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Registered Member #11591
Joined: Wed Mar 20 2013, 08:20PM
Location: UK
Posts: 556
I have the smaller brother (the 180 from Warco) and I recommend the series. There have been a few problems: the stub-shafts which also act as bearings which hold the gears for the powered travel have an incredibly thin section and a hole bored down the middle for oil which makes them really easy to break: do not over-tighten! The drive belts can be degraded by oil and grease and one snapped on me.
If you can find one I would buy an older second-hand lathe (from back when they were made to perfection:), in the UK they are usually pretty cheap unless they are in pristine condition. If you can't though, your choice seems a good one, but it might be worth looking at different distributors variations on the same lathe (there are two or three in the UK and Warco was the cheapest with the best features).
Registered Member #1321
Joined: Sat Feb 16 2008, 03:22AM
Location:
Posts: 843
Thanks for the reply.
I'm wondering, have you ever checked the alignment of your lathe; i.e., how well the spindle is aligned with the ways?
The reason I ask is because when I got my first lathe (MicroMark 7 x 14), the alignment was not very good as I received it. I was getting a taper (on the radius) of about 0.0005" per inch or something like that. In order to reduce the taper I had to practically disassemble the lathe and place shims in certain places. By trial and error I was able to reduce the taper down to about 0.00015" per inch or something like that. I hope if I get the Weiss lathe I won't have that kind of problem again.
Registered Member #19
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 03:19PM
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 168
I have a similar Grizzly lathe which has required plenty of work and I regret buying it. For serious work, you are better off buying a used lathe from a known brand like Colchester. These cheap smaller lathes are a waste of time.
Registered Member #1321
Joined: Sat Feb 16 2008, 03:22AM
Location:
Posts: 843
IIRC Grizzly = Sieg; and my MicroMark lathe was also made by Sieg.
Having the alignment problems I did, I decided that I'd never buy anything else made by Sieg.
I may be wrong, but I presently believe that Weiss and Precision Matthews lathes are better than Sieg lathes.
the_anomaly wrote ...
I have a similar Grizzly lathe which has required plenty of work and I regret buying it. For serious work, you are better off buying a used lathe from a known brand like Colchester. These cheap smaller lathes are a waste of time.
Registered Member #19
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 03:19PM
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 168
It may have better spindle bearings, may have a better finish on the ways and cross/compound slides, but some of the castings look exactly the same as my G0602 and that IMO is the issue. All the major components are cast from a really soft material. Its not steel. If it were, the machine would perform better for cutting carbon steels and such.
If you plan to cut aluminium, brass, plastic, it will do great. For steel it will really struggle. It is hard to build rigidity into a small lathe such that the tool does not buckle when cutting even when you take a small cut.
If you do go for it I am interested to know how you like it. Old timers tell me a 14 x 40 is really the machine you want even for home use. I've run some larger lathes and they cut steel like butter; I will definitely be upgrading in the future.
Registered Member #1321
Joined: Sat Feb 16 2008, 03:22AM
Location:
Posts: 843
This is the first time I've heard about such issues when turning steel. I haven't done much work with steel myself, but I did find a few youtube videos where steel is being cut with Chinese lathes. Here's one with a Grizzly G0602, but I don't know what kind of steel he's got there.
I think I am going to get the Weiss WBL250F, but probably not until next month. If so I'll report here about it.
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Does anyone have a Weiss lathe?
