Warco WM 250V power feed stuck/crash

[KenLParticipant @kenl]

I was only just thinking the same this morning about how this company has changed since 2021. They never even commented on my post that got deleted, that says a lot but instead, the post got deleted.

I’m afraid that when a forum is owned by a commercial organisation it’s common practice to delete threads that could be detrimental to the financial interests of the owner. They have their commercial and advertising interests to consider. On the last forum I administered they had a policy that any threads that were critical about goods and services from commercial vendors would be locked or deleted if the complainant was a newly joined member, thus preventing the situation where members would join purely for the purpose of publicly airing their grievances. I’m not saying that this is the case here but you can understand the reasons why discussion is being carefully moderated.

On the subject of the WM250V, I bought a second hand one a short time ago and like any other product it has it’s pros and cons, ATM the pros outweigh the cons but I haven’t sufficient experience of it yet to give a balanced opinion.

I will say however that the previous owner of the lathe had experienced a “shear pin” episode so had simply fitted travel limit switches to the long and cross travel slides that cut the power if the carriage or slide over travel. The solution works very well and prevents any damage to the machine. Clearly the lathe should be fitted with some manner of clutch but the cost would be prohibitive and make it uncompetitive. These machines are a little fragile for “hobby” operatives I’m afraid.

[KenL]

On KenL Said:

I was only just thinking the same this morning about how this company has changed since 2021. They never even commented on my post that got deleted, that says a lot but instead, the post got deleted.

I’m afraid that when a forum is owned by a commercial organisation it’s common practice to delete threads that could be detrimental to the financial interests of the owner. They have their commercial and advertising interests to consider. On the last forum I administered they had a policy that any threads that were critical about goods and services from commercial vendors would be locked or deleted if the complainant was a newly joined member, thus preventing the situation where members would join purely for the purpose of publicly airing their grievances. I’m not saying that this is the case here but you can understand the reasons why discussion is being carefully moderated.

On the subject of the WM250V, I bought a second hand one a short time ago and like any other product it has it’s pros and cons, ATM the pros outweigh the cons but I haven’t sufficient experience of it yet to give a balanced opinion.

I will say however that the previous owner of the lathe had experienced a “shear pin” episode so had simply fitted travel limit switches to the long and cross travel slides that cut the power if the carriage or slide over travel. The solution works very well and prevents any damage to the machine. Clearly the lathe should be fitted with some manner of clutch but the cost would be prohibitive and make it uncompetitive. These machines are a little fragile for “hobby” operatives I’m afraid.

I was only just thinking that today, I mean if they are prone to crash then why hasn’t it got cut out switches if the carriage is going too far? and no someone told me to post on this forum as it will have a wider audience to air my grief with Warco, who have still not answered if they are going to replace this faulty lathe.

[bnplanes]

On bnplanes Said:I was only just thinking that today, I mean if they are prone to crash then why hasn’t it got cut out switches if the carriage is going too far? and no someone told me to post on this forum as it will have a wider audience to air my grief with Warco, who have still not answered if they are going to replace this faulty lathe.

I fear you have just answered your own question and confirmed your real motives.

Let’s face it, if Warco were to take you up on this (or any other) forum then it would simply lead to a public slanging match which would do no favours to you, the forum nor Warco.

I sympathise with your quandry but suggest that you would be better off asking for help and advice on getting the lathe working again (and you have obtained plenty of good advice so far) rather than trying to berate the company who have supplied the lathe. I do hope you get it all sorted out amicably.

I just hope that this thread won’t be deleted as it does contain some very good material.

[KenL]

On KenL Said:

….

Clearly the lathe should be fitted with some manner of clutch but the cost would be prohibitive and make it uncompetitive. These machines are a little fragile for “hobby” operatives I’m afraid.

I took a gander at a very similar Chester lathe that my son bought for his business, and I think it does have such a spring-loaded clutch on the gearbox output shaft – and its price is IIRC comparable.

[bnplanes]

On bnplanes Said:

I was only just thinking that today, I mean if they are prone to crash then why hasn’t it got cut out switches if the carriage is going too far? and no someone told me to post on this forum as it will have a wider audience to air my grief with Warco, who have still not answered if they are going to replace this faulty lathe.

Because if you’re running the spindle flat out then momentum is still going to carry the saddle to a crash stop and damage something.

You need to get to know your machine better and be more mindful of what you’re doing. In 22 years I’ve certainly crashed a machine and I put my hands up to it. I tell my apprentices from the start that if they crash a machine just tell me and I won’t be angry, as it happens to all of us.

I crunched my M300 about a year ago as someone was talking to me while I was operating it and I got distracted. I didn’t get on the blower to 600 Group and stick a rocket up them. I just took the L and moved on.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The newer 280 & the 290 have the slipper clutch on the feed shaft. The 250 only has a lead screw so any slip of a clutch would not do your screw cutting any good.

Well it was not me that deleted the topic and first I knew was BNP asking where it had gone. But having subsequently heard a few details 3rd hand of the other side of the story I’m still happy to recommend Warco for the 250, 280 & 290 size machines as I have done for years and still rate them over Chester and Amadeal.

[Robin Dufton]

On Robin Dufton Said:

On bnplanes Said:

I was only just thinking that today, I mean if they are prone to crash then why hasn’t it got cut out switches if the carriage is going too far? and no someone told me to post on this forum as it will have a wider audience to air my grief with Warco, who have still not answered if they are going to replace this faulty lathe.

Because if you’re running the spindle flat out then momentum is still going to carry the saddle to a crash stop and damage something.

You need to get to know your machine better and be more mindful of what you’re doing. In 22 years I’ve certainly crashed a machine and I put my hands up to it. I tell my apprentices from the start that if they crash a machine just tell me and I won’t be angry, as it happens to all of us.

I crunched my M300 about a year ago as someone was talking to me while I was operating it and I got distracted. I didn’t get on the blower to 600 Group and stick a rocket up them. I just took the L and moved on.

I have said this until I am blue in the face, I never crashed this lathe, like I never crashed my wm180 lathe which I had for 3 1/2 years, I am extremely careful using any machinery.

 

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Dunno who crashed it, but with a bent saddle drive pinion the odds are somebody did.

When I did it to mine, it didn’t just bend the pinion, it twisted one of those hardened keyed linking bushes in the change gear train completely in two – perhaps it was previously cracked in heat treatment. Maybe that was what saved the pinion from even worse damage. And all because the shearpin was too good to shear – it looked like ground silver steel.

But I couldn’t count the parts I’ve made on it in the years since.

[billlane76Participant @billlane76]

It seems like this forum has some sort of links with this company bring spoken about as they are regularly recommended over all others & now seeing that they have taken down a post about them has me thinking even more. There is many comments about other companies here that have not been taken down so why this one now? Also people see id recommend them over other companies but can you really do this if you have not tried anyone else. Of course you should be able to talk about your good experiences & bad experiences with any company on here.

[billlane76Participant @billlane76]

It seems like this forum has some sort of links with this company being spoken about as they are regularly recommended over all others & now seeing that they have taken down a post about them has me thinking even more. There is many comments about other companies here that have not been taken down so why this one now? Also people say id recommend them over other companies but can you really do this if you have not tried anyone else? Of course you should be able to talk about your good experiences & bad experiences with any company on here.

[billlane76]

On billlane76 Said:

It seems like this forum has some sort of links with this company being spoken about as they are regularly recommended over all others & now seeing that they have taken down a post about them has me thinking even more. There is many comments about other companies here that have not been taken down so why this one now? Also people say id recommend them over other companies but can you really do this if you have not tried anyone else? Of course you should be able to talk about your good experiences & bad experiences with any company on here.

I’m happy to recommend Warco because I’ve had good experience of both their products and customer service.

I’ve also bought from ARC, and would also recommend them, and from Amadeal, who seem to have a slightly lower quality specification for their machines, but also slightly lower prices, so they’re OK too.

I think you may be looking for a conspiracy that doesn’t exist.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I’m also happy to recommend Warco and ARC as I have bought their machines and tooling and have been using it for 16 years or more. I’ve also bought some tooling from Chester in the past. However when all these suppliers along with Amadeal were at shows I would look at there wares and quickly passed Amadeal by as I felt their items did not look to be of quite the same quality, same with Chester to a lesser extent. Yes I do get some stuff to test from Suppliers such as what was featured in the “milling for beginners” series in ME but I also buy from them and what I buy I pay normal retail for.

I also suggest suppliers of tooling and materials that don’t run adverts in any of the UK Model engineering press, just based on actual experience of buying and using the stuff rather than looking for it on google.

Also being active on several Model Engineering forums for many years Arc and Warco seem to get the better comments about products and service so again based on that is what I say.

As I said I have also heard the other side of the story.

Bill (Hugh?), I’d also be interested to know if you have any links with Amadeal?

[Clive Brown 1Participant @clivebrown1]

I’ve been reading a facebook discussion on this issue, Warco appear to have posted that they have emailed the lathe owner and have also asked for contact by phone.

[bnplanesParticipant @bnplanes]

The last thing I want is for this thread to be deleted, there is as someone said too much valuable info in it.

It won’t bother me if you delete the replies from my post down to the end to keep the post on top or leave it as is, eighter way its up to you.

This is now being sorted and someone is coming to fix this lathe.

[bnplanes]

On bnplanes Said:

This is now being sorted and someone is coming to fix this lathe.

That’s very good news indeed.

I do hope that you will keep visiting and posting on the forum, I for one as a WM250 owner would be very interested to hear all about the remedial process and any further info on how the damage might have been caused (and therefore avoided in the future).

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