Warco Major?

[njhussey]

I've got a WARCO Major GH mill and I'm pretty happy with it. However I'd recommend not getting a round column mill as you lose position when moving the head up and down which can be a right pain sometimes as you then have to find centre again before carrying on. Yes it's a Chinese mill so not a patch on s bridgeport but if you don't want it for production (just one offs) then it's fine. I've used mine for machining parts for my cnc router, making one off pieces at work, jigs etc. I've also been happy with the response I got from them when I had a problem getting the arbour out of the spindle.

[ondablade]

Ta guys. Part of the reason for the thread is that i'm in ireland, and can't easily get to see the machines. Coming over is an option, but it only coveres the bases so far too.

I should say that the feedback on Warco i've seen has been positive, and the machines hold their value well. Which bodes well. They seem to have a pretty minimalist approach, but to cover the bases. A specialist supplier with a brand to protect sounds like a better bet than a box store type operation anyway.

I'm aware of the round column issue Neil, but the trouble is that a square column model with anything approaching the same size of work envelope gets expensive. Work arounds seem feasible. I've run Bridgeports and the like, and appreciate that this is different territory - but the aim isn't tool room capability anyway.

Guess the big issue is whether or not an off the shelf Major can be expected to be a good one. Whether or not there's a significant risk of getting a bad machine...

PS interested to see both your avatars/pics. I flew quite a lot of F3A R/C comp aerobatics until the early 90s when work got in the way. There seem to be quite a few involved in modelling here and on other machining sites..

ian