Warco GH600

[Dan_BParticipant @dan_b]

Hi TBoy,

I would like to read about the fix you have completed on the feed shaft direction please. I haven't noticed a leak from this point but i guess it stays hidden behind the panel?

How much oil do you fill with? I didn't see any mention in the manual of what the correct level is. The reason i mention is that my apron was only showing maybe 1/4 up the sight glass but when removed it seems to have been well splashed about.

I wonder if we are overfilling the main gearbox and adding to the issue. I filled mine to around the 2/3rds mark. I can notice a significant drag at high spindle speeds with cold oil. The oil obviously splashes well because the level drops right down when running.

My other investigations are ongoing and i will report back when complete. So far though nothing is bent or damaged but maybe room for assembly and line up improvements. Slow progress i'm afraid with limited workshop time.

Dan

[Dan_BParticipant @dan_b]

Quick update on my investigation so far.

I removed the saddle and apron to check for any bent, damaged or just badly fitted parts -all appeared OK.

After giving all the parts a clean i have then started to rebuild and check the fit of parts along the way.

The first issue was leadscrew alignment – it was 0.5mm lower at the tailstock and 0.5mm further out from the bed. With the saddle fitted i found that the height of the screw at the tailstock was correct but the spacing out from the bed was not.

With the saddle at the headstock the screw is very hard to turn and heavily in contact with the guide holes in the saddle. So to rectify this the leadscrew gearbox must be lowered.

So i have dismantled to remove the gearbox and found that its adjustment was restricted to nothing because of one corner clashing with a radius on the bed casting – infact the screws would only just align and were really under pressure to insert. The next stage is to radius the offending edge and hopefully i will be able to lower by the required 0.5mm and stop the leadscrew jamming with the saddle.

I believe because of this miss-alignment the small concentricity errors of the leadscrew have been raising the saddle slightly with each revolution and given the surface finish effect that i have suffered. The saddle is not completely restrained on the front way and largely relies on tool pressure to keep it down on the vee.

One other small point, the key on the feed drive screw was sticking out slightly on the end that would be pulling against the saddle during motion, i think this gave the 'bump' that i noticed as it knocked against a gap in the casting.

When i'm done i will post photos, i'm sure that will explain all.

Oh and TBoy, you are correct it is leaking more from the leadscrew direction control than anywhere else.

And on the point of oil leaks – on several places i have found that small tapped holes are drilled through – remove the screw and oil pisses out! Annoying, i might try and fit some short grub screws to plug these up and save future mess.

Annoying that this needs to be done but good to strip clean and learn the machine. I will feel happy too if it fixes my issue. The only part i haven't opened yet is the main gearbox.

I hope i haven't hyjacked the original thread here too much but its all good info on the GH600. If i get this surface finish sorted then i will be really happy with the machine – its nice to work on and a really good size, very neat.

Dan

[TriumphboyParticipant @triumphboy]

Hello Dan

I have sent you a copy of the document.

So far as I know, the oil level should be about half way up the sight glass. Overfilling it slightly shouldn't make any difference in this gearbox, in my opinion.

I did drill a 2mm hole in the filler plug (underneath the little rubber mat) to let out any pressure as the oil heats up during use and needed to see if it caused a mess but it appears to be ok after a couple of hours use.

Cheers

TBoy

[Diy AddictParticipant @diyaddict]

I've been following this thread with interest for a while, as I'm on the point of buying one of these lathes. But all of these reports of oil leaks are dampening my fervour!

I wonder if this is true of all GH600s, or have you guys been particularly unlucky? Judging by your investigations, it looks like there's a design fault somewhere.

Anyway, please keep posting. All the best.

[Jed MartensParticipant @jedmartens56976]

Hi guys, what oil are you using in the gearboxes?

Prompted by Triumphboy, I've taken the left-hand panel off to have a closer look for leaks. Since I'm new to this, and the machine is often covered in chips and cutting oil, it's possible that I've missed some. There is some evidence that a bit of oil has collected at the front left of the chip tray, but it isn't obvious where it might have come from. I think I'll top everything up and run the machine for a bit to see what happens.

Clearly I don't have a leak issue like Triumphboy though, I think that would have jumped out.

Diy Addict, by the nature of forums, all you're going to find in this thread is people discussing issues. It certainly doesn't represent the hundreds of hours I've spent making stuff with this machine. I really enjoy using it, and I'm glad I bought it.

Edited By Jed Martens on 16/06/2020 08:22:50

[Dan_BParticipant @dan_b]

Warco sent me some of their oil when i got the machine so that is what i have used. No idea what grade it is as there are no details on the tin.

I do really like my GH600 and consider the oil leak a minor issue. I am going to tackle it as Tboy has written a simple guide and offered to help me out with the fix that he has already developed so it makes sense to me to do it.

I think most machine tools with oil filled gearboxes leak to some degree and i don't expect it to be perfect.

I haven't done all that much work on my GH600 yet but so far i'm happy – once i get over a couple of small issues i reckon its going to be a really good asset in my workshop.

Dan

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Posted by Diy Addict on 15/06/2020 13:17:23:

I've been following this thread with interest for a while, as I'm on the point of buying one of these lathes. But all of these reports of oil leaks are dampening my fervour!

I wonder if this is true of all GH600s, or have you guys been particularly unlucky? Judging by your investigations, it looks like there's a design fault somewhere.

Anyway, please keep posting. All the best.

Most of these lathes have grown out of older western designs from back when a bit of oil leaking was not a problem.

Centecs for example have one proper shaft oil seal on the 3 shaft gearbox and none in the vertical head so they weep and make a mess.

It would be a mistake to bin off a lathe that clearly suits your needs, space and pocket and pick another that may have unknown issues till you get it home.

Better the devil you know

[BC ProfParticipant @bcprof]

Had my GH600 for a little over a year now. A few silly faults , easily corrected . No oil leaks

Brian

[Lee KennedyParticipant @leekennedy29914]

Iv had my GH600 since January, it’s used daily and it does leak oil. I have only topped up the oil up twice since January so it’s not a huge problem.

Tboy did send me his write up on solving the leak, I intend to do this when I have time.

cheers

[Jed MartensParticipant @jedmartens56976]

What oil are you using Lee? I think I'm just going to buy some from Warco, but I'm open to other suggestions

[TriumphboyParticipant @triumphboy]

Hello Jed

Warco kindly sent be a couple of litres when I first complained about the leak.

[TriumphboyParticipant @triumphboy]

Posted by Dave Halford on 16/06/2020 11:15:56:

Posted by Diy Addict on 15/06/2020 13:17:23:

I've been following this thread with interest for a while, as I'm on the point of buying one of these lathes. But all of these reports of oil leaks are dampening my fervour!

I wonder if this is true of all GH600s, or have you guys been particularly unlucky? Judging by your investigations, it looks like there's a design fault somewhere.

Anyway, please keep posting. All the best.

Most of these lathes have grown out of older western designs from back when a bit of oil leaking was not a problem.

Centecs for example have one proper shaft oil seal on the 3 shaft gearbox and none in the vertical head so they weep and make a mess.

It would be a mistake to bin off a lathe that clearly suits your needs, space and pocket and pick another that may have unknown issues till you get it home.

Better the devil you know

Hello Dave

The silly issues are a pain in the whatsit but if it was too much to bear and if most of us weren't engineers and enjoy a challenge, I'd probably would have returned it.

However, it is a good lathe as far as I know and enjoy it too much to allow it to be anything more than a minor "challenge" here and there.

[Dan_BParticipant @dan_b]

The Warco oil is most likely to be an ISO32 or an ISO68 industrial gear oil.

I would say that the lead screw gearbox may engage gear slightly better with the ISO68 oil as one of the shafts is free to spin when the gears are in between engagement – this can make its slightly more tricky to get it engaged as when you turn the chuck to giggle things about the free shaft turns with it just from the side force friction between the gears and the teeth stay miss-aligned. A little extra drag from oil would do no harm at improving this. I probably haven't described that well and I'm not suggesting any fault with the way it is – a little bit of a experience and you get the hang of changing the gears.

The main gearbox on my machine seems to drag a little when cold if you use the high speeds (1500/2000). Be interesting how it run with ISO32.

Grizzly do spec oil in their manuals and recommend ISO32 in the main gearbox and ISO68 in the lead screw gearbox on their smaller GH machines.

Any recommendation for lead screw lubrication? I have thoroughly cleaned mine and from the factory it was well plastered in red grease around the half nut area. Is red grease a good lubrication for the half nut and worm gear?

I would normally have chosen on oil for the lead screw but i am a little unsure with the worm gear.

Dan

[Lee KennedyParticipant @leekennedy29914]

Jed,

I am using shell tellus 32. I buy this in 20 litre drums for my day to day work anyway.

some recommend 68 oil in gear head and 32 in apron etc. I just use 32 for everything. Keep it simple.

thanks

[Jed MartensParticipant @jedmartens56976]

Daniel and Lee, thanks for that information, I'm off to read about oils

[Diy AddictParticipant @diyaddict]

Jed, Daniel, Dave, Brian, Lee, TriumphBoy, thanks for sharing your views and experience. Yes, the GH600 seems to suit all my needs much better than anything else I've seen. My fervour is re-ignited!

Hopefully I'll be able to share in this thread soon as an owner – will let you know,

All the best

[Steve LawesParticipant @stevelawes]

Hi All, New guy here.

Thanks for all the valuable info in this thread.

I'm wondering if one of you GH600 owners could give me a height measurement from the machine, drip tray to switch gear as I have a space on my workbench which has a 580mm height clearance between the bench top and the cupboards above and I want to know it it will fit.

Many thanks.

Steve

[BC ProfParticipant @bcprof]

Hi Steve.

Distance from drip tray to top of switch gear is 500mm .

I used the Warco headstock oil for everything when I changed the oil .

Brian

[Steve LawesParticipant @stevelawes]

Brilliant, thanks Brian

[BC ProfParticipant @bcprof]

Steve . I have sent you a PM

Brian

[Steve LawesParticipant @stevelawes]

Hoping someone can help me out.

I have a GH600 on order from Warco, should be here end of November apparently. I'm looking to order a Multifix QCTP probably from Create as they seem to get good feedback. I'd like to get one ordered and need to work out the correct size…

I need the following info please:

1) How many millimeters is the distance between the surface of the top compound slide and the middle of the chuck?
2) How wide is the top compound slide?

Thanks in advance

 

Edited By Steve Lawes on 10/11/2020 12:21:26

[BC ProfParticipant @bcprof]

Hi Steve

Distance from top of compound slide to c/l of chuck is 23mm

Compound slide is 80mm wide ,

PM me if you want any more info .

Brian

[Steve LawesParticipant @stevelawes]

Thanks Brian

[IRTParticipant @irt]

I suppose an oil change is now long overdue.

Anything I need to watch out for, or is it fairly straight forward?

[BC ProfParticipant @bcprof]

No problems but it is VERY messy . Drain plugs for Apron and Gear Box are very close to the tray .

Short hex key undoes them but catching the oil is . very messy . For the gear box I built a dam with rag to isolate the left hand end of the tray and drilled a 12mm hole in the corner of the tray. I was then able to catch ( most ! ) of the oil in a container . For the Apron I used a shallow tray to catch the oil managing to get the drain plug back before the tray over flowed . The headstock drain is behind the gear train . I made up a cardboard chute to direct the oil down into a container . Again it caught most of it !

I am seriously considering putting a new drain plug for the gearbox on the front face although I am not sure that this will come out low enough to get all of the old oil out. I have to say that the oil I drained out was , in all cases , clean with no sign of anything nasty , A thin wire with a magnet on its outer end failed to pick up anything either although it worked well when tried with steel filing on the bench .

I am also considering fitting magnets to the drain plugs but this is a long way down the need to do list ..

Brian C

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