I changed the oil on mine once, after about a year, and not since (about 8 years). I used 46 hydraulic oil I think.

I think I changed the oil in my 1326BH BG lathe after about 6 months, and in the twenty years since then it's been changed once.

Ian S C

Warco do a headstock oil, I top up with that for the saddle and headstock on my 280V. (The saddle has an occasional small leak that needs investigating).

Russ

Edited By Crocadillopig on 14/08/2015 12:11:46

I just top up the gearbox and apron oil every couple of months, not drained any myself as the lathe seems to be "self draining" if you know what I mean Warco head oil for both.

Edited By JasonB on 14/08/2015 15:39:58

I had a jamb up on my WARCO due to letting the cross slide travel too far across the bed, so I had to take it to bits to un- jamb it. Glad I did really as there were bits of stuff floating about in there that shouldn't have been, so it got a good clean out. If you wind the cross slide across the bed, a gap will be visible that allows stuff to get into this gear box. I can't see how you can stop it getting in there. The upside is, that you can dipstick the oil in there to see how much oil should be in there. If you put too much in it will only leak out until its correct level is reached.

The operating instructions are not up to date, My manual shows things that are supposed to be on the machine and aren't

.

Although not new one, when I bought my lathe one of the first things I did was change the oil as a matter of course as I had no idea how long it had been in there and importantly it was of an unknown quality. IMHO it really is false economy to put budget lubricants an any machine of any type.

I also fixed a strong magnet in there to attract and keep any wayward swarf that might come out to 'party'

Nick

I phoned Warco with the same question, and their response was that the unit was effectively lubricated for life, and suggested I don't bother.

But I've another issue that I think will cause me to take the apron off, so I'll probably lose the oil doing that.

What happened was that I engaged longitudinal feed when I intended to use cross feed, driving the milling slide into the chuck-mounted endmill. It was one of the first cuts I engaged, so I didn't recognise the growl for a second or two. When I hit the emergency stop I couldn't at first disengage the feed or – obviously – move the saddle. I eventually succeeded, and found that the shearpin on the leadscrew hadn't broken, but the keyed sleeve in one of the changegear pairs had. Warco were very quick in sending a replacement.

But since that time I've been living with a stiff tight-spot on what I think is the rack to apron gear mesh, about every third turn of the carriage handwheel. My guess is that the crash bent the shaft a bit, but I won't find out till I drop the apron. Hopefully, releasing the telescopic leadscrew covers and removing the 4 vertical socket screws will let me do this. Anybody know?

I have found, by the way, that the saddle handwheel dial – although coarsely graduated in 0.25mm divisions – is actually pretty accurate, and you can judge it to a thou or two with reasonable confidence. I've milled slots for flush-fitting components with it with good success. The fine crossfeed is a delight, giving a silky finish on facing cuts and cross milling.

Regards,

MickB

Thanks George. I wasn't chasing tenths or working large lengths, so the 0,25mm ~ 10 thou approximation was good enough for work I've done in the 6 months I've had the machine; but I'll bear your results in mind for future jobs!

Compared to the Myford Speed 10 I had for the previous 15 years – the WM250V may not be as 'nice' in some respects, but it's given me substantially improved capability in many areas. Maybe I've been lucky, but bar stock in the 3-jaw runs true within 6 tenths. The vertical slide I bought with it is none too good (haven't really worked out what unit on earth the calibrations are supposed to be!), so I modded the Warco baseplate to fit the Myford double-swivel milling slide I already had, and that works very well.

Regards,

MickB

Just a comment re machining/casting debris in machine tools. I was pleased to find no such problems when I examined my new Warco lathe. Admittedly I haven't delved into every area, but so far, all good. I would agree that an early oil change is a wise precaution tho'.