Warco WM250V : Tray Cleaning Questions

My previous 1940's Sheldon had a removeable steel tray between the two sets of feet and the tray caught 99% of the swarf and chippings, so cleaning was easy.

The Warco sits in a tray and is bolted down through it. If I was only cutting mild steel then I'd use a magnet, but stainless steel and brass in particular are a right pain to clean up. So my questions are:

1) The tray does have a drain at the back with a course gauze as part of it. Underneath there is a flange with an internal threat. Does any one know what thread this is please?

2) If I can attach a hose to the thread in 1), what fluid should I use to wash down the lathe and tray?

3) Any other tips for cleaning up sharp swarf without wrecking the paintwork?

Many thanks for any tips...

I've a couple of old flat baking trays that I slip under the bed of the 280 and slide them out to empty fine swarf once in a while.

Washing down is a bit too far for me anything that misses the trays I just use an offcut of 6mm MDF to rake out the worse but don't go as far as trying to keep it spotless.

Like Jason I use a shallow tray but only one as I find that is where most of the swarf ends up. I can just slide it along for jobs which are longer. Any loose small swarf that misses the tray I just vac up.

Edited By Dalboy on 21/08/2023 13:48:06

Duh!

I never thought of a tray!

I use an old wooden ruler to scrape the swarf to where I can get it into a dustpan.

I can screw an M20 x 1.5 thread several turns into the tray drain on my WM250V. If it was anything different I don't think I could do that.

I place a couple of layers of newspaper in the tray beneath the bed & wrap the swarf up & discard every once in a while.

A rectangular cutout at one end of the sheet allows my newspaper to cover most of the drip tray, even alongside the headstock. I can cut a full newspaper in one go & use 2 or 3 sheets at a time.

This works for me as I don't use coolant other than dripped from an oil can.

Thanks for the thread size. Do you use the drain?

I also have a tray at the headstock end of the bed, but brass goes everywhere!

The tray and drain is for suds rather than clearing swarf. Not big enough to wash away swarf which often comes in bundles.

I'm like Jason and Dalboy except I don't bother with a cooking tray. I remove largish bundles of swarf with a gloved hand (lathe switched off) and/or magnetic swarf rod. Finer chips are occasionally collected with a bit of hardboard. Once in blue moon, I vacuum clean the whole lathe and swipe with a cloth.

I don't care about the paintwork!

The thread in my WM280 drain appears to be M20x1.75, which is odd for a hose fitting. Might be 1/2" BSPP and 14tpi, which is close to that size.

Dave

No, putting in a sump, pump and plumbing is too much faffing for the work I do at home. If I ever need a metal removal rate that would justify it, I do it on machines in another workshop, where it's already installed.

In my home shop if dry cutting gets rough or too hot, I use a squirt or three of WD40, or some 'MultiSpec' cutting/tapping lube I got from Macc Models. Neither lubricant is perfect, but they're generally good enough to deliver a decent job.

If it is clearly a drain point, meant for coolant, the most likely thread is that used in conjunction with pipework, i.e. BSP.

M20 x 1.5 is a standard thread on electrical conduit, which generally is not used to carry liquids. That thread would be found on an electric motor, for a cable gland in the same way that a BSP thread would not be found on a motor.

M20 x 1.75 is extremely unlikly as 1.75mm pitch is not used anywhere in metric threads other than standard M12 coarse.

What I am saying is that the purpose of the thread can be a good pointer to its specification.

I don't disagree, and I know of the conduit application, but I can screw the M20 x 1,5 thread in 6 turns before it sticks, and the drain's position and its welded-on strainer make it practically impossible to tell whether the thread runs out or gets jammed with paint or crud at that point.

The only standard BSP thread that's *anywhere near* the same OD is 1/2", nearly 38 thou bigger and 14 TPI or ~1,8143 mm pitch. Can't see an M20 x 1,5 male thread fitting that even for 1 turn.

I've seen some evidence of variation in some parts used in lathes believed to be from the same factory. I don't know whether these are properly-documented Engineering Changes in these factories, or casual pragmatism to use up whatever they happen to have at the time.

All these years and I never thought of using a tray either!!!

I thought M20 x 1.75 was extremely unlikely too, except the thread is a perfect match to 1.75 on my thread gauge and the male is very close to 20mm.

And, although M20 x 1.75 isn't listed as a fastener thread, it must be used for something because taps and dies can be bought for it.

I always assume all metric threads must follow the fastener standard, but it's not true. As the thread I measured is for a pipe fitting, not a fastener, possibly it's right. Maybe M20 x 1.75 and M20 x 1.5 are legal in some 'not a fastener' standard we've never heard of.

It is odd though! I'd expect a drain-plug to have one of the usual threads, yet mine seems to be a weirdo.

Dave

only tray i use on my lathe is the one the manufacture put there only get cleaned when it full with my home made scraper which is a mini version of one i have seen at work long L shape bar ,file handle on one end and a bit of flat plate welded on the other. could that thread be 1/2 NPT

Bizzarely ISO metric pipe threads are actually BSP sizes and are specified as such. So the thread in question is probably 1/2 inch BSP exactly (0.825 inch dia.[20.95 mm dia ] x 14 tpi [1.814 mm] pitch).

I would have expected a drain connection to be a BSP thread, but with a machine of oriental origin, might be wrong.

Have you asked Warco?

Like many otheres, use an old deep baking tray under the lathe to catch a lot of the swarf..

Removing the rest from all the strange places that it finds is nore difficult, but and hand brush is useful, as are cheap paint or pastry brushes.

As said, wear heavy duty gloves when handling swarf, to avoid nasty cuts.

Howard

For cleaning the tray out I just use a shower squeegee silicone blade thingy - really effective and cheap to replace every so often.

I bought this 1/2" BSP coupler from my local hardware store today.....it fits perfectly.

Thanks for all your help.

I've also found it worth buying a dedicated (bagged) cylinder vacuum cleaner for cleaning off fine swarf. Mine was 40-odd quid from Argos, model no. VCB43B1-70, and it's powerful enough to pull oily swarf out of the crossslide T-slots and all the screw socket heads.

I give the lathe a going-over every time I become disgusted with the state of it...