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warco mill help needed

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edwood31/10/2010 22:15:41
12 forum posts
hi 
i have recently bought  a warco mill drill and some mt3 collets .every thing ok working in the vise but cutter wont reach workpiece when on the bed am i doing somthing wrong or do i need to extend the cutter somehow hope somebody can help
many thanks ed 
edwood31/10/2010 22:16:18
12 forum posts
NJH31/10/2010 22:45:07
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2314 forum posts
139 photos
Hi Ed
Which model mill/drill please?
Norman 
Dusty01/11/2010 09:01:13
498 forum posts
9 photos
Hi Ed
     I think that your problem will be solved by lowering the head. Most of these mill/drills have on the right hand side of the head two clamp bolts. Slacken these and the head can be lowered by use of the handle on the left hand side of the head. The other thing is if you are using M.T. collets in the nose of the machine you are losing about 4". The easiest way  round this is to purchase a proper milling chuck and collets(about £80) this will give far better security for your milling cutters anyway. The other alternative is a an E.R. collet set up. The 3mt collets may have seemed a cheap option at the time but as we have all found to our cost saving a few quid can cost dearly in the long run.
Hope this helps    Dusty
edwood01/11/2010 14:19:58
12 forum posts
hi
thanks everyone for your advice i cant see anyway of lowering the head,so i will go for buying a proper chuck and collets.i like the idea of makeing a sub table sounds very usefull.
                   once again thanks for your advice regards ed. 
Dusty01/11/2010 19:23:28
498 forum posts
9 photos
Ed
  It would help us to help you, if we knew which Warco machine you are talking about. Is it new or previously loved? I personally do not know of a Warco mill/drill that does not have some sort of adjustment to the head. I have a Warco minor(no longer available)
I can get the spindle nose to within 3" of the table when at the lowest point on the column and around 15" at the highest. So you see with 4" travel on the quill I can reach the table. If you are thinking of purchasing a posilock type milling chuck can I enjoin you to buy both metric and imperial collets, it works out cheaper in the long run.
Bogstandard01/11/2010 20:00:12
263 forum posts
Ed,
 
Most people usually have the trouble of not having enough throat room. And use collets to give themselves a little more room. In fact I use them all the time, and my ER system is very rarely used.
 
There is nothing wrong with using collets in your quill for holding cutters. For the size of machine you have (it can't be too small because of it having a 3MT), collets are perfectly fine for holding cutters, in fact I hold 1"+ with my large machine with no problems at all, and have never had a cutter slip.
 
If you are going to get yourself a collet chuck, ignore the Clarkson type, they are too limiting on cutter shank sizes to be held. They are more for industrial use where very heavy cutting and standard sized cutter shanks are used. You will be much better off with an ER system. The ER collets usually have a 1mm closing range on the 25 and 32 systems, so will hold both metric and imperial cutter shanks and twist drills as well. For a 3MT sized machine, you can't go far wrong with an ER32 sized system. Plus if your lathe has 3MT or above sized spindle taper, they can be used as a rudimentary collet chuck to hold your round material for machining.
 
 
Bogs
edwood01/11/2010 21:20:59
12 forum posts
hi dusty
 the mill i have is the warco mini mill drill it was bought new from warco two months ago when the head is at its lowest position there is about 3.5 inches from the bed
chronos do a posilock collet system chuck and eight  collets for£85. also a soba system
with 15 er colletts and chuck for £115. warco are about £99 for chuck and 4 colletts
any advise on the best one to go for, as havent a clue
                                                                                          ed 
Bogstandard01/11/2010 22:35:32
263 forum posts
Ed,
 
One thing I didn't mention was types of cutters.
 
If you go for the posilock system, they can only be used with screwed shank cutters.
 
Seeing as to how most cutters nowadays (including all the cheaper ranges) are either a Weldon shank or just a plain shank. ER and your plain collets will hold ALL types.
 
It is a fact of life that ER are more expensive initially than the Posilock system, but you have a choice, buy the cheaper Posilock, and only be able to use a fraction of the available cutters (screwed shank cutters only), or go for the ER system (all shank types) and be set up for life.
 
The larger the size of number for ER, means that it will hold larger sizes of cutters, so really, ER25 is the smallest size you should go for, and ER32 would be the ideal.
 
I hope this has made it clearer for you.
 
 
Bogs
Dusty02/11/2010 09:04:37
498 forum posts
9 photos
Hi Ed
      I totally agree with Bogs, an E.R. system has a number of advantages, and as he rightly states you can use them in the lathe. I invested in an E.R. 32 system some time ago and have never regreted it.  It is up to you now and how much you can afford, if you are considering using them in the lathe make sure your lathe is capable of holding them. An E.R. 32 system would be much to big for a 2 1/2" centre height lathe.
Peter G. Shaw02/11/2010 09:30:41
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1531 forum posts
44 photos
Hi Ed,
 
I too have the Warco MiniMill, and one of the reasons why I bought it (not the main reason I hasten to add) was that with MT3 spindle, I could share things with the lathe.
 
I also use MT3 collets, and like you, have found that they do not reach down to the table - perhaps as well though! They are ok when using Warco's cheap vice. I have also knocked up a 100mm x 75mm square block by welding two pieces of angle iron together and then skimming two opposite surfaces. On this is bolted a piece of aluminium plate which has a lot of holes drilled and tapped in it and doesn't matter if it gets damaged. This does enable me to mount some smallish stuff for milling.
 
Incidently, I have bought all the metric MT3 collets I can find, but of course sods law has struck - one of my milling cutters is imperial!

When I get round to it (anyone got one? A Round Tuit, that is! ), I will be making a tilting vice as shown by Stan Bray some years ago in MEW.
 
I also have ideas for using bits of angle iron, suitable cleaned up and bolted together directly onto the table.

Hope this helps.
 
Peter G. Shaw
edwood02/11/2010 15:45:29
12 forum posts
hi
   my lathe is a chester db7 with a3.5 center hight and a mt 3 mandrel so i will go for an er32 system and hopefully get the best of both words,anyway whats another weeks pension in a search for happiness
many thanks ed
                      strangers are only friends you havent met 
Versaboss02/11/2010 23:32:40
512 forum posts
77 photos

Ed, if you are tight on funds register yourself with PayPal and buy the ER collets and chuck from

http://www.ctctools.biz/servlet/StoreFront

in Hongkong

Super quality, super low prices and super service!

Last time they even 'doctored' the invoice so I did not have to pay import taxes (but don't tell that around  )

Greetings, Hansrudolf

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