Warco Micrometer stop

[Joules]

I was lucky enough at the beginning of the year to get a new lathe for the workshop.   Since then I have been trying to bring work in to pay for it and tool the thing up.   An early issue I had was with the supplied end stop.  It's a couple of castings that just bolt onto the bed, they aren't a great fit and they don't grip tight as the clamping plate has too far to travel and only grips poorly on an edge.

First job, fit a soft metal plate to improve clamping and the angle it fits.  I drilled into the casting 6mm deep to take brass pins as they will wear along with the alloy plate.  It nows has tons more grip than before without needing to swing on the Allen key.

[Joules]

Now that was sorted I could tackle the other bug bear.  You loose about half the micrometer travel as the way shields keep the end stop about 7mm from the saddle, plus the end stop can be wound into the casting !!!   Solution, make an extension, in this case add a 4mm socket bolt and sleeve to extend the tip.  I also ran a tap through the casting as it was pretty rough movement and then re-greased everything and ground the pip off the location grub screw as it would just catch the micrometer dial making it snag.  This also let the grub screw sit lower and reduce backlash in the dial.  It now has a full 20mm of travel and very handy it's been now its much better to use.