My new lathe a Warco 918

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Thanks for the tip Jason, I will keep it boxed with the collets so I always no where it is.

This morning I quickly totted up the cost of all the tooling and I think the lathe was thrown in for free…LOL

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Ron Laden on 15/07/2019 15:08:45:

This morning I quickly totted up the cost of all the tooling and I think the lathe was thrown in for free…LOL

.

Nice !!

MichaelG.

[DanielParticipant @daniel]

Posted by Ron Laden on 15/07/2019 15:08:45:

Thanks for the tip Jason, I will keep it boxed with the collets so I always no where it is.

This morning I quickly totted up the cost of all the tooling and I think the lathe was thrown in for free…LOL

Good result

[Mike Woods 1Participant @mikewoods1]

I have a 2nd hand Chester 920, but not quite as well appointed as your new acquisition. Luckily you will be spared the faff of making the necessary improvements to the base model as the previous owner seems to have ironed out the known wrinkles for this class of lathe. I say this with a note of envy, as I am on the improvement journey myself. The headstock design is pretty basic and like yours, mine has no oiling points for the spindle bearings. Mine is grease lubricated and to be honest I have never added any more. Like most machines, simple things like feeling the temperature of the bearing housing after use will help to develop a feel for what is normal, or otherwise.

The bearings are ordinary standard 32007 taper rollers, widely available and relatively cheap, in the very unlikely event that you ever need to replace them.

Enjoy your new machine.

[Joseph Noci 1Participant @josephnoci1]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 15/07/2019 01:50:45:

Posted by Ron Laden on 10/07/2019 19:14:27:

Its my first time with ER collets, would I be right in thinking that the correct fitting procedure is to first fit the collet into the nut, (you can sort of feel it clip in) and then fit the nut to the chuck body, checking its correctly seated..

Ron

Tip: do them up as tight as you can with the supplied spanner. They 'like' being tight for accuracy and grip and won't be damaged if holding work in their capacity range, the standard torque is surprisingly high and hard to achieve by hand.

Neil

There was a thread some time ago on ER collets and their tightening up..

When you are chasing that last (few) thou of run-out in said collet, always try use a double handed/handled spanner, with as even force on each end as you can. A single hand spanner pushes the nut slightly over in the torque direction with subsequent off-centering of the collet – try it – it really does so, as the side space tween the threads of the nut and chuck body find their place.

Joe

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Thanks guys,

Mike, yes I am lucky in that most of the mods/improvements people seem to carry out on the 918/920 have been done and they have been well engineered.

Re the head bearings, mine has flush fitting plastic caps both sides so I cant add any grease and I dont fancy trying to remove the caps. The bearings seem to be in good condition though so I,m not too worried at the moment.

Joe, thanks for the info re the collets.

Ron

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

I am really interested in the 4-bolts compound mount. The only ones I have seen so far simply duplicate the original bolt-down mount but with 4-bolts, but yours appears completely different.

Brian

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Posted by Brian G on 18/07/2019 10:23:23:

I am really interested in the 4-bolts compound mount. The only ones I have seen so far simply duplicate the original bolt-down mount but with 4-bolts, but yours appears completely different.

Brian

This is the version I use on my small lathe, has worked very well for many years.

Thor

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

Thanks Thor

Your clamp ring looks like it works in the same way as that shown here **LINK** with the bolts being released to turn the compound. It looks like Ron's doesn't work that way, as it would be difficult to access the cap screws in certain positions

Perhaps the two screws at the front press wedges against a conical stem, like a larger version of that on a Myford Super 7?

Brian

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Posted by Brian G on 18/07/2019 20:31:44:

Thanks Thor

Your clamp ring looks like it works in the same way as that shown here **LINK** with the bolts being released to turn the compound. It looks like Ron's doesn't work that way, as it would be difficult to access the cap screws in certain positions

Perhaps the two screws at the front press wedges against a conical stem, like a larger version of that on a Myford Super 7?

Brian

Hi Brian,

Steve's mod was one of those who inspired me to make the longer travel topslide. I have added two photos that I hope may explain how I made it. The arrows in the two photos point to the same countersunk hole/screw, No.1 is the base with a recess on the underside, 1b is a ring that fits inside the recess, 2 is the bottom of the topslide and 3 is the top. The two M6 countersunk screws fits into threaded holes in 1b.

Thor

Edited By Thor on 19/07/2019 08:04:24

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Posted by Brian G on 18/07/2019 20:31:44:

Your clamp ring looks like it works in the same way as that shown here **LINK** with the bolts being released to turn the compound. It looks like Ron's doesn't work that way, as it would be difficult to access the cap screws in certain positions

Perhaps the two screws at the front press wedges against a conical stem, like a larger version of that on a Myford Super 7?

Brian

Hi Brian,

A picture below of the underside of the mount, you can see the top side in the video I posted. I dont want to take it apart as it is very well set up and adjusted.

I am not certain but I think it is based on a George Thomas design but with some tweaks by the lathes previous owner. I will be speaking with him later today I will try and find out more. You are correct in that the angled grub screws (2 front – 2 rear) lock the swivel via small pushrods with an angled face that contacts the radius. It works very well just a light nip on each grub locks the swivel solid.

Some of the mods on the lathe follow those done by Stephan Gotteswinter to his 920 style lathe. If you go to Youtube and search for "Stephan Gotteswinter Shoptalk #7 The 250 x 550 Lathe" you should find his video which runs through the mods he made….well worth a watch.

I will let you know if I find out more.

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 19/07/2019 08:40:53

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Hi Brian,

My mistake the compound mount is not a George Thomas design, that was some other parts on the lathe. The mount is Adam,s (the previous owner) version of a design that he found on the Yahoo 920 forum. I was going to have a look for it but for some reason despite my searching I cant find the Yahoo 920 Forum, I dont know if it still exists, I would have thought it did but I cant track it down.

Should anyone have a link to the forum it would be appreciated.

Ron

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Ron,

The files section of the 920Lathe is here, the file might be ABetterCompound.pdf.

Thor

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

Thanks

I have been getting some chatter using a form tool on my son's DB10 which uses a similar 2 bolt clamp to the 9x, and am looking at the various approaches before deciding which to adopt.

Brian

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Thanks Thor, yes ABetterCompound is the one which mine is made to, though the external shape is different on mine.

Brian, worth considering if you are going to modify as it really is a rigid design.

Ron

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Pleased with the low speed torque the lathe has, did a bit of a test this morning to check.

With the belt in low range the speed will come down to 35 rpm but I increased it to 50 rpm thinking it would add a bit more torque for the test and 50 rpm is quite slow.

I put up a piece of aluminium and used a standard knife tool.

Started with a 1.00mm cut, no issues and held 50 rpm, 2.00mm cut again no problems and speed dropped to 48 rpm, 3.00mm cut speed dropped to 47 rpm but no hesitation at all.

Put up a piece of free cutting steel, 1.00mm cut held 50 rpm no probs, 1,50mm cut dropped to 48 rpm and a 2.00mm cut dropped to 46 rpm but again no hint of a stall.

I was quite impressed with that, I dont want to abuse the lathe pushing it too far and the above was just a test but nice to know the lathe has good torque at low speed.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Got to say you've landed on your feet buying that lathe Ron! Second-hand elderly Chinese doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but I guess that worked in your favour by keeping the price low. Decent lathe, well looked after, and suitably upgraded. Value for money or what!

Dave

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Thanks Dave, I certainly think it is a bargain, I guess it was the "Second Hand Elderly Chinese" part that put people off.

Well the mini lathe is sold and I did remember to remove the ad from the "For Sale" listing.

Ron

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Fitted a DRO this morning.

[Andy CarruthersParticipant @andycarruthers33275]

RPM not DRO?

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Posted by Andy Carruthers on 29/07/2019 14:54:33:

RPM not DRO?

Andy,

RPM yes but it is still a DRO (digital readout) isnt it..? well thats how I always refer to them.

Ron

[Andy CarruthersParticipant @andycarruthers33275]

Yeah I guess so, the display itself is digital though the function is RPM whereas DRO (IMHO) is synonymous with distance measurement, at least, that's how I think of it…

Honest guv, I'm not trying to join the pedant club, I know too little

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Andy, I am awaiting delivery of a set of 3 DRO,s for the mill, I guess its the digital display I associate with "DRO" regardless of what its measuring.

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 29/07/2019 15:20:03

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

The lathe came with a ER25 chuck and a full set of metric collets, I know they are not an expensive set so I thought I would clock some of them to see how good or bad they are. I checked the 4,6,8,10,12 and 15mm and the runout ranged between 0.0004" and 0.0013", I was quite pleased with that and wondered is that about the norm for a budget set.

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

This morning was the first time I used the jog feature on the VFD, used it to tap the end of some tie bars, works really well and made machine tapping easy. I was tapping M4 and set the speed to 70 rpm, brought the tap (spiral flute) into contact with the work pressed and held the run button until depth achieved then switched to reverse whilst still holding the button and withdrew the tap. At first I was releasing the run button when depth was achieved, switching to reverse then pressing and holding the button again. I then remembered that with VFD switching from one direction to another whilst running the machine slows and stops before changing direction so you can just keep the button pressed.

A very useful feature I think.

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