Which WARCO LATHE any opinions ?

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

I wonder if any of you guys have anything to say about WM 290V-F VariableSpeed Lathe or the GH1330.

Seems the 290 comes with a DRO included which is a big plus but is slightly smaller.

Anybody out there faced this dilemma ?

What did you go for ?

Chris

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

Posted by chris j on 17/11/2012 11:47:18:

I wonder if any of you guys have anything to say about WM 290V-F VariableSpeed Lathe or the GH1330.

Seems the 290 comes with a DRO included which is a big plus but is slightly smaller.

Anybody out there faced this dilemma ?

What did you go for ?

Chris

I can find any reference to the GH1330 having a power cross slide ?

Does it have one ?

Any advantage in getting a 3 phase model and an inverter ?

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Do you really need the 1330 as opposed to the 1232? With these lathe familiies they are mostly the same bed with a slightly elevated head to make it seem 'bigger'. But it is just less ridgid because the bed is the same width and weight.

Variable speed & DRO = electronics = limitted life. Until recently I had an old 12in lathe in need of some TLC but fully functional after 110 years – how will yours be in 10 years.

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

Posted by Bazyle on 17/11/2012 12:12:53:

Do you really need the 1330 as opposed to the 1232? With these lathe familiies they are mostly the same bed with a slightly elevated head to make it seem 'bigger'. But it is just less ridgid because the bed is the same width and weight.

Variable speed & DRO = electronics = limitted life. Until recently I had an old 12in lathe in need of some TLC but fully functional after 110 years – how will yours be in 10 years.

Not necessarily

The 1232 seems quite good for the money, does it have the power cross feed do you know ?

What do you use ?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Both the bigger machines have power cross feed.

The 290 is really just the big bore 280VF that several others do and warco have added a DRO, I've had teh 280VF for about 4 years and am quite happy with it.

The main advantage of the 12 & 13" machines is they have a gap which ios handy if you are thinking of traction engiens but unlikely to be needed for Locos

3 phase and a VFD would give you variabl espeed but still have plenty of torque

J

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

Posted by JasonB on 17/11/2012 13:23:12:

Both the bigger machines have power cross feed.

The 290 is really just the big bore 280VF that several others do and warco have added a DRO, I've had teh 280VF for about 4 years and am quite happy with it.

The main advantage of the 12 & 13" machines is they have a gap which ios handy if you are thinking of traction engiens but unlikely to be needed for Locos

3 phase and a VFD would give you variabl espeed but still have plenty of torque

J

Thanks J good points.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

I have had the WM250V-F for a short while,this has the power X feed which is one factor that influenced my choice , others were parking space & budget, I also got a WM16 mill, both from the Harrogate exhibition.I would have liked to have bought the bigger machine but with budgetary constraints & space I at least ended up with two machines which was a bonus, I originally set out to get a Super7B with power cross feed but your'e talking silly money..two were for sale at the exhib, with usual accessories & some tooling…but £££££££'s above my finances

So far I have not machined anything in anger other than some small stuff for future use as material supply was limited, so far it seems ok & has done what I asked of it. If I had the finances & space I would have gone for a Colchester 1600 / Harrison 250 / 300 but these would not have had DRO's, then there's tooling to consider…

I can concur with Bazyle & JasonB comments, I can only suggest go for the biggest you need to suit your projects / budget.

Happy hunting.

G

[LathejackParticipant @lathejack]

Hello Chris.

I have had a Warco 1330 lathe for about eight years. Despite a few snags early on it is a very good machine. They are very heavily built, with a much deeper and heavier bed casting than the 1232 lathe and slightly better overall quality, Its design originates from the Harrison M300. As JasonB said, both these machines have power crossfeed. The quick change camlock spindles are also a real bonus.

The geared headstock is extremely quiet, better in fact than some belt drive lathes i have heared. I added a three phase motor and inverter which has just transformed it. I can't fault its accuracy and the accessories that came with it are excellent.

The 1232 lathe can be a good buy, but if you end up choosing between these two machines and can afford the extra, i would go for the 1330.

Incidently, Warco offer an improved version of the 1330, i think it's the WM 330 A. This has improved gearbox and electrical controls and i am sure it is the same price.

If you do decide to buy a smaller new machine, the WM280VF or 290VF are an excellent choice. The beds have very wide and chunky slideways, in fact i still fancy one myself. These lathes are based on the Wabeco D6000.

Toolco and Amadeal also offer versions of these machines, and might be worth a look to compare.

All the best.

 

Edited By Lathejack on 17/11/2012 20:20:55

[Phil WParticipant @philw78611]

Hi Chris

For what it is worth, I have had a GH1330 with a 3phase inverter for 5yrs now, and am very happy with it. The inverter makes for a really smooth machine, and you never need to reach for a crank handle in the spindle to help with screw cutting because it is very controllable. I feel that, within reason, bigger is better, and I have never had any trouble machining small parts. I have got a small lathe as well, but hardly ever use it.

Don't get fooled by the screw cutting gear box though. I'm not sure what the 290 does, but there is not a simple lever change from power feeds to screw cutting feeds on the 1330, it involves 3 change wheels and a lot of different spanners (I sorted the latter with a bit of simple mod, but it still takes a few minutes to make the change over).

The geared head makes for a lot of torque when you need it, and I would think it would out perfom an ungeared head any day. With the 3phase inverter you have the benefit of both approaches ie. when you don't need the torque you can change speed on the fly while turning.

I have got DROs on my mill, but haven't felt the need to fit them to the lathe, but that is just personal preference.

Hope that helps.

Phil

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The 280 & 290 have a similar gear arrangement so you will need to play with some change wheels but really depends on how much screw cutting you are likely to be doing.

J

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

Posted by JasonB on 17/11/2012 20:54:06:

The 280 & 290 have a similar gear arrangement so you will need to play with some change wheels but really depends on how much screw cutting you are likely to be doing.

J

So J what is it that you prefer about your lathe over say a 12 or 13.

Chris

ps Thanks Phil & Jack

The change wheels seem a pain although I'm not sure it will stop me.

Phil what was your Mod ?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The fact that it won't drop trhrough my shed floor!!

Weight and room were the issue as my garage has my woodworking machines that have to earn a living anything bigger than the 280 was out.

If that was not a problem then I'd get a Gapped M300 or the late model gapped Bantam 2000 which has the same capacity but is slightly smaller overall, nice one on Home & Workshop at the moment.

One thing I did read the other day is that on the similar gap bed machines from Chester if you remove the gap while it swithin the warantee period it invalidates teh warantee, would be worth checking the small print with Warco before you decide.

 

J

Edited By JasonB on 17/11/2012 21:22:39

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

Posted by JasonB on 17/11/2012 21:20:20:

The fact that it won't drop trhrough my shed floor!!

Weight and room were the issue as my garage has my woodworking machines that have to earn a living anything bigger than the 280 was out.

If that was not a problem then I'd get a Gapped M300 or the late model gapped Bantam 2000 which has the same capacity but is slightly smaller overall, nice one on Home & Workshop at the moment.

One thing I did read the other day is that on the similar gap bed machines from Chester if you remove the gap while it swithin the warantee period it invalidates teh warantee, would be worth checking the small print with Warco before you decide.

J

Edited By JasonB on 17/11/2012 21:22:39

That is a great excuse I'll give you that.

I have seen the Chipmaster and the nice M300 without a gap. The trouble is that neither has DRO and I would also have to add the vat making neither of them cheap

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Hi Chris, I've had the GH1440 for about ten years and its done sterling service. Just to confirm for you, the photos of the 1300 series lathes show the same power Xslide engagement lever that my 1440 has. Lofty

[LathejackParticipant @lathejack]

Hi Chris

Phil W makes a good point about the gearbox on the 1330. The fact is that, in addition to the usual extra change wheels, this lathe comes supplied and fitted with an additional set of gears which use a 100 tooth gear on the gearbox shaft. These are only for generating finer feedrates down to around 0.0026 inches.

When these are in place thead pitches cannot be selected. They do not have to be fitted. If some of the normal change wheels are fitted as shown on the screwcutting chart, say to provide a range of imperial pitches using a 48 tooth gear on the gearbox, then you can select between fine feeds and threads at the flick of a lever but the finest feed will be slightly more than twice the rate.

I have thought about fitting a 96 tooth gear to the gearbox shaft. This would allow a range of similar finer feeds and some thread pitches to be selected without having to alter change wheels. It would have to be remembered that the thread pitches produced would be half that shown on the chart.

Of course, some altering of the change wheels will always be required to cover the full range of metric and imperial threads that the 1330's gearbox is capable of, as is the case with many other makes of lathe. Although some Harrison and Colechester owners can quite rightly enter smug mode on this point.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

If you want an alternative arrangement for feeds have a look at Graham Howe's site.

**LINK**

Half way down the page after the bit about the screwcutting he gets onto his belt feed modinfication. ( it's a great site Graham) It can be applied to any lathe of course.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I'v got a 1324 Belt Head Taiwanese lathe here in NZ, had it 20 years or so. The factory in Taiwan produced the same bed for use by Colchester in England, Colchester suplied there own headstocks etc. With that pedigree, I thought at least the bed would be fairly good, and it has been, I imagine that todays Chinese lathes would be a similar standard, and you'd proberbly buy 2 or 3 of them for the price of a good used British machine, I think mine was about 1/3 the price of a new Myford Super 7. Ian S C

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

Thanks for your help guys.

I am now the proud owner of a Warco 1322.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by chris j on 23/11/2012 17:48:36:

 

Thanks for your help guys.

I am now the proud owner of a Warco 1322.

 

 

Chris,

I was going to ask how you fixed the "Yellow Background" issue but; having just quoted your post, I see it lurking there.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: … but only visible when I'm composing or editing my response!!

It doesn't show on my post; but there was a 'blank line' of Yellow at the bottom of your last post .

… I give up.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 23/11/2012 18:17:31

.

And now, just to rub it in, it's visible in the edited version.

 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 23/11/2012 18:20:05

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 23/11/2012 18:12:01:

Posted by chris j on 23/11/2012 17:48:36:

 

Thanks for your help guys.

I am now the proud owner of a Warco 1322.

 

 

Chris,

I was going to ask how you fixed the "Yellow Background" issue but; having just quoted your post, I see it lurking there.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: … but only visible when I'm composing or editing my response!!

It doesn't show on my post; but there was a 'blank line' of Yellow at the bottom of your last post .

… I give up.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 23/11/2012 18:17:31

.

And now, just to rub it in, it's visible in the edited version.

 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 23/11/2012 18:20:05

Michael

That is because I did quote the reply above me in the thread to try and avoid the yellow. I deleted the quoted post as it was un-needed as it were.

You are now infected by the yellow fever 

I give up too

 

 

ointer” />

 

 

Edited By chris j on 23/11/2012 18:30:31

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nice one Chris !!

Yes; I did wonder if that might be what you had done.

… Oh well.

MichaelG.

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 23/11/2012 18:35:49:

Nice one Chris !!

Yes; I did wonder if that might be what you had done.

… Oh well.

MichaelG.

I have started a couple of threads without any Yellow appearing.

When I tried to reply to this thread by simply typing it came back but if I reply to a post (as I am doing now) it is gone.

[Paul Webster 1Participant @paulwebster1]

Hi Chris How are you getting on with your lathe? I'm looking at getting either a gh 1232 or a gh 1330 but am struggling to decide which model as the 1232 weighs 60kg more than the 1330 which suggests to me that the 1232 is the sturdier machine, or am I better off going for the 1330 but will need to add the cost of a DRO then the dilema of getting single phase or a vfd 3 phase!! If you use a vfd direct to motor do the light and suds pump work off it or do you need to wire them up separately? I keep churning over the choices but am struggling to make a choice. Any input would be appreciated. Paul

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