Great addition to your workshop Andrew. This is going to greatly increase your enjoyment of the hobby. Giving you so many more options and possibilities. Enjoy!
Gday Andrew, there a very nice mill, I think that the Y axis on nearly all mills are a bugger to do from all the videos I’ve seen and everyone makes all new brackets, thanks for the tour around your mill, I really enjoyed this, take care, Cheers Matty
I have the 16B very similar. Fitted my own DRO for the fun of it and I was really impressed with Warco, great machines and customer service.......still playing with it 2 years on!
Hi John - good to hear that their customer service is great - but I hope I never need it. The DRO transformed my Sieg mini mill and I just couldn't work without one now. It just makes milling such a pleasure. I'm very impressed with the WM18. All the best. Andrew
The thunk on starting is just the mag contacts pulling in, nothing amiss. The hand wheel setup is so you don’t whack something or someone when the power feed is operating.
Hi. I have the same mill, bought from Warco. It arrived with a couple of missing bolts so I decided to give it a good checking over. I really would advise having a look at the gears. Mine were greased but had a mix of swarf in the grease. Also needed a good clean around the RPM sensor. Gibs needed to be oil-stoned and re lubricated. Warco say ready to use out of the box...Mine wasn't. I also added a couple of extra bolts to where the head fixes to the pillar, makes it a much more rigid machine and keeps it in true. Having done all this I am very pleased with it...performs well.
I did it while the head was unbolted from the pillar. There is an inspection cover that is removed allowing access to the gears. Not too sure about access by removing other parts. There is a breakdown of the parts, like a parts list, with the machine.
Well jealous of the Warco!!, bought a 2nd hand Sealey yesterday, ( Same as the Seig I believe), will add upgrades like you did to you seig until I can afford a Warco!!, This channel is superb, keep up the good work!!
NIce new toy Andrew. I have the WM16 with MT2 quill, does all I give it to do. The only difference being mine is the old gear drive so I've got to make sure I don't give too much DOC & strip the plastic gear, fingers X'd so far. After sales service is also good. Have fun.
Nice bit of kit that, I've just bought the wm14, I'm a bit limited with space in my workshop, plus my wife has a £1000 threshold, if I stay under that on my toys I tend not to get it in the neck 😁
@@learningturningmetal I'm happy with it and it's more than enough for what I need it for, looking forward to some vids of you using yours, I'm still on the amateur level with the mill so any hints and tips would be very welcome👍 Cheers Tom
Hi Andrew, bit late responding to this video. I have the Warco WM 250 lathe and love it. You have a nice machine there, quality machine for a quality engineer.
great video as always, i just seen yuor clark scissor lift table and was wonder could you do a video on it as i'm thinking of getting one but can't seem to find any videos on the internet? How do you get on with it is it worth the money.
Thanks Ashley. I got the lifting table from machinemart. It's a 500Kg lifting capacity purchased especially to move the mill into place. At the time I thought it would be one of those things that I would use once or twice. However I find that I use it on a regular basis. It's ever so convenient for moving lighter stuff as well, such as my 'portable' table saw, my large rotary table etc. I've just built a CNC engraver and without the lifting table I would have had to ask my neighbours to help me move it into it's proper location. It is just very convenient to have around and helps avoid damaging my back. It's also very precise and easy to get the table level with other worktops. Just pump the foot peda to higher it and pull the lever to lower it. When not is use I put it in its lowest position and put recycling boxes on it. It's not recommended to hold items at a higher level for long perions of time. Hope that helps. Andrew
Well that was quick getting out. Very nice. Also looks like head unit pivots? Saw a scale underneath toward the end of the video. Enjoy it Andrew and go make some chips.
Well spotted John. With the tramming being nearly perfect I doubt that I will ever tilt the head. I bet it's a but of a pain to get it back again perfect. Yeah it is a really nice mill to use. Cheers Andrew
Hi Andrew, Nice mill :) Looks to come from the same factory as the Grizzly G0704 \ clone ?. The clunk that you hear is the contactor ( heavy duty relay) inside the control box, mine does the same. I have to make sure the speed pot is at its lowest position and the forward everse switch is in zero position. Before hitting the start button, otherwise the spindle won't start. The right hand hand wheel, is a safety feature, for the powerfeed. Swap the spring position :) ATB Adam
Hi Adam - thanks for the info. I downloaded the Grizzly manual and followed the spindle running-in procedure. The spindle will start on mine with it already switched to forward/reverse, so not sure what is going on there. All the best. Andrew
4 года назад
Helo Andrew. My milling machine as no DRO or power feed. They are tools that I would like to have. I'll have to wait... I have a question for you. In the small milling machine you have installed a different DRO, type home made. For the price it doesn't seem worth it, compared to what you bought at Warco. It is possible to buy similar to that of Warco or from Warco, at a reasonable price. Or does the first DRO have an advantage? Cesar
Hi Cesar - the scales on the Warco are a lot bigger than on the smaller mill. I doubt that they would fit. The scales that I fitted to the smaller mill came from Arc Euro Trade in the UK. Hope that helps. Cheers Andrew
Hello Andrew, I would be very interested to know your opinion. Why did you discard the purchase of the WM18B and especially the GH UNIVERSAL MILLING MACHINE ?Thank you
Hi Luis - I don't recall seeing the WM18B being listed at the time. Maybe I missed it or it's just been added? I can't remember why the GH didn't appeal to me. The WM18 ticked most boxes for me and I'm very happy with it. Sorry I can't be more specific. Cheers Andrew
Very nice! Can I ask what made you buy this in addition to your Sieg? I am looking to buy my first mill and cannot quite justify the cost of something like a WM18
Hi. When I purchased the sieg sx2p I had limited space. I chose the sx2p because it takes r8 tooling. My plan was always to purchase a larger mill when I had more space. The warco also takes r8 tooling. Hope that helps. Andrew
The SX2P is a great little mill but I think I pushed it to it's limits when machining out masses of aluminium for the Farm Boy front and rear frames. Also, I only feel comfortable taking 10 thou cuts with the mini mill. The Warco should enable me to take larger cuts and save time. All the best. Andrew
Yes the sieg 2.7 had the same system of spring loaded hand wheel, But the spring on the hand wheel if it is anything like the sieg and it looks like it is, can be removed which is what I did. The x axis locking levers are fairly prone to being broken.
Stephen, agree that the X axix lever locks are a very poor design idea. As I've mentioned earlier Quinn has modified her Precision Mathews mill locks to knurled knobs and binned the levers. She has made a video of the job over on her Blondihacks channel.
@@howardosborne8647 Hi Howard. I have not seen the video you mentioned, but I did something pretty similar myself by the sound of it :). Will have to look and Quinn's Video. Regards Steve
Hi Tim - I'll give you a brief summary of my thoughts. I fitted the Warco 3-axis DRO myself. It's far better than the Sieg - as it's got all sorts of maths functions. The Sieg unit was very basic. The WM18 feels far more solid. The WM18 powerfeed on the x-axis is far more robust and heavier duty. I prefer the handwheel adjustment on the WM18 z-axis as you have precise control. On the Sieg, I found it difficult to accuratly control the z-axis with the motor. The WM18 came with a min/max tolerances checklist with actuals hand written in. This gave me an element of comfort that it had gone through some form of QA. The digital depth gauge on the quill is similar on both machines. I would like to replace it with the capability of displaying the addition of both the quill and z-axis measurements. I understand that M-DRO sell an adding module but not sure if its compatible with the Warco scales and display. I can't think of anyhting bad about the WM18 at the moment. Hope that helps. Cheers Abdrew
Hi Andrew, great overview, jealous of your DRO and power feed! I have recently brought a Cormak Zx-7045 (probably made in the same factory in China but assembled in Poland). If you have a few minutes, have a quick look at a few of my videos on it (makes your toes curl up!), you might find some useful references if you ever strip yours down for maintenance etc. Hope you don't come across any of the same "poor workmanship" I am finding. Like your channel, keep up the good work with the videos, I enjoy watching. Cheers, Jon
Hi there, my first mill was a small Sieg SX2P from ArcEuroTrade. Belt driven, brushless, R8 spindle. It needed a bit of work to get it working well, but it is quite accurate and has milled everything I've thrown at it. I eventually needed something with greater capacity (table to spindle height) and the following were on my list of must-haves: 1. Powered x-axis. 2. R8 spindle - this excluded a lot of potential candidates. 3. Good DRO on all 3 axis with maths functions. 4. Decent capacity: table to spindle and throat. 5. Reasonably powerful motor - brushless and belt-driven would be a nice-to-have. 6. Positive reviews from others using the same model of machine. 7. Decent reviews of the supplier. 8. Some element of quality control - for example maximum tolerance of spindle runout and the actual measured. If the mill didn't actually match the QC report, I would have good grounds to return it. 9. NO power feed on the z-axis - I like to have full manual control for accurate placement of the head. 10. New and not second-hand. The Warco WM18 fit the bill, though I had to fit the scales and DRO myself. I believe that Warco have since released a brushless, belt driven version but I'm not sure if the rest of the spec would meet all my above requirements. I'm very happy with it, spindle runout is very close to zero and it machines very accurately. Time will tell as to whether the motor and controller are reliable. Hope that helps. All the best. Andrew
@@learningturningmetal Many thanks Andrew - I feel like I'm going to end up with a mill at some point, and I rather cut out the beginner model if possible - but t feels like such a huge expensie it's way off on the horizon. It was very useful to get your reasoning behind this model, I can see why! All the very best,
Yeah - the WM18 is really good. The power feed on the x-axis is fantastic. I fitted the Warco scales/DRO myself and its very accurate. Spindle runout pretty much on zero. No regrets at all. I believe Warco now do a belt driven version, but I think it lacks x-axis power feed. Cheers Andrew
Hi Nicholas. The paint peeling off the SX3.5DZP got worse so it was returned. I wasn't happy with a replacement, so I decided to give Warco a try. So far I'm pretty impressed with it. Cheers Andrew
Amazing these chinese! I love the power y feed - z would be nice to with stepper motors to stop at predetermined settings. Only thing I wish could be improved are the locking levers. Why can’t they supply knurled round knobs? I suppose easy enough to make your own. Good luck and happy days with your new toy.
@@learningturningmetal The lock levers on the X axis are a poor idea. If in the wrong position they catch against the edge of the base when the Y axis is being traversed and end up bending the threaded portion. A far better option is to remove these 2 lever handles and fit a couple of knurled knobs. On Blondihacks channel you'll find a video where Quinn has done exactly this modification to overcome the bent handle scenario. Its a mod I need to get around to on my WM 16 Warco.
Agreed. I was going to make the same point. I have similar levers on my Chester mill and they keep catching. The threads are now bent and need changing.
Ha ha. The US just needs a trade deal with China. I bet Grizzly do a very similar model to mine. The Grizzly G0704 is very similar in design, but it looks smaller than the Warco. Cheers Andrew
@@howardosborne8647 : PM offers an excellent mill but after watching Blondie Hacks, it has to be smaller. She always fighting for room. The Grizzly that I looked at has trouble doing cast and mild steel but is great for aluminum and brass.
Hi Craig - why not go onto the Warco website and compare WM18 specs with PM and Grizzly? You might be able to get something very close. Good luck. Andrew
Get the motor box off. Make the holes in the base of the motor bigger. And fit an Extractor fan to the top. These motors have a habit of running very hot. Yes I melted mine. Also convert to belt drive. All the new ones are. I have the bits. Lovely mill otherwise.
Nice machine! Your gonna need a guill stop I made one for my bench mill it comes in very handy. I copied the quill stop that Ades Workshop did for his Warco bench mill, check him out, his lives inthe UK may be your neighbor.
Hi Raymond. The warco website has all the current prices but I guess shipping to the US would be very costly. I believe Grizzly and Precision Mathews sell similar machines. I think Blondy Hacks uses a PM-25. There is also a PM-30MV available. I think the Grizzly G0704 might be similar too. Check out other comments made on the video. Cheers Andrew
@@learningturningmetal thanks andrew I have been looking at the precision mathews and the grizzly I like the pm machine looks like a good unit but was hoping to get a third option to dream about and compare. Thanks for the return reply and the great content keep it coming
Looks good and robust. Hope you can do heavier jobs on it. Try to think of something you can do to make money rather than just a hobby. Just a thought mate.
Thanks Dermot. It feels rock solid so I should be able to do far heavier cuts. I try keep life as simple as possible and don't need the pressure of making money. I just prefer to enjoy the hobby and hope the channel helps others. However, if a billionaire wanted to help support my hobby with a few million quid, I wouldn't argue - ha ha. All the best. Andrew
HI Andrew - really enjoy your videos. I'm new to model engineering (i.e. about 3 years) and bought a WM14. There are no instructions of how to use the quill DRO and Warco don't know either. So I worked it out myself and did a little youtube video. You can see it at ruclips.net/video/E5eh-eN2viw/видео.html. I put CNC on my WM14 which was an interesting experiment. Jonathan
If that's an open box of slip gauges near your mill - there's something that goes against the grain in leaving the box open ! Accurate measurement tools should be kept in closed boxes !
Thanks John - fingers crossed it will serve me well. Using a mini mill, I'm used to milling in 10 thou increments. I think this mill will eat metal! It feels rock solid. All the best. Andrew
Great addition to your workshop Andrew. This is going to greatly increase your enjoyment of the hobby. Giving you so many more options and possibilities. Enjoy!
Cheers Don - it should make things a lot easier.
All the best.
Andrew
Wonderful, a new toy to play with.
Congratulations
Peter
Gday Andrew, there a very nice mill, I think that the Y axis on nearly all mills are a bugger to do from all the videos I’ve seen and everyone makes all new brackets, thanks for the tour around your mill, I really enjoyed this, take care, Cheers Matty
Congrats on the new milling machine! Looking forward to see it in action.
I have the 16B very similar. Fitted my own DRO for the fun of it and I was really impressed with Warco, great machines and customer service.......still playing with it 2 years on!
Hi John - good to hear that their customer service is great - but I hope I never need it. The DRO transformed my Sieg mini mill and I just couldn't work without one now. It just makes milling such a pleasure. I'm very impressed with the WM18.
All the best.
Andrew
Congrats with the new mill, enjoy it!
The thunk on starting is just the mag contacts pulling in, nothing amiss.
The hand wheel setup is so you don’t whack something or someone when the power feed is operating.
Hi. I have the same mill, bought from Warco. It arrived with a couple of missing bolts so I decided to give it a good checking over. I really would advise having a look at the gears. Mine were greased but had a mix of swarf in the grease. Also needed a good clean around the RPM sensor. Gibs needed to be oil-stoned and re lubricated. Warco say ready to use out of the box...Mine wasn't. I also added a couple of extra bolts to where the head fixes to the pillar, makes it a much more rigid machine and keeps it in true. Having done all this I am very pleased with it...performs well.
Hi Kev - many thanks for the info. Is it easy to strip it down and get access to the gears?
Cheers
Andrew
I did it while the head was unbolted from the pillar. There is an inspection cover that is removed allowing access to the gears. Not too sure about access by removing other parts. There is a breakdown of the parts, like a parts list, with the machine.
Thanks Kev, I will investigate!
Cheers
Andrew
Thanks for the informative review. I’m thinking of buying the smaller MR14 mill. Hello from Switzerland!
Thanks Andy. If the MR14 is of a similar quality build to mine you should be well chuffed.
All the best.
Andrew
Nice choice Andrew, I am very envious!
Thanks Andrew - I hope it's as reliable as my little SX2P which has tackled everything I have thrown at it.
Cheers
Andrew
Christmas in September! Wish Santa would leave me a mill.🎅
Well jealous of the Warco!!, bought a 2nd hand Sealey yesterday, ( Same as the Seig I believe), will add upgrades like you did to you seig until I can afford a Warco!!,
This channel is superb, keep up the good work!!
Thanks mate! The little SX2P did all I asked of it - once the various mods were made.
All the best.
Andrew
NIce new toy Andrew. I have the WM16 with MT2 quill, does all I give it to do. The only difference being mine is the old gear drive so I've got to make sure I don't give too much DOC & strip the plastic gear, fingers X'd so far. After sales service is also good. Have fun.
Thanks mate - that's encouraging. It does feel like a great mill.
All the best.
Andrew
Nice bit of kit that, I've just bought the wm14, I'm a bit limited with space in my workshop, plus my wife has a £1000 threshold, if I stay under that on my toys I tend not to get it in the neck 😁
I'm sure the WM14 is a cracking machine too. I hope it serves you well.
All the best.
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal I'm happy with it and it's more than enough for what I need it for, looking forward to some vids of you using yours, I'm still on the amateur level with the mill so any hints and tips would be very welcome👍
Cheers
Tom
Hi Tom - just remember that I am an amateur too and make sure you don't pick up any of my bad habits!
Cheers
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal I'll remember lol😂😂, I'm sure I'll create a few of my own on the way👍
All the best
Tom
Thank you nice mill
Mans mill that! Got one similar myself 👌
Your new mill looks impressive. I am sure it will do everything you want...unless you go for a really big lifesize project!
Thanks Tim - fingers crossed!
Glad I found you Andrew, I'm still waiting for my WM18 order to come in stock. Good video. Subscribed.
Hi Dave, I think the virus is now having a major impact on goods coming from China. I hope it arrives soon. It's a great mill.
Cheers
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal yes me too, getting excited :-)
Hi Andrew, bit late responding to this video. I have the Warco WM 250 lathe and love it. You have a nice machine there, quality machine for a quality engineer.
Ha ha Berty - a quality machine but I'm no too sure about the operator!
Cheers
Andrew
Excellent video, interesting at to the point,
looking great enjoy
Yeah - it turned out to be a great purchase.
Cheers
Andrew
great video as always, i just seen yuor clark scissor lift table and was wonder could you do a video on it as i'm thinking of getting one but can't seem to find any videos on the internet? How do you get on with it is it worth the money.
Thanks Ashley. I got the lifting table from machinemart. It's a 500Kg lifting capacity purchased especially to move the mill into place. At the time I thought it would be one of those things that I would use once or twice. However I find that I use it on a regular basis. It's ever so convenient for moving lighter stuff as well, such as my 'portable' table saw, my large rotary table etc. I've just built a CNC engraver and without the lifting table I would have had to ask my neighbours to help me move it into it's proper location. It is just very convenient to have around and helps avoid damaging my back. It's also very precise and easy to get the table level with other worktops. Just pump the foot peda to higher it and pull the lever to lower it. When not is use I put it in its lowest position and put recycling boxes on it. It's not recommended to hold items at a higher level for long perions of time.
Hope that helps.
Andrew
Well that was quick getting out. Very nice. Also looks like head unit pivots? Saw a scale underneath toward the end of the video. Enjoy it Andrew and go make some chips.
Well spotted John. With the tramming being nearly perfect I doubt that I will ever tilt the head. I bet it's a but of a pain to get it back again perfect.
Yeah it is a really nice mill to use.
Cheers
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Nice mill :)
Looks to come from the same factory as the Grizzly G0704 \ clone ?.
The clunk that you hear is the contactor ( heavy duty relay) inside the control box, mine does the same.
I have to make sure the speed pot is at its lowest position and the forward
everse switch is in zero position.
Before hitting the start button, otherwise the spindle won't start.
The right hand hand wheel, is a safety feature, for the powerfeed.
Swap the spring position :)
ATB
Adam
Hi Adam - thanks for the info.
I downloaded the Grizzly manual and followed the spindle running-in procedure.
The spindle will start on mine with it already switched to forward/reverse, so not sure what is going on there.
All the best.
Andrew
Helo Andrew. My milling machine as no DRO or power feed. They are tools that I would like to have. I'll have to wait... I have a question for you.
In the small milling machine you have installed a different DRO, type home made. For the price it doesn't seem worth it, compared to what you bought at Warco. It is possible to buy similar to that of Warco or from Warco, at a reasonable price. Or does the first DRO have an advantage?
Cesar
Hi Cesar - the scales on the Warco are a lot bigger than on the smaller mill. I doubt that they would fit.
The scales that I fitted to the smaller mill came from Arc Euro Trade in the UK.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
Andrew
Hello Andrew, I would be very interested to know your opinion. Why did you discard the purchase of the WM18B and especially the GH UNIVERSAL MILLING MACHINE
?Thank you
Hi Luis - I don't recall seeing the WM18B being listed at the time. Maybe I missed it or it's just been added?
I can't remember why the GH didn't appeal to me.
The WM18 ticked most boxes for me and I'm very happy with it.
Sorry I can't be more specific.
Cheers
Andrew
Very nice! Can I ask what made you buy this in addition to your Sieg? I am looking to buy my first mill and cannot quite justify the cost of something like a WM18
Hi. When I purchased the sieg sx2p I had limited space. I chose the sx2p because it takes r8 tooling. My plan was always to purchase a larger mill when I had more space. The warco also takes r8 tooling.
Hope that helps.
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal Thanks for your response. As my model engineering mentor always said, "get the best and biggest machines you can"
@@RecklessModelling I couldn't agree more 👍
Congrats! Will you change the limit switch label after you've had it for a few months? Will no longer be 'new' then will it?!
Ha ha - nice one!
I think I've got an Australian verision too - the 'Rapid Switch' is upside-down.
Cheers
Andrew
Could you tell me what the base measures front to back please, not including the handle. Trying to see how deep a bench I need :)
Hi Steve
The base measures 21" front to back. The wheel at the top extends beyond the rear of the base by about an inch.
Hope that helps.
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal Many thanks Andrew!
New grown up toy.....I mean tool 😁. My endstop sensor cover falls off too.
🤓🤓🤓🤓👍
Great looking machine. Did you need something bigger than the SX2P or was it just time for an upgrade?
The SX2P is a great little mill but I think I pushed it to it's limits when machining out masses of aluminium for the Farm Boy front and rear frames. Also, I only feel comfortable taking 10 thou cuts with the mini mill. The Warco should enable me to take larger cuts and save time.
All the best.
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal Great stuff. I reckon I'm a couple of years behind you on the journey!
Yes the sieg 2.7 had the same system of spring loaded hand wheel, But the spring on the hand wheel if it is anything like the sieg and it looks like it is, can be removed which is what I did. The x axis locking levers are fairly prone to being broken.
Thanks for the info Stephen - I will remove the spring on my handwheel ASAP.
All the best.
Andrew
Stephen, agree that the X axix lever locks are a very poor design idea. As I've mentioned earlier Quinn has modified her Precision Mathews mill locks to knurled knobs and binned the levers. She has made a video of the job over on her Blondihacks channel.
@@howardosborne8647 Hi Howard. I have not seen the video you mentioned, but I did something pretty similar myself by the sound of it :). Will have to look and Quinn's Video.
Regards
Steve
The "clunk" you mentioned will most likely be the electrical contactor pulling in and letting go.
Hi John - I thought it might be something like that. I hope it's not a weak point of the machine. Time will tell.
Cheers
Andrew
Now you have chance to use the wm18 how does it compare to the seig sx3.5dzp that you had. DRO on wm18 looks better
Hi Tim - I'll give you a brief summary of my thoughts.
I fitted the Warco 3-axis DRO myself. It's far better than the Sieg - as it's got all sorts of maths functions. The Sieg unit was very basic.
The WM18 feels far more solid.
The WM18 powerfeed on the x-axis is far more robust and heavier duty.
I prefer the handwheel adjustment on the WM18 z-axis as you have precise control. On the Sieg, I found it difficult to accuratly control the z-axis with the motor.
The WM18 came with a min/max tolerances checklist with actuals hand written in. This gave me an element of comfort that it had gone through some form of QA.
The digital depth gauge on the quill is similar on both machines. I would like to replace it with the capability of displaying the addition of both the quill and z-axis measurements. I understand that M-DRO sell an adding module but not sure if its compatible with the Warco scales and display.
I can't think of anyhting bad about the WM18 at the moment.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
Abdrew
Hi Andrew, great overview, jealous of your DRO and power feed! I have recently brought a Cormak Zx-7045 (probably made in the same factory in China but assembled in Poland). If you have a few minutes, have a quick look at a few of my videos on it (makes your toes curl up!), you might find some useful references if you ever strip yours down for maintenance etc. Hope you don't come across any of the same "poor workmanship" I am finding. Like your channel, keep up the good work with the videos, I enjoy watching. Cheers, Jon
Hi Jon - many thanks for the info and feedback. I'll have a gander at your videos.
Cheers
Andrew
Good evening Andrew, Could I ask what drove you to this particular mill combination?
Hi there, my first mill was a small Sieg SX2P from ArcEuroTrade. Belt driven, brushless, R8 spindle. It needed a bit of work to get it working well, but it is quite accurate and has milled everything I've thrown at it. I eventually needed something with greater capacity (table to spindle height) and the following were on my list of must-haves:
1. Powered x-axis.
2. R8 spindle - this excluded a lot of potential candidates.
3. Good DRO on all 3 axis with maths functions.
4. Decent capacity: table to spindle and throat.
5. Reasonably powerful motor - brushless and belt-driven would be a nice-to-have.
6. Positive reviews from others using the same model of machine.
7. Decent reviews of the supplier.
8. Some element of quality control - for example maximum tolerance of spindle runout and the actual measured. If the mill didn't actually match the QC report, I would have good grounds to return it.
9. NO power feed on the z-axis - I like to have full manual control for accurate placement of the head.
10. New and not second-hand.
The Warco WM18 fit the bill, though I had to fit the scales and DRO myself. I believe that Warco have since released a brushless, belt driven version but I'm not sure if the rest of the spec would meet all my above requirements.
I'm very happy with it, spindle runout is very close to zero and it machines very accurately. Time will tell as to whether the motor and controller are reliable.
Hope that helps.
All the best.
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal Many thanks Andrew - I feel like I'm going to end up with a mill at some point, and I rather cut out the beginner model if possible - but t feels like such a huge expensie it's way off on the horizon. It was very useful to get your reasoning behind this model, I can see why! All the very best,
how is the mill so far? still preforming well? I'm very interested in buying a Waco mill most likely the WM16
Yeah - the WM18 is really good. The power feed on the x-axis is fantastic. I fitted the Warco scales/DRO myself and its very accurate. Spindle runout pretty much on zero. No regrets at all. I believe Warco now do a belt driven version, but I think it lacks x-axis power feed.
Cheers
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal thanks Andrew! How is the table size for what you do, ever feel its too small or narrow?
The table is very long. You could put a rotary table on one side and do general machining on the other. No issues with depth either, for what I do.
@@learningturningmetal Thats great, thanks again Andrew for your feedback, it helps a lot with making that final decision:)
What happened to the last one ? , that wasn't very old apart from the paint issue which i think was replaced ?.
Hi Nicholas. The paint peeling off the SX3.5DZP got worse so it was returned. I wasn't happy with a replacement, so I decided to give Warco a try. So far I'm pretty impressed with it.
Cheers
Andrew
Amazing these chinese! I love the power y feed - z would be nice to with stepper motors to stop at predetermined settings. Only thing I wish could be improved are the locking levers. Why can’t they supply knurled round knobs? I suppose easy enough to make your own. Good luck and happy days with your new toy.
Yeah Mike - there must be a better alternative to locking levers.
Dead right - happy days!
Cheers
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal The lock levers on the X axis are a poor idea. If in the wrong position they catch against the edge of the base when the Y axis is being traversed and end up bending the threaded portion. A far better option is to remove these 2 lever handles and fit a couple of knurled knobs. On Blondihacks channel you'll find a video where Quinn has done exactly this modification to overcome the bent handle scenario. Its a mod I need to get around to on my WM 16 Warco.
Agreed. I was going to make the same point. I have similar levers on my Chester mill and they keep catching. The threads are now bent and need changing.
I have a Optimum BF20 mill ( basically the same )and i will be changing the locking levers as I have already managed to catch them and bend the arms
Yeah - looks like a common problem. Also discussed under Stephen Tayler's thread - which might be of interest.
Cheers
Andrew
I have an Optimum that is identical to this model. They are made in the same factory in China I'm guessing.
Hi mate nice machine I hope that hit miss engine is coming along.
Hi Jason - it's been slowwww progress recently with the conrod, but hopefully things will pick up a pace soon.
All the best.
Andrew
3:08 You say fine feed lock, caption says spindle lock (I'm suspicious of that one)
Do you mean it's a quill lock ?
Probably :-)
Thanks for sharing! Maybe after the US and UK completes there trade deal, they'll be offered here in the USA.
Ha ha. The US just needs a trade deal with China. I bet Grizzly do a very similar model to mine. The Grizzly G0704 is very similar in design, but it looks smaller than the Warco.
Cheers
Andrew
Craig, I believe Precision Mathews and Grizzly both offer very similarly sized and specced mills to the Warco.
@@howardosborne8647 : PM offers an excellent mill but after watching Blondie Hacks, it has to be smaller. She always fighting for room. The Grizzly that I looked at has trouble doing cast and mild steel but is great for aluminum and brass.
Hi Craig - why not go onto the Warco website and compare WM18 specs with PM and Grizzly? You might be able to get something very close.
Good luck.
Andrew
Craig L. Young PM has two sizes which are very similar in features. The PM-25 is what Blondihacks has and the PM-30 is the bigger brother.
bravo 👏👏
Any chance you could do a video on how to tram it please
Hi Jay
I did a video when I trammed my mini mill. Check out video #MT7. I hope that helps.
Cheers
Andrew
Get the motor box off. Make the holes in the base of the motor bigger. And fit an Extractor fan to the top.
These motors have a habit of running very hot.
Yes I melted mine.
Also convert to belt drive. All the new ones are. I have the bits. Lovely mill otherwise.
Thanks for the advice.
Cheers
Andrew
How much parice
Hi. The warco website has all current prices.
Cheers
Andrew
Nice machine! Your gonna need a guill stop I made one for my bench mill it comes in very handy. I copied the quill stop that Ades Workshop did for his Warco bench mill, check him out, his lives inthe UK may be your neighbor.
Thanks for the suggestion Chui. I follow Ade but I think I missed that one.
Cheers!
Andrew
How much $
Hi Raymond. The warco website has all the current prices but I guess shipping to the US would be very costly. I believe Grizzly and Precision Mathews sell similar machines. I think Blondy Hacks uses a PM-25. There is also a PM-30MV available. I think the Grizzly G0704 might be similar too. Check out other comments made on the video.
Cheers
Andrew
@@learningturningmetal thanks andrew I have been looking at the precision mathews and the grizzly I like the pm machine looks like a good unit but was hoping to get a third option to dream about and compare.
Thanks for the return reply and the great content keep it coming
0:23 "which is from marco and it's a wm18 "
I think you mean WAR CO !
Looks good and robust. Hope you can do heavier jobs on it. Try to think of something you can do to make money rather than just a hobby. Just a thought mate.
Thanks Dermot. It feels rock solid so I should be able to do far heavier cuts. I try keep life as simple as possible and don't need the pressure of making money. I just prefer to enjoy the hobby and hope the channel helps others. However, if a billionaire wanted to help support my hobby with a few million quid, I wouldn't argue - ha ha.
All the best.
Andrew
Not impressed with having to have the spindle turning, in order to use the fast traverse.
Yeah not ideal. However I think it can easily be rewired to work without the spindle turning.
Cheers
Andrew
Check out channel ADES WORKSHOP - he's made a few amendments to his mill (WM16B)
HI Andrew - really enjoy your videos. I'm new to model engineering (i.e. about 3 years) and bought a WM14. There are no instructions of how to use the quill DRO and Warco don't know either. So I worked it out myself and did a little youtube video. You can see it at ruclips.net/video/E5eh-eN2viw/видео.html. I put CNC on my WM14 which was an interesting experiment. Jonathan
If that's an open box of slip gauges near your mill - there's something that goes against the grain in leaving the box open ! Accurate measurement tools should be kept in closed boxes !
No - my slip gauges are nowhere to be seen in this video.
@@learningturningmetal Well there appears to be a boxed set of something - open !
Looks like a well built machine. Wouldn't worry about noise coming from power disconnect, strong release.
Thanks John - fingers crossed it will serve me well. Using a mini mill, I'm used to milling in 10 thou increments. I think this mill will eat metal! It feels rock solid.
All the best.
Andrew