Warco WM14 - My 4 year old machine

#After 4 years use my Warco WM14 mill motor finally gave the ghost and died on me. It has at times worked quite hard, sometimes taking cuts bigger than I should have, usually rushing to finish a job. The motor has run quite hot, so I used to run it with the cover removed. Cover removed to help with keeping things cool. with a little help from Don (big thankyou) at Warco Spares, I got my new motor, very quickly delivered and well packed. Removed the top plate to which gave me chance to inspect the plastic idler gear which some people manage to break, some say this is a weak point, but again after 4years it shows no wear or broken teeth. I think its possibly a good idea so as not to smash the whole gear drive should something happen Plastic gear - easy to replace, Another thing I wanted to look at whilst replacing the motor and threading the cable to the control box was the suggestion by some that this cable can become trapped whilst tilting the head. Not sure if this is possible as the cable run straight down and throught the top plate into the control boxwhen looking up from below the tilting hinge point, locking bolt is external to the cable route, so I can't see how it would be possible to doGuess its something to watchout for on older models. Hopeful my new motor will last a little longer, (I promise not to take exessive cuts honest) as I've fitted a computer case fan from Maplins to the motor cover and put a vent it the topThis should help keep things cooler, Thinking about it my little Emco Unimat motor should only be run for a few minutes at a time as its not a continously rated motor and gets hot too - might just fit a digital thermometer too....... Once again I'm very pleased with my little Warco WM14 Milling machine it has served me well for nearly 4 years, and with the help of Warco I'm sure it will keep going much longer

Edited By Dodweld on 16/07/2013 16:48:10

The computer fan is a good idea. As a result of someone else's tale of releasing the magic smoke, I shoehorned one on the end of the motor on my little Warco lathe, which has vents in both ends. It runs continuously from a 12V wall wart when the lathe is switched on at the wall socket, and gives a good breeze through the motor. When running at low speed and highish torque, the motor's own internal fan is needed most, but isn't doing much to help.

Andy

Had my WM16 for about 6 years,replaced 2 sets of brushes in that time. It has done a lot of work some of which has seriously tested it no sign of gear stripping.I also fitted an extra cooling fan.Still going strong.

Mark P.

Dodweld...from where have you sourced the power for the fan....a lead seems to be going in to the yellow control box. Is there a power takeoff in there ? Or is the power takeoff from the transformer in the 13 amp socket ?

Mick

lm also interested in where the takeoff for power for the fan is. i have the WM14 too, and like you, am concerned about the high temps the motor runs at. ive bought a fan for it but would rather have the power coming from off the board if possible rather than having a serperate power unit for it

Z

There is no low voltage on the WM circuit boards.

However if you get one of these [ or a few given the price ]

**LINK**

You can pinch 240v AC from the input side to power the fan.

Bought loads of these for various projects and they work well for something that does not require more than 1 amp @ 12v.

In fact it's far cheaper to but one of these power supplies and a 12v fan than source a 240v mains fan.

Nice. Cheers John for the link

just bought 4. got some other places too i can use these things.

Z

The fan is 240v origanally from Maplins , 13watt 85mA so supply is taken from the fused side mains supply chocolate block before the PCB. Runs all the time the power is on, so it cools the motor once I've finished the cut. Just add a temperature guage too