Warco Blog

An installation with Warco lathes and milling machines

Something we are always keen to see is when our machines are used in education and training, as we are firm believers in the importance of teaching practical engineering and design & technology skills. In recent years it’s been great to see that alongside more traditional academic subjects, there has been a renewed focus on more vocational qualifications.

We are sure that the teaching taking place in a range of schools, academies and colleges up and down the country, as well as investment in apprenticeships, will go a long way to help create the next generation of engineers.

We’re now almost in our fifth decade of supplying training facilities of all kinds, but there was one in particular we wanted to briefly look back on in this post.

A little while ago we were asked by Riverside College in Cheshire, England to supply and install a variety of metalworking machines.

Riverside College have become renowned for further education in the UK, winning some prestigious education accreditations including the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold award in recognition of their commitment to teaching and student outcomes.

Most notably, Riverside has also been voted top further education college in the vocational sector by the Department for Education. That’s number one in the whole country – and they continued to be ranked in that position for four years running.

We supplied and installed a range of equipment as part of an all new department, and in this post we’ve added a few pics to show how it turned out.

A line up of Warco Major GH milling machines

Warco milling machines in the classroom — Warco WM40 shown in the foreground, this was the largest milling machine in the workshop.

Education installation of metalworking machines — The layout was carefully considered, with machines grouped by section and neatly separated to allow for plenty of teaching and student space.

A row of Warco GH1322 lathes — The metal turning section of the classroom and row of Warco GH1322 lathes.

Warco lathes & mills in the news

It’s not all too often we get to see our machines on TV.

A little while ago, we posted about Speed with Guy Martin. This was an interesting story about his attempt to break the world record for speed on a bicycle. As part of the bike build process, we saw a couple of Warco machines being used on Channel 4.

More recently, Sky News reported on the achievements of UTC Warrington. This is a new University Technical College in north west England that specializes in gearing up students for the world of work, with the aim of inspiring technical careers.

Warco machinery on Sky News, footage kindly shared with us by UTC Warrington

To establish the new engineering workshops at the college, we were asked to equip the department with a range of Warco lathes and milling machines. This machinery would go on to be used in teaching to develop students’ practical engineering skills, and some of it can be seen in the Sky segment above.

UTC Warrington themselves also have videos of the department we were involved with, including some high quality drone footage featuring the building and teaching spaces. We’ve embedded a couple of their videos below.

Firstly here’s a brief clip which focuses on their engineering workshop.

A short video showing the engineering workshop at UTC Warrington

Finally we thought this was well worth sharing – it’s that drone footage filmed by the college, which gives a good insight into the facilities, including an overview of the equipment we installed in situ. (You can skip to about 1 minute in to see the inside building.)

Drone footage of the site including a view of the Warco lathes and milling machines

Read more about UTC Warrington on their main site utcw.co.uk.

For decades now we’ve been supplying machinery for education, but as well as undertaking large scale installations like the above, we also don’t consider any project too small. Often a starting point can be the purchase of a single machine or tool – so whatever the size of your next metalworking or engineering project, we will always be happy to help. You can find all our contact details here.

Warco joins the Design and Technology Association

We are delighted to announce being enlisted to join the Design and Technology Association. The group are long standing backers of high quality quality design, engineering and technology education.

By providing a wide range of educational resources for all age groups, ranging from primary through to secondary and beyond, the group aims to champion the field of D&T at all levels. They offer support in the form of course materials, curriculum and training, as well as an awards system to recognize excellence within the sector.

Design and Technology is about providing opportunities for students to develop their capability, combining their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding.
The Design and Technology Association

We think Warco and the association make a good fit. We’ve always been strong believers in the importance of engineering in education, and the teaching of design technology is at the root of this.

For many years now we have worked closely with educators across the country – and academic spectrum – to help meet the requirements of the modern D&T department, by offering solutions such as tailored machinery installations to enable the training of engineers. We now look forward to seeing how we can build on this even more as a member of the group.

Who uses Warco machines?

It was in 1975 that we started selling machinery and tools, and over the course of the last 47 years we have supplied many thousands of machines to customers worldwide.

To all of those that have chosen to buy from us, we’d like to take the this opportunity to say thanks. Whether you’re a budding model engineer just starting out needing a tool for a new home workshop, or a volume buyer at a household name company, we still appreciate every single order – even after all this time, and no matter how big we get.

Warco GH1330 lathes — An installation using Warco machines for education. Shown are GH1330 lathes with DRO at Warrington University Technical College.

We’re not normally the types to shout about it, but wanted to briefly share a list of a few highlights from some of the better known names that have bought from us and use Warco machines – that we remembered at the time of writing at least. (Plus we noticed some folks who perhaps hadn’t come across us before had searched “Are Warco lathes or machines any good”, so it was probably about time we posted something like this – by way of reassurance that they were judged good enough for some leading names in sectors such as aerospace, defence and education, as well as well known makes like JCB and Rolls-Royce.)

Automotive

BMW Mini
Ford
Jaguar Land Rover Classic
McLaren
Mercedes AMG F1
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Construction

Balfour Beatty Plc
BAM Construction
GKN
JCB
Kier Group Plc

Defence

HMNB Clyde
Marshall
Ministry of Defence

Education

Hundreds of schools, colleges and universities across the UK, including

Bath University
Bristol University
Cambridge University
Edinburgh University
Eton College
Goldsmiths
Imperial College London
Liverpool University
Manchester University
Nottingham University
Oxford University
University College London

Food

Arla
Cadbury’s
Coca-Cola
John West
Kraft Heinz
Ocado
Walkers

Museums

National Railway Museum
The British Museum
Victoria & Albert Museum

Transport

Too many to list, but a number of companies within these industry examples

Aerospace
Railways
Shipbuilding

Other notables

BBC
Dyson
House of Lords
Tata Steel

Those are just some of the more memorable names we thought of while writing this, so we’ve undoubtedly missed some out, but at least this should go some way to showing that when you buy from Warco, you’re in good company.

Warco milling machines in the engineering department — The Engineering department at Warrington, Warco milling machines in the foreground.

Any colour you like, so long as it’s green

To misquote Henry Ford, it’s fair to say that we’ve been pretty consistent with our machinery colour scheme over the years.

But that isn’t to say we aren’t flexible for those customers who might not share our appreciation for the hue.

GKN are a leading engineering firm in the automotive and aerospace industries. A little while ago they were after a few Warco machines to equip a workshop as part of a new prototyping facility, but wanted them in a bespoke colour. It proved to be a really interesting project for us, and we were able to supply the equipment to match their requirements.

They kindly shared with us a few pics of how it turned out and we’ve added those below, including the only white Warco GH1440 lathe and Warco 712 bandsaw in the world.

Covid update

Now that we’re one year on from the first lockdown and things seem to have started to gradually return back to normal, we wanted to briefly note about our approach to the various Covid-19 subsidies offered to business.

In response to the public health crisis, as we know the government implemented a number of measures to try to boost the economy including loans to business and the furlough scheme.

*Image credit: z_wei, Getty Images/iStockphoto*

At Warco, we have taken a slightly different approach to many companies.

We made the decision to not take any government finance offering. So we haven’t taken a penny of any government loans, council grants or business rates relief.

Nor have we haven’t taken any other government subsidy related to Covid-19.

We also haven’t taken any money for furlough – we have been keen to retain all our colleagues on full salaries throughout the pandemic, without any cost to the tax payer.

Hopefully now we’re starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel at the tail end of this Covid saga, but in the meantime please continue to stay safe.

Latest Warco brochure

We have just published an all new edition of the Warco brochure. Packed full of metalworking machinery, tools and accessories, it also includes all our latest products.

We’ve designed it to make it easy to compare different products. For every lathe and milling machine there are detailed specs, and next to each machine you will also find an accompanying with details of the tools we recommend specific to each model.

This brochure is the largest we’ve ever published, and now runs to more than 150 full colour pages.

To all of you who have requested a copy in advance of publication, thanks! If you haven’t already received it, it will be winging its way to you very soon.

We can send a printed copy anywhere in the UK for free. If you’d like one, just head over to the contact form over at warco.co.uk/contact (or tap the cover pic below) and let us know the address to send it to.

The latest Warco metal working catalogue

Classic cars and Warco machines

Over the years we’ve heard from many of our customers using Warco machines as part of a classic car rebuild and it’s something we love to be a part of.

We’ve seen some stunning rebuilds take place, and in this sector customers we’ve supplied have varied from folks restoring a car at home, to global businesses like Jaguar Land Rover Classic using our equipment as part of volume production.

For many vintage vehicles, some parts have long since become obsolete, meaning sometimes the only solution is to get the part made or have a go at making it yourself. That’s where we can help.

Milling machines are a key part of engine building of course, for example when it comes to boring cylinder heads. For classic motorcycle enthusiasts, a lathe can be an important part of the arsenal when it comes to keeping a bike on the road. Another key type of tooling that can required by car builders is sheet metal machinery, with metal forming and fabrication often an essential part of bodywork.

Warco products were mentioned in a couple of car magazines we wanted to share briefly in this post.

Practical Performance Car caters to the motor enthusiast looking for a cost effective way to achieve, as you’d expect, performance. As part of an issue not too long ago they did a feature highlighting Warco milling machines.

The magazine is one of the leading monthly tuning publications, and has a wide array of features dedicated to getting the most out of a motor.

Land Rover Monthly is the bible for followers of the legendary British 4×4. Packed with technical knowhow and practical guides to working on the Landy, they recently did a comparison review of sheet metal folders.

As part of the test, we were honoured to see that our 24″ Box & Pan Folder was awarded Pro Choice by the magazine. We must emphasize that neither of these appearances were paid for features, and to Land Rover Monthly’s absolute credit they ran their own fully independent comparison.

“Pro quality with stability and accuracy”
Land Rover Monthly review of the Warco Box & Pan Folder

You can read their full verdict in the image above.

Both magazines strongly endorse the DIY approach when it comes to mechanics, and the idea that it’s possible for any of their readers to take on many of the challenges that go along with vehicle improving, restoring and rebuilding. We’re also firm believers that with the right pointers, including from how-tos in mags like this, virtually anyone can equip themselves with some of the spannering skills that go along with keeping a classic motor on the road.

Warco Open Day

For decades now we have been hosting the Warco Open Day, an event where anyone is welcome to visit our showroom and premises. In recent years it has expanded more than we could have ever anticipated, with visitors from all across the country and what seems like increasing attendance every time.

At the event, we offer the opportunity for our customers to view our entire product range and buy in person, with many show only discounts and special offers. We always like to keep our prices as low as possible as it means our customers are happy, and we try to make this especially the case for anyone who has taken the trouble to visit us in person for the show.

Set in the heart of rural Surrey, you are welcome to pay us a visit.

Everyone is welcome, and in normal circumstances we hold a few of these events a year. The best way to find out when the next show is and to keep up to date with any other event happenings is the Warco Open Day page.

Another draw to the show is the second hand section, where we always have a barn full of used and ex-display metalworking machinery for sale. In the morning of the event, this part is especially popular, with queues forming well before opening of customers looking to grab a bargain.

Below are some pics of this section in previous years. These are all from inside the barn on our site, where at the event we host the used machines and tools on offer.

How to fit DRO to a milling machine

One frequently asked question we’ve found when it comes to our new glass optical digital readout systems relates to how to fit them. And it’s a good question, as these we started offering the new lower cost systems with customer fitment in mind.

In the past, we’ve tended to fit these systems in our own workshop for customers, and this is something we’re still happy to offer – our engineers have many years of experience fitting these systems so we’ll always be on hand to help.

The advantage of buying one of these systems for self-fitting is the saving on the labour cost of having it done professionally by us. And believe it or not, it can often be a rewarding experience.

Each system we supply comes with both a DRO operation manual and a separate installation manual showing what goes where and how to install. To accompany those instructions – because pictures can often be more useful than words – we’ve posted some mill fitment photos in more detail below.

These photos show as an example an install we’ve completed on a milling machine, in this case a WM14/ WM16. The same principles will apply to larger sized mills too.

Warco WM16 with DRO — The front of the mill, showing the counter location.

DRO scale on milling table — The location of the longitudinal travel scale on the rear of the mill table.

Mill DRO - cross travel scale — A closer look at the cross traverse scale mounted to the machine. We use bright mild steel to support the scale overhang.

Cross traverse viewed from the back of milling machine. — The cross scale viewed from the rear. Here you can see the supports supplied as part of the fitting kit with our system.

DRO mill mounting bracket. — And here’s where we locate the mounting bracket for the DRO counter.

These images are a general guide to fitting locations, and you might find you have a different method that suits your needs in some other way. A general purpose bracket is provided as part of the kit, designed for modification depending on application, so it’s worth noting it may vary in appearance from the one shown above. The counter bracket location is less critical than the scales, you can afford to be more freestyle here.

These images should be a handy starting point in combination with the fitting instruction guide that comes included with our systems. And as ever if you have any further questions, feel free to get in touch – we’re always happy to help.