Warco VMC Head Riser.

[addjunkie]

This is a cracking advert for these modern imported machines. Nice work. Take a bit of confidence to increase the depth of cut, but certainly works.

You must have either an understanding wife or a lottery win as both lathe and mill look almost new

 

[Matthew92]

Thanks again all, yes getting the confidence to wind that handle in is difficult. The first time, you just don’t know how the lathe is going to react, but it’s done fine.

@addjunkie no wife, lucky, I’m not sure how I’d answer the “do we really need that?” Question. Unfortunately no lottery win either, I just have to save hard until I can afford what I want. Both lathe and mill were brand new from Warco, I could have got both these machines second hand, but the savings were too small, and buying new, I get the 12 month warranty and two very helpful chaps from Warco delivered the lathe and placed it just were I wanted it in the workshop. Down steps and 40 meters over grass, I didn’t fancy it.

 

[addjunkie]

Have to agree I found Warco very helpful when I bought my mill.

Might I suggest before you drill your block, you reassemble the mill and mark the base to head reference, then you can check aligment on reassembly.

 

[Matthew92]

@doubleboost @slimjim

Just been looking at my mill and I've got the table up as high as I would comfortably go without the screw disengaging. Currently it goes all the way up level with the top of the Z axis dovetails, with 13 inches of screw showing under the table. Using this mill standard, you could never actually get the table to this height even with the shortest tool fitted. Do your extended lead screws bring your tables above the dovetails at the back, or has Warco started fitting longer lead screws as standard?

 

[slimjim]

@doubleboost @slimjim

Just been looking at my mill and I've got the table up as high as I would comfortably go without the screw disengaging. Currently it goes all the way up level with the top of the Z axis dovetails, with 13 inches of screw showing under the table. Using this mill standard, you could never actually get the table to this height even with the shortest tool fitted. Do your extended lead screws bring your tables above the dovetails at the back, or has Warco started fitting longer lead screws as standard?

View attachment 138717
View attachment 138719

Mine ended up with 50cm of metric acme thread, with a total of 60cm including that which fitted into the knee, if I remember correctly the knee can rise above the table a inch or so, but mine is a 5.5 inch riser, I think I added 150mm to the original acme thread, so it must have been 35cm of thread, and I recon you could safely go an inch higher without it unscrewing.

Have you found out how much higher it goes before it disengages, because you don’t want it to be only held on by a thread or two.

 

[indy4x]

Mines a VMF so while not identical is very similar knee arrangement, I can get the knee up so it's about 20mm below the top of it's ways before the screw disengaged so looks like I may need to get a longer screw

 

[indy4x]

OT question, on most of the manuals I've seen for the VMC/E/F mills there is an oiler on the right hand side of the quill body. For those of you with the VMC clones have a look and if fitted can you measure how far up from the bottom of the quill body to where it is fitted

Thanks

 

[indy4x]

This is from the manual, item 123

 

[slimjim]

This is from the manual, item 123

View attachment 138729

I dont think mine has that, not sure what it’s for, all the bearings are sealed, the quill on mine is greased, from when I had it apart.

 

[indy4x]

It's for oiling the quill, not all of them have it fitted but as mine is apart I've just bought an oiler off RDG Tools and have had a look at the casting and taken a stab at where I think it should be

Hole is now drilled and have been hunting down my 1/8" BSP tap to thread the hole, it's in the garage somewhere

 

[zzr1200]

@doubleboost @slimjim

Just been looking at my mill and I've got the table up as high as I would comfortably go without the screw disengaging. Currently it goes all the way up level with the top of the Z axis dovetails, with 13 inches of screw showing under the table. Using this mill standard, you could never actually get the table to this height even with the shortest tool fitted. Do your extended lead screws bring your tables above the dovetails at the back, or has Warco started fitting longer lead screws as standard?

View attachment 138717
View attachment 138719

i have an older Warco A2F Mill my table comes to the top of the dovetails on the standard lead-screw but it is getting tight, I'm not sure if its unscrewing from the nut or is that this part of the lead-screw threads have never been so high....

 

[Matthew92]

I haven't kept up to date with this as much as I have been. Cutting the pockets was worrying me somewhat, so when I started I just got on with it rather than trying to photograph it all.

The first picture is how I clamped it for cutting the first pocket, this worked but not very well, the only contact I have with the bed is where it sits in the centre T slot. For the next two I did the same but added a clamping bar both sides with a threaded piece between so when tightened it, it had the effect of trying to lift the block off the table which of course it couldn't. This gave me a lot more stability and made cutting the other pocket much easier.



Drilled and tapped, M10 studs fitted. Something I only found when trying to fit the block the first time, is that the T slot bolts are not 10mm all the way down, they have a wider shoulder, we had to lift the head back off twice before I finally got them drilled out to the right size.




Fitted, it gives me 4.4 inches of lift. The best part is, having checked the block before drilling I found a 1.5 thou high spot on it, I knew the head needed shimming at the front, so I made sure this high spot was at the front and now I am within about 1.5 thou over a 6 inch swing, so with a little more work I could get it spot on.

 

[congo181]

Hi all.
I about to make a riser for my Chester and I’ve been contemplating the material. I was going to use CI to match the machine but what grades of steel will give some lubrication?
Cheers, Jim

 

[Agroshield]

...I was going to use CI to match the machine but what grades of steel will give some lubrication?

What do you require lubricating?

As the photo above your post shows, the riser block goes between the two cast iron parts of the original machine. Steel on cast iron at either the top or the bottom is a good combination of materials and needs no additional consideration for lubrication. It is not a high speed, constant-rotation joint.