Warco mills with the control box attached to the head

Its always struck me as strange to fit the control box to the head. normally this is not a problem until you want to rotate the head at which point the control box gets in the way.

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this and come up with a solution ie mounting the box somewhere else?

Ps not sure why the photo has been rotated.

Mod Edit, fixed the picture - it's a forum "feature".

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 16/05/2023 19:26:04

I guess it's mounted on the head as it's the closest point to the motor so cabling is at a minimum.

It may also be convenient for most tasks until as you say tilt the head.

Emgee

I've always found tilting the work the best option, even more so as I don't have tilting heads.

I try and avoid tilting the head so that I don't have to set the tram again. Fortunately I have a very nice Jones & Shipman tilt and swivel vice

Good poijts re having to realign the head.

In thats case which tilting vice would you reccomend

Rather depends on which mill. I have space for a 4” Abwood on one mill, but it won’t even fit on my small mill!

I've managed without a tilting vice. I would say most of what I have needed to do at angles can either just be set at an angle in the standard vice if it is not too big. Larger stuff gets mounted to the mill table with angle plate(s), packing etc. A tilting vice also eats into head room quite quickly.

The other downside of tilting the head is if you are milling an angled surface that is wider than the cutter you can't machine it all at the same quill/head setting so risk of getting steps between passes is high. Also need to reposition if you are say drilling and need to make room for a longer drill. Not a problem when work is angled so the surface to be cut is horizontal and drilling vertical