Preparations are already well under way for our next Warco Open Day.  The date is set for 17th March 2012.

On this day you can expect a large range of cut prices you may already be accustomed to if you visited any previous Warco Open Days or Weekends. One of the most popular aspects of Warco shows is always our range of shop soiled and ex demo machines, and this day will be no different. As well Warco ex demo machines at cut prices, we’ll also have a huge range of second hand and reduced priced tooling – including a selection of high quality lathe chucks.

If it’s new machinery you’re interested in, the entire Warco range of metalworking and woodworking machinery, tools and accessories will be on show. We’ll also have new tooling at bargain prices and show only special offers on some of our new machines, so it’ll be well worth paying a visit.

Opening hours will be 9AM – 2PM and there will be on site catering.

Where to find us: Warco House, Fisher Lane, Chiddingfold, Surrey GU8 4TD.

You can also find us on google maps here.

It’s been another big year for Warco, with the launch of our new website, the introduction of raft of new products, the Warco Open Weekend and Bargain Days, a new woodworking brochure, and of course a range of machine tool installations provided across the country.

Warco will close for the holiday period from 23rd December, and we’ll re-open on 3rd January – so any online orders received during that period will be processed from the week beginning 3rd January – apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

This years event  sees a competition element for the very first time, called the “Great Model Engineering Competition of 2012″.  This is a feature held  to celebrate the Olympic year and to highlight the achievements of model engineers in recreating engineering in various forms.

You’ll be able to find Warco at the show with a large stand featuring all of our most popular products.  We’ll have a variety of lathes and milling machines on display, as well as a range of machine tools of all sizes, many of which will be at discount prices.

For more information on this year’s event, see the show site here, and our previous post about the venue is here. For further details of the confirmed exhibitions Warco will be exhibiting at in 2012, see our exhibitions page.

This three day even is on 9-11 December 2011, and will be held at Sandown Park Racecourse.

Celebrating its 104th anniversary this year, the show is a popular event on the model engineers’ calender.  There’ll be hundreds of models on display and a wealth of club and society stands.

Warco at Sandown Park in a previous year

We’ll have a sizeable stand at the show, with all of our key machines on display – including lathes and milling machines – at special show only prices.  We’ll also have a range of tooling of all sizes, again at reduced prices.

For more details about the show and to order tickets online, see the show site here.

The brochure includes all new machinery such as a the Mini Wood Combination Machine, Mini Wood Lathe, a new range of woodturning drive centres and the all new Sliding Table Saw.  Also featured are  all the popular products that were already in our our woodworking machinery range, like the Planer Thicknesser, 1100 Lathes, Chisel Mortise Machines and Bandsaws – plus a large selection of machine tool accessories.

To download a copy now, see our Brochure page.  Or if you’d like us to send you one for free, just fill out your details here.  And of course you can find our full range of woodworking machinery online too.

First off, a little background about the JCB Academy. It’s an all new centre for developing a new generation of engineers and future business leaders and offers a wide range of practical vocational courses, all backed with the central principle of learning by doing.  The JCB building was originally a mill,  built by the famous industrial entrepreneur and engineer Richard Arkwright in the late 18th Century, and went on to be completely transformed into a state of the art educational centre for 21st century students of engineering and business.

Above: Students on a Warco Lathe, photo from The Guardian. 

As part of the process of establishing the unrivalled facilities, we were were asked to equip large scale workshops tying in with the Academy’s aim of creating a truly 21st century learning centre for engineering.  The JCB Academy asked for workshops fully equipped for work on real-life engineering projects, and we were happy to provide a completely bespoke installation of Warco machinery.

Here are some photos of Warco machines in place just after being fitted and installed. Note that rather than the usual Warco green and yellow, as requested all machinery was supplied in bespoke JCB themed colours.

The comprehensive range of machinery we supplied and handled all aspects of installation for included the following: 15 GH1440 Lathes, 7 GH1330 Lathes, 6 4VS Turret Mills, 10 DT16 Bench Mouting Drills, 11 DT25 Floor Standing Drills, a variety of metal cutting bandsaws and a range of woodworking machinery.

For further reading about the scale of the project, there’s an interesting article by Technology In Education magazine.

JCB Academy was officially opened by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (you can read more about the opening here and here), and is now in its second academic year of training a new generation of engineers and business leaders – something we’re proud to have been a part of.

We also had a huge selection of tooling available all weekend, along with ex demo and second hand machinery, as well as of course our ranges of lathes and milling machines.  All in all, we’re very happy with how the event went down, so our thanks to everyone who joined us this year.  Here’s a selection of photos.

For the full set of photos of the 2011 Warco Open Weekend, see our set on Flickr - photos of previous years’ events are there too.

A little background first.  Warco have been online for well over a decade now – we originally registered warco.co.uk back in 1997, pre-dating the registration of even google.com!  (Incidentally, for more information and a little more background about Warco, see our new About Us page.)  Since the beginning, keeping the business up to date with communications and technology has always been a central principle of Warco, and in that same vein we’re happy to launch our all new site.

Fully rebuilt from the ground up, we’ve striven to make our online shop streamlined everywhere you look.  You’ll find it’s now easier to use, as freshly updated as it could possibly be, simple to navigate and with richer product details than ever before.  It’s been a huge undertaking rebuilding the site from scratch, and we hope you’re happy with the results.  Built with you the customer in mind, we’ve listened to your feedback and tailored an online shop where everything  just works. 

We’ve reshaped the site to be essentially centred around three different overview categories.

First off, we have our largest category Metal Working.  Here you’ll find all of the metalwork products we sell, with more details on each than ever before.  From lathes to milling machines, from sheet metal machinery to metal bandsaws, lathe tools to drilling machines, and everything in between, this is the place to get started if you’re after anything metal working related.

Next up, we have the Warco range of woodworking tools and machinery.   In this category, we’ve launched a raft of new products alongside our large existing range of machines for woodworkers, which includes woodturning lathes, chisel mortice machines, planer thicknessers and a variety of wood lathe tools.  Today sees the introduction of the all new Mini Woodworking Lathe.  Priced at just £225, this machine is ideal for a range of precise level woodwork and represents a superb introduction to wood turning.  Another new product is the Mini Wood Combination Machine.  Offering nearly all the features of its full size counterpart the Wood Combination Machine, this new mini machine is both compact and versatile yet incorporates a planer thicknesser, saw, spindle moulder and morticer.

Finally, the Warco range of machines, tools and accessories for education – incorporating training centres, schools, colleges, academies and universities – all of which we have  a long history of successfully supplying machine tools to.  We’re always happy to offer a quote for larger orders – and can equip a workshop of any size.  See the Education Machine Tools category for more details.

The full Warco brochure is also downloadable online  now, so you can browse our entire product range in your own time.  If you’re interested in forthcoming shows Warco will be exhibiting at, see the Exhibitions page.  There’s much more to see, so why not take a look for yourself?  And if you have any feedback about the new site, we’d love to hear it.

We offered a fitting that was uniquely tailored to their requirements.  Here are some details of the installation.

A large range of Warco milling machines loaded onto a truck for delivery

Another truck loaded with mills about to leave for Prospects

Here the milling machines and lathes are all set up and in place after a bespoke Warco installation.

Another angle of the Warco milling machine installation at Prospects College

Another angle of the Warco lathe and milling machine installation at Prospects College

Now those machines are all being used intensively on a daily basis – training a new generation of future engineers.  At Warco we don’t consider any project too large or small, and are always happy to offer a bespoke quote centred around your requirements – whether you’re looking to update a garden shed workshop or want machines for a large scale installation in an industry or education setting.

Feel free to browse our product range on the Warco site, and feel free to contact us if you have an enquiry or if you’re after a specific quote.

The turnout was huge, and we had a large range of bothnnew and second hand lathes, milling machines and tools for sale at reduced prices. The full photoset of the 2010 Warco Open Weekend can be found here. And the full set of photos for the 2009 event are here and here.

This years’s Open Weekend will be on September 10th & 11th 2011, so feel free to join us. There’ll be the usual model engineering displays of steam powered items of all sizes, trains and impressive club displays – as well as our range of metalworking and woodworking tooling for sale. Click here for more details of this years event.