Warco VMC mill Y-axis travel

I recently bought a Warco VMC mill with power feed and 3-axis DRO kit for self-assembly. I've only just found time to investigate the DRO fitting and have come up against the following "problem":

The Warco specification for the Y-axis travel is 152mm. The scale they supply is a 150mm unit. Fair enough, I can live with that - 2mm is an acceptable loss. However, when I came to investigate the mounting of the scale, I found that the actual travel was 170mm. Quite a significant difference and useful to boot! My dilemma now is do I artificially limit the travel to 150mm and lose out on that 20mm or should I go to the next size up [200mm] scale and use the lot? I personally favour the latter route.

Before anyone suggests it, I've already emailed Warco ten days ago for their suggestions, but have received no reply.

Has anybody fitted DROs to their VMC and had to overcome a similar situation?

John

Some scales will be damaged if they bottom out. Perhaps why the total travel is 170mm for a 150mm scale. You may be able to measure 152mm. Check the specification for your scale. Also check the actual travel on your mill, it may be slightly different to that shown in the specification. Better to have more travel than you need instead of not enough.

Paul.

Depending on where you fit the x axis scale you may lose some y axis travel. Fitted to the rear you will lose some travel but the scale is out of the way, fitted to the front can be done but the scale will need substantial protection and can foul the knee handle, the lock stops will need reengineering or losing. Magnetic scales are probably the slimmest and will lose the minimum amount of travel if fitted to the rear and not cause any fouling with knee raise handle.

Mike

Thanks for the input, chaps.

Paul - that's precisely the problem I was addressing - effectively "running the scale into the buffers", as it were and thus my suggestion of artificially restricting the movement to the 150mm distance of the supplied scale. Obviously, I'd prefer to use the whole 170mm of actual Y-axis travel. I'm leaning towards a 200mm scale to replace the one supplied.

Michael - I'm fitting the X-axis scale to the front of the table so as not to restrict the Y-axis movement and have already figured out a way to mount the travel stops as well. They are needed as part of the power feed to the X-axis.

I think I'll have to phone Warco to see if they'll swap the scale plus the difference in cash for a longer one.

John

Hi John,

I have Eason glass scales which are available in 50mm increments. I chose the next biggest size to my mill's stroke and are about 40 or 50mm longer than I need. This allows a bit of extra travel on each end of the stroke, making the lengthwise mounting easier.

Paul.

I have a VMC with the scales pre-installed by Warco. The Y axis is fitted with a 150mm unit and the stops are set to about 150mm apart.

Good news!

Rang Warco this morning and they have agreed to replace the 150mm scale with a 200mm version at no extra charge. Busy today, but off to sunny Chiddingfold tomorrow to do the swap. I'll take some pictures of the installation as it progresses and post them in my albums. It might assist someone else thinking of doing the same thing.

By the way, the new line of slimline Warco-marketed glass scales are by far the best value for money ones I've come across and believe me, I've searched everywhere! [E.g. 150mm - £62, 400mm - £65.65 + VAT]

Usual disclaimer.

John

I recently helped a friend commission a new Warco VMC mill. We converted it to 3ph with a VFD and added DRO (from Machine-DRO) to all 3 axes and the quill. The latter combines with the Z-axis to give an overall Z-axis reading.

We put the X-axis scale in front of the table so as not to compromise the Y-axis travel, which remains at 160mm. Heres the mill showing the raising block.

Here's the maximum Y travel

Here's the location of the X-axis scale.

The Y-axis scale

and the Z-axis scale

Gary,

Thanks for posting the pictures, it's always good to see how others have approached a project. I see you've mounted the z-axis scale on the righthand side of the machine. All the other installations that I've seen have this scale on the left - more food for thought! Now that I have a 200mm scale to fit on the y-axis, I, too, can do away with the mechanical travel limit contraption and use the (not inconsiderable) space that it uses up to mount the scale. I hope to make a start this morning after shopping.

John.

I can't justify the cost of a DRO on my VMC but I'd hate to lose the stops on both the X and the Y as I use them quite a bit, especially when cutting blind slots. I even made up 4 nice new stops to replace the less than stellar originals. The problem with DRO's is that you end up looking at the readout rather than the work so even if I had one I'd still like to use stops. I have cross slide stops on my Lathe as well.

Actually, are the stops lost or retained on the Warco installed DRO's? Just interested.

Stops are retained on mine

Hi

I fitted a system from Machine-DRO to my Y-axis - brackets all made from 6mm thick aluminium angle. The scale is fitted directly onto the knee casting and the reading head is fitted to a bracket system attached to the saddle.

The stop 'finger' is fitted to the rearmost bracket and there is a new stop bar fitted directly onto the knee with its own brackets.

Have loaded some photos into an album.

Hi John,

The Z-axis scale was fitted to the RHS because the the oiling system was on the LHS.

We fitted a small piece of angle-iron on the front of the table so as to retain the ability to use Y-axis stops.