Marlow millers and warco's

I'm looking at purchasing a marlow 3A, however i've also looked at a warco VMC.

Does anyone have any infomation/opinions on the two machines above?

The Malow is a little larger and about 200kgs heavier, its 3phase so will need an inverter however its only a 1hp motor so for £100 i'll have variable speed etc.

I have a VMC and think it's pretty good.

The paperwork that you get from Warco will be extremely poor only matched by the level of service !!

I converted all my machines some years ago you will not regret it. Warco the quality for the same model varies but like the old saying "That must have been a friday afternoon car" I personally purchased a Chester 626 and have never had many problems.
Bob

Have just looked up Marlow on Google I have to say there is no contest if you can get it.

Bob

I used to have a Marlow 3A some years ago and found it to be a very basic machine.

Only kept it a couple of months as the lack of a quill feed I found to be most anoying and time consuming. Also the tilting head was limited in travel and as a lot of my work was on motor cycle cylinder heads it meant they had to be setup at an angle as opposed to bolting down flat

If I had to make the choice today I'd go with the VMC hands down.

They guy claims it doesn't have the option.

These are the marlow pics of whats there, a few cutters etc too.

Basically the marlow is £850 in my garage...







The warco is a VMC, with the following and is £1k plus collection costs

Clarkson Autolock Chuck R8 Taper with 8 collets metric and imperial.
Heavy milling vice 6 inch
Reground Milling cutters to suit Autolock chuck most not used. about 30-40
Rotary table 6 inch
Clamping Kit
keyless drill chucks 2 RB with adapter
2 R8 indexable facing cutters
Acc-rite Imperial 2 axis DRO with acc-rite scales
Single phase motor just had a new on/off/reverse switch

People are of equal opinion so far!

The lack of a quill will make the Marlow quite tedious to use when it comes to drilling and reaming.

I used to have a Boxford miller, which, like the Marlow, has no quill and is wasn't very long before I swapped it for a Myford VMC - and this proved to be a very good move for me, but even the Myford doesn't have a fine downfeed to the quill, whereas I think the Warco and Chester versions do, so you might be better off with one of those, in my opinion.

Martin.

Totally agree with Martin - the lack of quill will make the Marlow very difficult to use, so unless you just need a machine just to mill, rather than mill and drill, I would advise that the VMC would be the better option for you. You are likely to have to live with the machine for a number of years, so making the right choice now is important.

The only issue that I've got with the VMC is the distance, or rather lack of it, between the spindle nose and the table. This can give real problems when trying to use long drills on tall jobs.

Hope this helps.

Roger

I managed to acquire a 100mm spacer block from Myford and that made a nice improvement to this machine.

Martin.

Hi Jason,

I have a Chester 626 - same as the Warco - and am very happy with it. I agree about the quill - most useful. Also the Warco you are looking at appears to come with a DRO. I would say this is a huge advantage which wil make your milling so much easier.

Blowlamp -was your spacer a Myford part or home - made?

Rgds,

John

It's a genuine Myford part - and in the correct shade of green too, which is slightly different compared to the lathes.

I think the retail price was around about £180 if my memory serves me well, but they discounted by about 50% because they had never sold one - extended studs, washers and nuts were also included as part of the kit.

Martin.

Ok, Thanks. At that price, no wonder they never sold one!

John

Will be doing some 75mm and 100 mm spacers later on in the year, just sold the last one of the second batch I made.

Will be doing some 75mm and 100 mm spacers later on in the year, just sold the last one of the second batch I made.

John

Will they fit Myford or Warco VMCs or both?

Peter

Edited By Peter Seager on 27/01/2013 10:32:43

Both,

They use the same base casting.

Am I right in thinking that the Myford is a two stud fixing and the Warco & Chesters are three stud?

Martin.

I've had a Warco VMC for several years and have found the following mods very useful

DRO essential in my opinion

6" head raising block. 4" probably all that's required

Spindle lock to make tool changes easier

Draw bar release tool

Inverter Drive very useful.

Problems;

Original machine travel specs. did not match catalogue

Table soft easily marked

One shot oiler not very good some points over oiled other starved of oil.

Would be useful if Y axis travel was greater.

Steve T

The ones I do are 3 stud at 12mm diameter.

OD is 6" / 150mm

I found that the bolt holes on my Warco were not on the same PCD or equidistant!