Which Lathe Arc Euro Trade C6 or Warco WM-250

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I haven't seen or used either of these lathes so cannot comment directly, however the following may be of interest :

I saw someone here mention that the C6 is more heavily built than some of the other lathes of its size which gives an advantage in terms of rigidity. If you want the lathe for model engineering purposes you

*will* require a 4-jaw chuck, and sooner rather than later, so whichever you buy you need to factor that into the price.

Regards,

Mike

I must admit I'm biast as I have a C6B but point's I have noticed with these lower cost machines. Firstly the speeds quoted are technically correct but not practically correct.

0 to 2000 is possible but not useable. On the C6 lowest useable speed is about 150 - 160 rpm due to lack of grunt, remember we are talking electronic gearing here and you can't get out more than you put in. I have swapped mine over to a two pulley setup and got useable speed down to about 70 - 80 and top speed up to 2500. Simple job that can be done on the donor machine.

The Warco one advertises two speed ranges but I'm sure [ stand corrected ] that these are electronic speed ranges that are even worse for loosing power. Given that you are running a motor 2/3 as powerful as the C6 to start with lowest useable speed could be as high as 250 on one of these. Please note I'm guessing here as I have never run a WM 280.

Now my turn to ask a question, are you sure the 280 is 26mm thru the spindle? Sounds big to me for a machine smaller than the C6, hope it's rigid enough.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

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Go for a Myford super 7 you can get one for the price of a Warco and with the Myford there is loads of tooling available.

But then you only get a spindle bore of 19/32", which is extremely frustrating when you need to turn down a new 5/8" leadscrew......... Luckily I know a man down the road with a bigger lathe .

Peter

Thanks for the replies so far.

I would definitely be buying the 4 jaw chuck as an extra if I went fo the C6B.

The information on the actual C6B practical speed ranges is a bi dissappointing. If the lowest usable speed is only 150rpm then i doesn;t seem worth buying the C6B over the standard C6 which I thin has a low speed of 125rpm anyway.

On the Warco WM-250 the link is here to their catalo here....

According to this the hole through spindle bore is 26mm. (although the do say that general dimensions shown in the catalogue may be subject t minor variations from those published!) I have the brochure and it does look like the two speed ranges are b twin pulley arrangement becasue you can see the diagrams of the pulle layout on the headstock in the larger pictures.

Regarding the Myford advice - I have read an awful lot on line abou the Myford etc. vs Asian debate and decided I'd prefer the Asian route The Myford max swing is also a limiting factor that doesn't make i suitable in my mind. I don't want to get into the whole debate re Uk v Asian - I'm merely looking for advice between the Warco & the c6B

-- gn3d

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Yes i agree but its a great little lathe well made and much better than the far east types

Arc Eurotrade have a special offer on the C6 which makes it cheaper than the WM250.

The C6 also comes "prepared", the last machine I had from Warco was checked but not "prepared".

They had one "special offer" machine left when I rang.

Steve

Why? Can you explain well made and much better?

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

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That argument works both ways - why buy an 30 year old old machine when you can buy a modern, brand new machine with the majority of tooling included? Look at Chester's DB8 - you'd be lucky to get the equivalent Myford for £575 incl VAT and P&P and that range of tooling

Steve

The reason I asked this was it's only a small lathe, maybe smaller than the C6, certainly no larger. A while ago I was in touch with a guy who bored a Myford out to 3/4" to run a certain job. He asked advise over this on various groups and got yes and no replies but as no one had done this before he was on his own. Well he did it and suffered bad vibrations presumably because he had reduced the torsional stiffness of the spindle.

There is always a search for a larger spindle size, this one is 26mm but you can bet you'll need 30mm It would be interesting to know what size bore bearings they fit to this machine.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

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I'm not fermiliar with either of these laths, However with any lath I would want both a 4 jaw and a stand... what would these cost ?

I like quick change tool posts, C6 +1, but you could add one to the Warco later.

Regardless of what size of spindle bore you have you will always find the job that's just to large, Warco + 1, If you want to work on any bar

1"diameter. I guess I'm spoilt, my Triumph will take a 2" bar down the spindle, but I still find jobs that won't fit.

Now I don't like to rely on a small motor especially when it's being used as a variable speed unit. IF the 550 W motor is O.K. at slow speed, or it can be upgraded then the Warco would be my choice. ( if the stand is not to expensive ).

I would find that hard to explain in terms of anything that really matters. Myford's cosmetic finish is better (nice paint job) but the far Eastern machines have been getting better in recent years. About the only significant things that set the Myford apart is that there is no option for a screwcutting box on the C6 (not a problem if you plan to CNC it of course).

Regards, Tony

That is true about the paint but for the price difference you could get it chrome plated

The screwcutting box option is also valid but by going upmarket a model or two you would have this as standard. Ironically you would pay about the same amount for the new upmarket model as a screwcutting box from Myfords !!

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

Hi

Thanks for the further replies. Some good input so far.

Regarding pricing - both were working out similar to me because I wa factoring in buying the 4-jaw with the C6B (about £85 extra) . I wa also factoring not paying VAT on the Warco (as I'm supplying a VAT no & I'm exporting it to Ireland but AET will not sell me the C6B ex o VAT for some reason.) OK you do get the cabinet in the special offer with the C6B whereas th Warco cabinet is about £114. But I can always mount it on a bench fo now.

How valuable is the reversible leadscrew on the Warco in your opinions This, the spindle bore & the pulley set up for the speed range ar tending to push me towards the Warco at the moment.

As J Barnes says many of the extras like the QCTP can be bought late if I feel I need them (I'm new to Lathe use). What I'm trying to ensur is that I don't buy a machine that will be missing some vital featur that cannot be easily added later

-- gn3d

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That is very odd - it is normal procedure to do that in the case of EU export to a business that is VAT registered. Did you speak to Ketan?

Regards, Tony

IMHO The only thing that Myford have got is the name. The lathes are small and expensive! You can get much better performance from a Boxford or Southbend, and tooling is less expensive for both because it doesn't have "myford" to push prices up. They are good machines but they comand high prices because of their name.

-- Bob Young, Otter Ferry, Scotland. To join the builders group go to

Don't forget that the vertical slide included with the C6B is similar in value to the 4 jaw with the Warco. I'm sure Arc Eurotrade will swap out the vertical slide for a 4 jaw if you talk to them - they are really easy to do business with.

Steve

IMO, having lived with a lathe without an easily reversible lead screw for a few years, it is quite important. It was one of the reasons I chose a Myford as my second lathe, small, I know but very capable, adaptable and very nice to use for the smaller stuff. I have confined my Asian item for use on the bigger stuff and have modified the drive arrangement to allow the lower speeds that big stuff needs. Between the two, I can cover most eventualities.

I'm not knocking the Chinese/Taiwanese equipment (I have plenty of it!) as it is superb value but just make sure it is reasonably well equipped as I have found that some of it seems to lack valuable facilities such as reversible lead-screws, back-gears, spindle speed range, powered cross feed and so on.

Mark

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My C6B arrive yesterday and Warco would have to be going some to beat Arc's offer on this machine. Even the documentation is sound and thought through, none of the "squeeze head tightly or the drilling wil been unnaccurately" in the Sieg books.

My current rating for customer service from personal experience:

1. ArcEurotrade (With a significant lead)
2. Warco
3. Chester

Usual disclaimer aplies.

Steve