

Sam L

Howard, there is a very basic gearbox on the front giving a choice of three positions A, B & C. A is straight through, C is half the input and B is double the input.

So as an example you set one of the suggested feed gear combinations and then you have three different feed rates at the turn of the front lever

Several of us have said the finest range works for us, I have suggested if Sam wants faster he pics the next range up anymore and he simply needs to change one of the small gearwheels for a slightly larger one but the machine may not like it particularly in the B position. Cross feeds are about 40% of what is on this non cross feed 250 chart. There is a fixed 40T on the spindle which will be driving the 70T or 60T on the chart, 3mm pitch lead screw

Sam the 0.14mm is almost the same as the tangental tool guy was using in his video being 0.0055" compared to his 0.006"

As for the C shaped retaining washers coming off again not something I have suffered from when running.. You do need to position them correctly, with a square head to locate on you have two possible positions for example the square could be sitting with one side at 60 deg to vertical and the other at 30degrees, put the spacer on so it is at the more vertical of the two possible positions. If you don't get that then I can do a sketch.

Edited By JasonB on 07/11/2021 07:41:32

In the early days I was thinking of buying a new lathe and mill.......

I heard of Warco and their Chinese stuff.......I contacted them and wern't very helpful...!!!!!!

just glad I didn't go that route.....

was offered a nearly new WM mill by a local widow......she sold the house with the ready made worshop....

Another LUCKY ESCAPE.....

In the end, I bought an as new Myford 7 (with screw/c g/box) and a Myford VMF mill both with shipping wax still on....

Plus a one owner Colchester Student square top and a full size Bridgeport J head mill.....

now very happy.....

Clogs, not sure of your point but my 2d worth, working in industry I had access to every machine tool under the sun & a Myford super 7 at home, now retired the Myford is with my son to play with. I lusted after a newish Boxford or small CNC but in the end got a Warco 290V, it's as rough as hell in places but does cut parallel with plenty of power, I ditched the crappy change gears & fitted an electronic lead screw control which is brilliant, I also have a Myford VME mill fitted with DRO, power feed & VFD. My opinion of the Myfords 7's are that they are vastly over priced & limited in every way. The Warco's are not the best quality but you do get a lot of capacity.

Tony

Somehow these threads always go down the myford is best route. Which is nonsense. My Chinese lathe is fine for what it is - a lot of lathe for the money with DRO and coolant thrown in. Yeah, a couple of little niggles to start with - mostly down to finally finding the Chinese cigarette butt wedged into an interlock switch that whoever had cross-checked things used as a safety device and forgot to remove. At least that implies that final checks were made by someone more than 6 or 7 yrs old and that the lathe is genuine Chinese. I’m sure a brand new installed and commissioned Monarch Lathe would have been nicer but nowhere near my price point.

pgk

Don't think that - we're trying to help, not poke fun.

I'm all too aware of operator shortcomings because it turns out I'm not god's gift to Machining. This is very strange because I'm good at other things. Sadly a successful professional career didn't transfer into workshop skills.

By coincidence Jason and I have similar equipment: in theory I should produce stuff as well as he does. In practice he's significantly faster and more reliable than me. Plenty of others do the same. Being self-taught is part of my problem, but I'm also clumsy, impatient and likely to make unwise assumptions. Quite often I spoil parts at the last minute by rushing the finish. Silly short-cuts a speciality.

It doesn't matter. I'm into Model Engineering for fun and interest, not proving I'm a second Cherry Hill! Even so, I've spent years experimenting and perfecting my workshop technique. Competence didn't come quickly. Although machining is superficially simple, there are a lot of gotchas. Apprentices are taught to avoid them by time-served experts, I had to fix problems myself. Not always obvious, and the answer is often applying tools 'just so', which only comes with practice, practice, practice. The forum is wonderful: I've picked up so many practical hints from other people.

Curious thing, all my tools were complete carp when I started. Nothing worked as expected. But after persisting, the same tools suddenly started performing! Possibly they improved with time. More likely I'd gradually learned to use them properly. Nowadays I expect new processes to go wrong and am rarely disappointed! But so far, I haven't hit anything I can't do provided I take the time to work at it logically. As so many workshop problems are caused by operators, it pays to seek advice, even if one's ego is bruised.

Dave

Dave,

I do hope that you have noticed that Sam’s Post was massively edited after my comment and my follow-up were posted.

Whilst your quoting is technically valid, I do feel it portrays me as being on the wrong side of the debate.

My response [that you have quoted] was to Duncan, not to any post of Sam’s

MichaelG.

You can't go using that excuse Dave, I'm also self taught unless you include a bit of metal work at school.

Jason,

Your description of the lathe gearbox is very much as I suspected, plaving variations on the tune set by the changewheels.

As to being self taught, effectively I am.

After leaving the Training School, I did not lay hands on a machine tool for another 25 years or so, and that was only tho pull down the clutch lever on a Cincinatti vertical "To shown the nightshift". Apart from that, during my time in industry, I was a spectator, seeing all sorts of machines from big planers, down to small benchtop lathes, but never laying hands on...

Eventually, I got a fairly well used Myford ML7 and began to awaken memories and get practical experience, (aided by my training notes from Apprentice days ).

having an engineering background, was obviously, a huge help.

But Experience is a good, if sometimes hard, teacher.

Sam

Hopefully, you will get your head around setting changewheels for different feed rates and thread pitches. It will become clear as time goes on.

In a few years time, you will be familiar with he lathe and how to use it and on the way to becoming an old hand.

Keep at it.

Howard