Any experience of the Warco GH Universal Mill?

[Alf JonesParticipant @alfjones33318]

Hello all.

 

I have been looking at the Warco GH Universal mill:

 

http://www.warco.co.uk/milling-machines/38-gh-universal-milling-drilling-machine.html

 

and I was wondering if anyone already owns one, or has used one, and if so, if you had any positive or negative comments?

 

There was a review of the Warco WM-18 mill in MEW around 18 months ago, which was very positive indeed, and my sense is that the GH is a step upards in terms of robustness and features, for not a lot of additional money.

 

My thinking is that I would fit DRO’s and a readout box to it, and potentially build up the column using the Epoxy Granite method if it feels like it needs it.

 

I was also wondering if you would expect this mill, for this amount of money to be usable “out of the box” or whether I should prepare for a complete strip and rebuild job as most people seem to go through with smaller Asian mills such as the Seig X1 and X3?

 

Any thoughts at all gratefully received.

[Alf JonesParticipant @alfjones33318]

[SpringbokParticipant @springbok]

I Would look at the Chester 626 this would give you a higher spec for about the same money, In my experiance nothing Warco supplies is out of the box.

By the blurb it seems limited in a number of ways.

Bob

[michael coleParticipant @michaelcole91146]

Hullo Alf

 

I have the Chester Lux a version of the Waco 38 gh mill. I have used it for building 5 inch locos and a 4 inch scale traction engine.

It is a very well build mill. Mine has a MT4 taper in the spindle, but even using a stepdown collect to MT3 i can take very heavy cuts, more than a R8 bridgeport.

 

I would not look at the Chester 626 as it is a smaller machine than i need. But they do have a special offer on at the moment so might be OK for you. Once you had gears you will never go back to belts, far to slow to change, and no it is not that nosiy.

 

The fixed vertical column is very very sturdy and would not need filling with epoxy granite. Table size do check what you get as travel x and y. The Lux has a lage amount of head room under the spindle.

Top speed is a bit low at 1600 rpm but then the upside is the 6 rpm I can get having 3phase motor and inverter. Great for tapping under power

 

The only thing i do not like about the Lux is tramming in the head. I have never had it move under heavy cuts but drilling the steam ports for my Little Samson i had to tilt the head. As the head is very heavy is was quite a pain to get the head trammed back.

Cannot commet on set up for new, but Warco does seen to have a good reputation.

 

Any thing else just ask

 

Mike

[KMPParticipant @kmp]

Alf hi,

I bought an R8 Warco Super Major a few
months ago although have only just set it up and started to use it. My
experience with the company was first class, the machine was delivered with no
fuss at the arranged time; one additional item I ordered was incorrect but this
was changed within a few days at no cost to me. Everything works fine “out of
the box”, however one has to remember which part of the market you are in. The
machine is functional rather than pretty but nevertheless appears accurate and
very solidly built. All axis operate smoothly with minimal backlash. I am not
too impressed with the handwheels as they have some 3mm movement between the
locating sectors and seem to rely on the grub screw to provide the drive, not
ideal. The machine is quiet and smooth in all speeds but the table power feed
is a bit of a fiddle to set correctly. The mill cuts very well and within my
needs as a model engineer does not lack power. At the moment, only lubrication
has been required although I will readjust the gibs after a few more hours of
use as they settle in. While the headstock oil still appears like new I will
change it when I do the adjustments. The cover on the vertical dovetail is not,
I feel, likely to last very long but I guess time will tell.

Sometime in the future I will change the
motor for a 3 phase one with VFD to reduce the lowest speed a little.

There are a few things I would have done
differently of course as well as some that identify that it was not the most
expensive machine in the market. The scale that shows where the head is
positioned is akin to a wide steel rule screwed to the side, very vulnerable
and gets in the way of the Z axis locks. The handwheels I have mentioned and the
warning label on the side (wear gloves when cleaning as sharp edges may cause
injury) is very apt, I guess smoothing out the rough edges costs money and
doesn’t add to the functionality. These are very minor gripes however and all
in all I would recommend this type of machine to anyone who can handle the
weight and has the room. Mike has identified the weight of the head and he is
not kidding.

I had looked very hard at the 626/VMC type
machine which are very good value but in the end the limited table travel and
height below the spindle put me off. I also looked at the 836/WM20 type mill
and would have bought one if I could have justified that amount of money on a
hobby machine.

I spent time looking at these type of machines
with three major importers and had friendly and helpful advice from all of
them. The final decision was made on availability, work envelope, standard
equipment and total cost when delivery etc was included. This mill was bought
to replace a Bridgeport during a downsizing exercise so I am used to reasonable
machinery. Neither machine would hold a candle to the Huron and Ajax mills I
used in my youth. The total spend for machine, power feed and 3 axis DRO was
considerably less than a decent vice and rotary table would have cost for one
of those new.

Edited By KMP on 18/11/2011 21:50:56

Edited By KMP on 18/11/2011 21:52:39

[Richard Willcox 1Participant @richardwillcox1]

I’ve got this mill with a 2 axis DRO and digital scale on the vertical axis. It’s a excellent machine, although it sits a little low on the stand.

 

The power feed is a bit querky but once going is fine. This mill has a powered vertical slide and its a pleasure to use. Like most Chingeese mills the scales are rubbish but if you have the DRO you won’t be bothered by that. As I bought mine 2nd hand I guess this machines about 18 months old and everythings working ! I had to replace the DRO consol and I would recommend the one from machine DRO as it’s cheaper and better than the Easson unit offered by Warco.I prefer the R8 spindle for ease of use. I’ve had better service from Warco than Chester and would have no hesitation in recommending this mill..

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

No. 3 on head weight. Rig up a strap before tilting. I took the one on my Chester version over to about 20° shortly after installation and it almost escaped. Took a fair bit of grunting, groaning and impressive verbals to get it back. Naturally I dropped the spanner for the locking bolts too. In those days I was quite happy to lift a hundredweight or more from floor to bench or more.

 

I went the other way to KMP and moved up to a Bridgeport. In the home shop, where drowning in coolant or being buried in swarf spoils the fun, maximum metal removal rate and safe cutter size comes out pretty much the same. The really big difference is when setting up work. The combination of big square head, small table and spindle coverage limited to a little over half the table Y-axis width makes life much harder from both visibility and elbow room considerations. For obvious physical reasons these, along with machine stiffness, are inescapable compromises for any machine seriously smaller than a Bridgeport. You need to take a very careful look at the compromises of particular layouts before buying, table size isn’t everything, visibility on the aforementioned 626 type being far better. I went round many laps before deciding on the square column one!

 

From the picture it seems the Warco still has the abominable screw up and down spindle depth setting stop. Those things take geological time to set and are more than a little springy. I stuck a plain rod in mine, drilled out the threads in the nut and welded a wing nut head onto a screw to lock it in position. The little plate with an arrow went for a gremlin toy, eyeing up the scale with the bottom of the nut was just as good. Set in seconds and far more rigid. I had a 3 axis DRO with the Z on the quill so this little mod made repeating depth settings a breeze.

 

I often considered that a depth stop on the column would be really useful too but never got round to doing one. On reflection a multi position one like the 6 rod bed stop I have on my lathe or the 4 screw one on my router sounds like it could be very good on the right jobs.

 

Mine was unusual in that it had a two speed belt drive and inverter controlled three phase motor to give around 40 to 2800 rpm in two ranges with decent overlap in the middle. In my view best of breed layout. At the time the price / performance / specification ratio didn’t work but were the idea revisited now prices could be competitive.

 

Inspection followed by strip, clean and re-lube is probably a good idea with any inexpensive machinery. It certainly seems that a single set of parts is provided which must be assembled into a machine regardless so some horrors do get through. The spindle and gearbox are driven at higher speeds so a listening test should be good enough. I always feel that mixing oils isn’t ideal so cleaning out that supplied and replacing with your favourite seems good. Also give you a chance to set-up things to run just so and verify that the tape gib adjusting slots fit snugly on the adjuster heads. Excess play here can drive you nuts as the table self adjusts its gibs during operation! Mine lacked pushes on the table locks so the plain bolt ends chomped into the gib where they touched.

 

Clive

Edited By Clive Foster on 18/11/2011 23:54:55

[michael coleParticipant @michaelcole91146]

Clive

Very instresting post, when i do finally do up grade my mill, it too wlll to be to a bridgeport or Clone.

KPM – the simple rubber sheetvertical way cover lasts a couple of years and then needs to be replaced. I will look at a billows type next. Over on MadModders web site there is a couple of good photos of one of these mills fitted with one.

 

Richard- I lhave power feed on the X axis on mine and yes i agree, take some care in fitting and it works well. It could do with being slightly lower geared as i normally only work in cast iron or steel,very little aluminuim.

 

Regardins the backlash on the slides,this can be adjusted out as the mill has proper slit leadscrew nuts. That with the good tapered gibs means I can upmill and downmill with a bit of care.

 

One thing that this mill excells at, that has been comented before is the cleanage heigth under the spindle. I recall a photo some years ago ( i think in ME) of a someone with a 7.25 axle drilling verticaly into the end. Try that on a 626 mill.

 

Mike

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