Warco WM18 has arrived

Got the new mill this morning - See album **LINK**

As mentioned previously I got the stand cheap as it had a few dints in it. When I pulled the draw out to start bashing out the main dint the side plate that holds the draw had come addrift so had to do some welding to get it back in. Fortunately Warco included a tin a spray paint so I was able to make it look good again.

Next job is to figure out how to dismantle it so I can move it into the man cave

I have never had a shiny new machine but I am tempted to buy a second lathe (see older post) it may well be one of Warco's offerings. Good luck with installing the mill and enjoy using it.

Nice hope you keep it clean

H

Nice photo sequence Petrol1head. Nice looking machine as well. Envy!

Steve

Edited By Steven Vine on 28/02/2017 14:45:47

This is interesting, well it is to me.

When I had the Emco copy I thought about a power X feed but the problem would be getting a powerful enough motor to wind the head back up. Then I thoiugh, why not use a gas ram, like the ones on the tailgate of a hatchback.

Well, gesss what, there is a gas ram inside the column Thought it was easy to wind up

However, I am at the point of removing the column but I need to get the lower end of the gass ram of the ball fixing. Do you think it will be the same as a car and a push it over the ball and therefore just need to prise it away from the ball?

Mine didn't i had to undo the nut off the end connection and it then extended 3 inches...bugger getting it back

Mine is actually the same. Interesting when it come to reaasembly

Dismantled ready for the big lift

HI,

sometimes the ball joint has a spring wire clip.....

Clogs

Looking forwards to seeing it up & running, especially the DRO's & table drive...

George.

Congratulations with your new WM 18, I hope you get it up on the stand without problems. I used a chain hoist when I got my lighter milling machine up on its stand. Like George I am looking forward to hear about your experiences once you have it up and running.

Thor

Interesting that they have installed the scale on the back of the x axis i very often run out of room on the y axis running into the column so looks like you will lose a good 30mm or so...and is the z axis scale on the head? Or the quill?

is there still a built in battery powered scale on the quill ?

Ian

My X axis is the same and you loose about 20mm (in my case) off the y axis. If I recall I looked at installing on the front, but the x axis locking levers get in the way.

Dave

To me, that the correct place to fit it and as it's the small scale what you loose, 23mm, is not worth worrying about.

The z is on the colum slide not the head itself.

I assume there is a battery on the quill scale.

Edited By petro1head on 28/02/2017 23:43:22

Problem with fitting at the front is that it will get in teh way of the limit switch and stops for the cross feed, not such an issue if you don't run power feed.

I wonder who will be first to offer these machines with a magnetic scale built into the head, given that the small mag scales that EMS do can fit into a machined slot in a Myford top slide they would be no bigger than that used for the "calliper" type scales currently fitted and could be wired to a 4 way input display with summing to add head and quill movement into one Z display. Now there is a challenge for someone.

Edited By JasonB on 01/03/2017 07:42:48

I have mounted mine on the front the locking levers work as intended and I also run a power feed ..just I always seem to need to move the y axis closer to the column so 23mm is a lot to lose but your use may differ.

I cant imagine why anyone on one of these mills would find the z axis ok fitted to the head rather than the quill

if you are machining 10 thou of a part you are not going to advance the cut by moving the head or drilling a hole 20mm deep...you are going to use the quill fine feed knob.

I know thees a built in scale for the z but if yours is anything like mine and as others have reported it runs the batterys out in weeks.

seems a waste having a 3 axis dro and only using 2 of them

just my 2p's

Ian, it was not the locking levers I was thinking of. The moveable limit stops for the feed switch fit into the groove along the front edge of the table which tends to be right where most people mount their DRO scale. Do you have yours lower down?

As for feeding with the head I do it all the time on my X3, more rigid than having the quill extended plus the X3 does not have a fine quill feed.

Well the extra cost was not that much in the grand scheme of things and I will see if I use it or not. My feeling, get it and if I don't use it, hey ho, but if I did not get it and went for the 2 axis readout and then wanted it I would have to buy a different readout

Ok Jason

The limit switches for the power feed i must confess I did not fit as i'm always at the mill when using.but easy enough to mount underneath the beds if you wanted them

Lets see how petrohead gets on with it ( the dro)

...I know there's a built in scale for the z but if yours is anything like mine and as others have reported it runs the battery's out in weeks...

​Have to say that my batteries last for months, I only use the Lithium CR 2032 & the SR44 for my digital callipers from Machine - DRO ( usual disc' ). I always ensure that everything is turned off when finished with, as I'm sure you all do, I last changed my mill 'Z' readout batteries sometime last Oct. & my DRO batteries ( iirc ) sometime around Aug / Sept. & they are still displaying ok, so can't complain.

George.