Warco 1236 v 1322/30

Hi

I'm getting closer to purchasing my lathe. It will be for hobby use and I feel the specs of the Warco 1236 / 1322/30 will meet my requirements, however I'm struggling to reconcile the price difference between these lathes, (especially when considering the additional DRO).

What am I missing? are the 1322/30 better engineered machines / do they offer better functionality to justify the higher price? Would I benefit from this in hobby use?

All advice greatly appreciated.

Regards Mick

Hi Mick,

If you can manage with the slightly less centre height of the 1236, you will get the DRO and save some money. Remember you will probably need to buy some tools.

Thor

If you need greater than 12in you are probably as likely to find you need 14in as 13in but people often want more length.

I suggest you take the trouble to put everything down for each lathe in a table so you can more easily compare the differences. Then research what they have left out from the website like what actual speeds are available rather than just the range and importantly what actual threads are available WITHOUT having to change any gears a fact they all leave out while the spec sheet makes the unwary think the whole range of both metric and imperial are available.

By the way if you haven't had the chance to look at them in the flesh there are some videos on youtube somewhere by a east European agent for warco for a range of their products.

Mick D,

I've owned a GH1330 for several years and I'm very happy with it, can't help with the differences but if you have any specific questions ask away. Also, take a look at G and M tools They have a clean looking GH1330 for a very good price, might help your decision

Hi

Thanks for the advice, I have already compared the specs of the 3 lathes and probably narrowed it down to the 1236 or 13330 based on the distance between centres. The two lathes are fairly similar and the differences don't seem to justify the price differential, especially when the DRO is taken into consideration. My biggest concern is opting for the 1236 which, on the face of things seems the better value, only to regret the choice later when experience highlights something I hadn't considered due to lack of experience at this time.

I'm aware that I will need additional tooling and have this factored in to the overall cost, thanks.

Tried to attach my comparison table but it exceeds the number of characters allowed - will try in another post.

Regards Mick

Nope - still 720 characters too large! Sorry

I had a look at Warco lathes when I considered (still am) a second lathe. I can not remember which ones they where but one had a noticeable difference in the width of the cross slide vee ways. My current lathe has narrow vee ways and gives less stability than desired. I have improved the cross slide by making another beefed up version.