My new lathe a Warco 918

Not a very good picture but the tool made light work of cutting the 45mm x 1mm steel disc, started at 350 rpm which I increased to 400 and then 650 half way through. Its left a good finish, well very smooth to the finger though I need to adjust the tool height a tad. So looking good for a number of jobs on the TE which is the main reason I bought it.

That's very encouraging, Ron ... thanks for sharing your experience.

MichaelG.

I cleaned down the lathe this morning and it made me think, I would imagine that the majority of people looking for a second hand machine would never consider an elderly Chinese machine and I can understand where that comes from. What made me think is the lathe bed (picture below) 23 years old and like new, I have checked it with a good straight edge and its spot on along its full length. Ok its a hardened bed and obviously it has been well looked after but even so pretty impressive for its age I think.

The lathe had been advertised for 5 weeks and despite having a wealth of tooling and accessories there had been no interest until I found it. The lathe has a number of very well engineered quality mods and improvements to eliminate some of the niggles it had originally, it is also converted to 3 phase/VFD but even this didnt encourage anyone.

Whats my point..? well I just think that if you are looking for a lathe and your pocket means second hand as it did with me and you find a machine which meets your requirements dont automatically write it off because its Asian and elderly. I realise that there will not be lots of them about, I was just really lucky but if you find an older machine in good condition, then its age probably means it has been improved and it could be a very good machine at a very good price.

My two penneth anyway.

Edited By Ron Laden on 17/09/2019 09:10:34

It looks like you found a real gem there, Ron

MichaelG.

[wallowing in self-pity]

Would anyone know if its possible to get a set of soft jaws for the typical 100mm chucks that are supplied with the Chinese hobby lathes.

Sorry just found that Warco do them, dont know if that covers all the 100mm chucks though as there is probably more than one chuck supplier, will have to give them a call. 

Edited By Ron Laden on 22/09/2019 17:49:07

Edited By Ron Laden on 22/09/2019 17:50:45

Rotagrip do some and give the sizes, got ones for my Warco OEM chuck and a Bison from them.

Thanks Jason, our posts crossed, Warco do them but will have a look at Rotaqrip

Edited By Ron Laden on 22/09/2019 17:52:58

I was parting some 35.0mm x 2.0mm thick steel washers/spacers for the class 22 bogies this morning and with the ARC insert parting tool working so well mounted in the rear tool post I was curious as to how thin a disc I could cut.

Using the 35mm steel I did a bit of a test, tried to cut 0.010" but part way in the disc distorted, so increased to 0.015" (finished at 0.016" ) and it worked a treat, quite impressed that it would part down that thin.

Edited By Ron Laden on 27/10/2019 09:24:13

Edited By Ron Laden on 27/10/2019 09:24:43

Nice demonstration, Ron

... you obviously have things set-up well.

MichaelG.

I am just fortunate Michael, the shop made rear tool post which came with the lathe is fitted with a pair of dowel pins which aligns the post pretty much spot on square to the lathe axis. Providing the tools are parallel and true which the ARC parting tool is, good alignment is assured once mounted in the post.

Would I be correct in that ARC only do the CCGT inserts in the Sumitomo range.?

I get my CCGT inserts from SHOP-APT.

**LINK**

You can get inserts in packs of 2.

Jim

Morning Ron,

In addition to Sumitomo, ARC have just expanded their range of inserts.

CCGT along with some others will be uploaded to ARC website during the coming two weeks.

If you need them before they are on the site, call and speak with our Ian.

Ketan at ARC

And if they are anything like the other ARC Inserts I have been testing recently they will be good.

Thanks guys

Ketan, I am in no panic so will order some when they appear on your website in the next couple of weeks.

Ron

I will be using the GT inserts primarily on aluminium, how do they perform on other materials..?

Good on all non ferrous such as brass and bronze. Also useful on slender steel or stainless items where they will exert less pressure and therefore deflect the work less. Can also be used on CI particularly for finishing cuts when sneaking up to a finished bore size or when getting chatter on larger less well supported items.

Thanks Jason, thats good to know.

Ron, which model of Mitutoyo caliper is the one in your (third) picture?

It appears to have a display resolution of 1/10 of a thou

Ian P

If it's anything like mine then the last digit jump in 0.0005" steps