Colchester lathe pages at lathes.co.uk Colchester lathe pages found at Lathes.co.uk in directories † Column is the directory of the page Co = Ba = Ch = Description title † File name Comments Co index.html Co page2.html Co page3.html Co page4.html Co page5.html Co page6.html “Click here for the latest page” Links to Ba/index.html Co page7.html Co page8.html Page 1 of 3 Co page9.html Page 2 of 3 Co page10.html Page 3 of 3 Co page11.html Roundheads Co page12.html Co page13.html Mk. 2 Student/Master with a special-order, low-speed headstock driven by a two-speed motor. Co page14.html Co page15.html Co page16.html No links to this page that I can see Co page17.html Co page18.html Co page19.html Co page21.html Co page22.html Co page24.html Co page25.html Co page26.html Co page27.html Co page28.html Omits Page 2 in title Co page29.html Co page30.html Co page31.html Co page32.html Title only + “In preparation” Co page34.html Co page35.html Co page36.html Co page37.html Co page38.html Co page39.html Co page40.html Co page41.html Odd list of Student and Bantam Gears Co page42.html Takes ages to display – resizing form very big image file? Ba index.html Ba page2.html Ba page4.html As page2.html but with fewer pictures Ba page3.html Ch index.html Link to 'Newer Colchesters' is probably to unintended page Ch page2.html ditto Ch page3.html ditto Ch page4.html ditto Ch page5.html ditto Ch page6.html ditto Ch page7.html Something about belts - probably for Chipmaster Most pages have a hyperlink for “Outline of Colchester Range as Text Only” to which is non-existent (Error 404) There may be other pages relevant to Colchester lathes not listed here.
This past weekend, I purchased an older Clausing Colchester lathe at a local estate sale. The sale went from Friday to Sunday, and I left work early enough to get there on Friday afternoon. I bought a few things, but wasn't intending to purchase a lathe.
But this model seemed so interesting looking. And also of higher quality, compared to what I already had (a South Bend Heavy 10, which now is for sale), that I came back the next day and took these pictures: I also had looked up the lathe on Tony Griffith's lathe pages , which provides an interesting description, and also a nice black and white image of the lathe: Anyway, as of Sunday morning, the lathe still had not sold. So I decided to purchase. Yesterday, the estate sale company delivered it, and I am eagerly looking forward to trying to run it under power.
Apparently, the previous owner had never used it in his home, because there was no 3-phase power there, just some unfinished electrical boxes. For inspection, I did have a chance to take off the top cover plate for the headstock, and the gears all looked fine, with the proper level of clean oil. I also pulled the motor vee belts by hand, and the spindle seemed to turn smoothly. Does anybody else have any experience with this sort of lathe? How about any words of advice or warnings, for maintenance and operation?
Results 76 - 100 of 217 - Serial Numbers 25303 to 40723. Clausing Colchester 13', Engine Lathe, Operation & Parts List Manual Year (1965). I've read Parts of. Feb 21, 2018 - Does anyone know where the model / serial number is on a Clausing Colchester 15 inch lathe i think its around a 70s model have looked but.
Thanks in advance, Jon. Congratulations on your purchase, seem to remember the strapline 'the world turns on Colchester Lathes', but maybe that can be attributed to some other manufacturer. Not quite on topic but since you mention Tony Griffith's excellent (IMHO) site, I wonder how many of the forum members have visited it. Almost every (well some) ebay listings use a link to it to big up their item and it seems generally well regarded, certainly the best I have seen. I actually followed a link from a link from a link that brought me here! I e-mailed Tony a while ago asking which type of collets my BCA jig borer used and his reply was both informative and chatty. I also wonder if he has ever visted this site?
I got mine last summer, haven't set it up yet. Mine doesn't have the T-slots on the carriage. I'm not even sure if mine has a two speed motor.
It is a single voltage motor (440). I checked my motor books and there does not seem to be such thing as a dual voltage (220-440V) two speed motor. The little lever stacked on top of the larger lever in the lower right area of the headstock is the two speed motor switch. I don't know if the switch was installed even if the lathe was not equipped with the two speed motor. The only real problem I've noticed is that the headstock leaks oil at the lower gear shift lever. I'm not looking forward to trying to fix it, but I hate oil leaks.
I'm particularly fond of the bed casting design. It looks like a bridge. You have a beautiful machine. Here's a pic of mine before I picked it up. Thanks for the words of encouragement and advice. The link from Charles to the manual is particularly helpful, as I may need use of the schematic for wiring up power and troubleshooting. When I connected 3-phase 220VAC to the input wires, nothing happened.
I am not familiar with motor starter circuits. Maybe it has an electrical problem that never was addressed, and prevented the lathe from getting used for the past few decades? I have not yet opened up the electrical boxes. For accessories, it has a 6-jaw chuck and 4-jaw chuck, both in very nice condition and made by Burnerd, as well as the 18-inch faceplate. It came with the square turret toolpost (made by Enco in the United States).
It lacks the 5-position bedstop that Danny mentions, the steady and follower rests, and tailstock drill chuck. In the manual pages, there is a picture of a rear toolpost to put in the T-slots, for threading with the spindle rotating in reverse. That should be easy enough to make, when I have more time. Playing with the handwheel and cross slide, it feels as though my hands are crossed, compared to the American lathes I have used. From the serial number, it appears that the lathe was made in the year 1967, which was when Colchester's production was at it highest level. They made about 5,000 lathes that year. I wonder how many of those machines still are around?
Thanks again for your hints and suggestions. I was able to figure out the motor starting problem. From what I can tell, mine is a 'Master' model, which differs slightly from the 'Student.' The machine I have does not have any electrical safety interlocks on the guard or drawer lock. I have a 1.5 HP Bridgeport mill, for which I had been using a static phase converter without a problem.
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When I first got the lathe, I tried plugged it into the statically converted 3-phase wiring, without success. Then I opened up the boxes to check voltages. It was evident that the static phase converter doesn't provide sufficient voltage between legs of the circuit. Thus, I hadn't provided proper input line power. So then I switched on the Bridgeport motor, thereby using that motor as an effective idler for a rotary phase converter. When the milling machine motor is on, its 3-phase motor is in parallel with the lathe input power.
Now the lathe works! It is a 'weak' rotary phase converter, as the Bridgeport has a 1.5 HP motor, while the lathe motor is 3 HP. For now, it seems sufficient to initiate the starter box for the lathe. I think that a longer term solution will be to install an idler motor in parallel with the 3-phase power lines, thus generating a cleaner 3-phase signal, which will allow the lathe starter circuit to work properly without needing the mill to be running. Regards, Jon , 12:50 PM: Message edited by: JonSpear. Jon, I have a similar lathe.
Clausing colchester 13'x 36' no gap bed. Made by Atlas Press in the USA (1962). Your headstock also reads Atlas Press but your saddle looks like the English version. See pic below. The 2 speed motor and the large range of speed make phase conversion somewhat difficult. I've had the lathe over 20 years. Initially I set up an autotransformer static converter to run it (they won't run properly on a regular static converter).
I had to set up a relay to sense whether it was starting in Hi or Lo and adjust the starting caps accordingly. It will start a collet at 40rpm or a 10' 4 jaw at 1800rpm with no problems. Eventually I added a VFD (lathe can run from VFD or Phase Converter) to slow spindle below 40 rpm for a relieving attachment I am building (one of my many unfinished projects).
Hello, I've got a Master 1.5 as well. It's a '67 also.
As I recall the difference between Master and Student is 12' (between centers that is). The Mk1 and M1.5 are most easily differentiated by the two separate slots for saddle and cross-feed present on the Mk1 (the lever slides longitudinally into one slot or the other), as you can see in the black and white pic above Tony Griffith's website. The Mk1.5 has one slot and a push-pull lever to select saddle or cross feed. Your arms are criss-crossed because you have a gap-bed model. Levers are reversed on the Gap beds and the Saddle has more t-slots than the non gap models.
I didn't have too much trouble getting mine running on a rotary phase converter. I did have to make sure that the starter switch was using one of the main lines, not the 3rd (generated)phase. Both speeds work fine now as well. Here's a pic: ciao lino. Hi, It's nice to know there are others with these kinds of lathes. They look good.
Here is one of the first useful things I did with mine. I had to turn down the shank diameter of a big (1.25') diameter endmill: For cutting the HSS endmill, I used a small triangular carbide insert cutter. The spindle speed was 236 rpm, with a depth of cut equal to about.010' off of the radius, for each pass. To hold the end mill, I bored out a piece of aluminum, partially sliced it in the bandsaw, thereby making a sort of homemade collet. The aluminum collet is squeezed down by the 6-jaw chuck, clamping the side cutting edges of the end mill. A live center in the tailstock was necessary to maintain alignment.
The toolholder is an old Aloris, in the AXA size, which is a bit small for this machine. A 1/2-inch riser block under the toolpost helps make it fit this lathe. I don't have a collet closer, but I think the 6-jaw chuck lets me be OK without it. That chuck closes down to about 3/16'. If I want to go smaller, I suppose I can hold a hexagonal 5C collet block directly in the chuck. So far, I am quite happy with my machine. One thing that was missing from the lathe was a flat electrical panel, which is why the previous photos show a gaping hole on the left side of the lathe cabinet.
In light of my not having 3-phase power (and running my Bridgeport off of a static phase converter), I put an idler motor inside. There was plenty of space underneath, to fit the idler in front of the lathe motor: Whenever I use the lathe, I flip the toggle switch to run the idler motor. The idler motor starts via the static phase converter, thereby creating a rotary phase converter, which is sufficient to start the lathe motor. The switch is mounted onto a painted piece of wood: The grey paint I used was a shade too light to match the original, but it is good enough for me right now. BigBob, For oil levels, there are sight glasses, both on the headstock and the carriage.
The headstock glass is visible in the pic above, just to the right of levers. (It is the little circle at the top of the lowermost photo in my post.) The headstock oil should be light in weight, to prevent overheating. Based on the recommendation from the Clausing Service Center, I put Mobil DTE 24 in the headstock. The carriage oil is Mobil DTE 26.
These are oils used commonly in hydraulic systems, and are available for about $20 per gallon: Good luck with you new lathe! If your lathe has the original two-speed motor, I recommend that you keep it, even if you have only single phase power. A rotary phase converter like mine can be purchased or easily made.
(Others here have adapted variable frequency drives to their lathes.). I have one that I picked up this last winter, its a 1968 model Master 13x36 'Straight bed', its a little grubby to look at right now, but its in better shape than it looks in this picture, and I do plan on a complete clean up and paint this summer when its a little warmer outside! It works great, mine has the 2 speed 220 volt motor, came with the original 12' face plate still attached to the backside where the factory put it 'never used' and a 3 jaw chuck, and steady rest. After testing I couldn't find more than.0005 variance to the bed using a good straight edge, and a turned 1' piece of stock was used to test its turning variance, and it tested to the same as above.
I love this lathe! I just got my 1968 made 13 x 36 colchester model 6525 MK-2 lathe. It's still on 4x4's across the ends of the base, but I got it cleaned up and under power last night. It has the 3 and 4 jaw chuck, faceplate, 3 steady rests, the regular and the Enco made turret tailstock and a fast threading attachment. It's 220 VAC single phase. Hardly any rust.
Runs very smooth including all the handwheels. Just found that the oils specified in the manual are out of date. It calls for Shell Tellus 27 and 32 (different for gearbox and headstock). Shell advised me today the new designations are Shell Tellus 33 and 68 respectively (these are also ISO numbers for the oils). Some questions: Oil levels. Manual doesn't specify how high to fill the gear carse and headstock.
To mid sight glass. Anybody know for sure? For threading, tried to engage pop out knob then engage screw, but had trouble late last night having pop out know stay in. Perhaps I didn't try to engage when right on one of numbers on thread dial. Will experiment more. Manual is silent regarding this.
Any help appreciated. I am trying to attach some photos taken with my cell phone. Bob Attached. Some questions: Oil levels. Manual doesn't specify how high to fill the gear carse and headstock. To mid sight glass. Anybody know for sure?
For threading, tried to engage pop out knob then engage screw, but had trouble late last night having pop out know stay in. Perhaps I didn't try to engage when right on one of numbers on thread dial. Will experiment more.
Manual is silent regarding this. Any help appreciated. I am trying to attach some photos taken with my cell phone. Bob Fill to the middle of the sight glass.
It think your confusing the power feed direction knob for threading. Threading is all done by the large lever on the right side of your apron. The knob in the middle and the short fat lever on the bottom of the apron are for power feed.
As for the power feed knob, there are ball detents for the in and out positions. Mine is not the easiest to pull past these detents. Your lathe looks like new compared to mine. Mine was rode hard and put up wet in it's previous life, but it still cranks out good parts. I added a DRO to mine also. Seeing as we are showing pics of our kids I thought I'd drag out mine. It has the adjustable stop and auto cut out on the power feed which I find great when boring blind holes.
It also is a gap bed. 'The little lever stacked on top of the larger lever in the lower right area of the headstock' that Bill's Machine Shop refers to is the motor motor reverse switch on mine.
It also has the Burnerd collet chuck with it. All in all, I find it a good lathe although I did replace the belts when I first got it. They made a horrible whine and made the lathe noisy but the new belts quietened it down considerably. Danny Attached. I am getting anywhere from 4 to 30 thousandths TIR on piece in 3-jaw original Burnerd chuck. If I loosen jaws slightly and lightly tap high side with a little bronze hammer, I can get the TIR reading to about.004 in.
I wonder if someone put the 3 jaw in with dirt in the threads, or perhaps the jaws in the wrong position if that is important (they are numbered 1 to 3). Any suggestions on getting the 3 jaw to hold better concentricity. I would not be surprised at a thou or two, but 30 to 40 tells me something isn't right. I have a 4 jaw chuck I will try, but am pretty green at this.
Also, I got several collets shown in my photo, but apparently not the collet chuck. There is an aluminum device with about a 2 to 3 inch tapered hole in the center that looks like it would screw in just like the chucks. Do you have a photo of the collet chuck. (I am trying to get from the estate I bought the machines from. Good guy the son in law).
Bob Attached. Also, I got several collets shown in my photo, but apparently not the collet chuck. There is an aluminum device with about a 2 to 3 inch tapered hole in the center that looks like it would screw in just like the chucks.
Do you have a photo of the collet chuck. (I am trying to get from the estate I bought the machines from. Good guy the son in law). Bob Bob, a common method of using collets involves the use of a spindle taper adapter piece, and a drawbar.
My lathe has a spindle with an internal taper that is a number 5 Morse taper. The collets are specified as '5C' type.
So, you may be looking for a '5MT to 5C spindle adapter.' Here is what the L0 spindle looks like on my machine: Just at the tip of the spindle, where the hole is about an inch and a half in diameter, that part is tapered. Here is a 5MT to 5C adapter piece (on the right, with the words 'Royal' stamped into it, which I found on eBay.
The piece on the left was an aluminum L0 spindle nose cap, which I modified to work with the adapter piece: This shows the other side of the above pieces, along with a 1-inch 5C collet: Here is the modified nose cap mounted on the spindle: This next pic shows how the adapter piece fits into the nose cap. It also shows the collet closing drawbar, which runs through the length of the spindle: And finally, here is what it looks like in use: There are other types of collet holding systems. A collet chuck looks like a big circular plate with a protrusion. The plate fits onto the L0 spindle, and the 5C collets fit into the protrusion. An advantage of the collet chuck system is that you don't need to use a drawbar of the correct length.
But it might be a disadvantage that the collet chuck places the workpiece out beyond the end of the spindle. Thanks Jon, my spindle L0 taper looks like yours. So does the L0 spindle nose cap, but not as you modified it. It has clearance that so when the cap is removed, it would not push off the adapter. The collets I have fit the adapter, which has a small internal pin. The cap inside diametetr with keyway full length is 2-9/16 in.
ID (65 mm), about 2-1/4 in long (about 55 mm) counting threads and about 4-1/2 in OD (about 115 mm). The adapter does not have any lable on it like yours has Royal.
It does have a lable 'up' on the circumference of the front flange near the pin. It appears to be relieved along the middle of the internal taper with the polished taper going in from the flange about 3/8 inch and about 1/2 inch from the rear. (You can see this in the photo) The flange is 2-3/8 in. OD and the front hole at the flange about 1-7/16 diameter. It is about 2.5 inch overall length. If roughly centered in the cap, the adapter flange would have about 1/16 radial clearance.
I appreciate FDK III's input about possible source of parts. I would love to have tried the collet, but suspecting the adapter would be stuck, I didn't go there this evening. May need a new adapter or other parts. Thanks, Bob Attached.
I would love to have tried the collet, but suspecting the adapter would be stuck, I didn't go there this evening. May need a new adapter or other parts. To release the adapter after its taper is wedged into the spindle, you could always use a long wooden dowel. Hardware and lumber stores carry wooden closet rods, which are a little bit over 1 inch in diameter, and could be used to tap out the adapter without creating dents in the metal.
Or, you could turn a cylinder of brass and stick it on the end of a long rod, to use as a makeshift slide hammer through the spindle. One of the fun things about getting a new piece of equipment is that it gives us an opportunity to be a little bit creative and resourceful, to make and modify our own tool accessories. If you have a collet draw bar, it sounds as though you are ready to go. If you don't have one, maybe Frank (FDK III) has one that is the right length. I got a used 5C collet drawbar from a local dealer, and then shortened it to fit my lathe. I recommend getting the user manual for the machine. It has useful information including pictures of accessories that might be handy.
If Frank doesn't have a copy on hand for your particular lathe (the serial number is stamped on the top of the tailstock end of the bed), you might be able to get one from eBay or the Clausing Service Center:. I have a s/n 66568 F3 Colchester. It recently started making a knocking/rumbling noise in low speed, especially when coasting to a stop. No such noise in reverse or at high speed. I tried Tony UK site check of belts and one moved further than the other suggesting unevenly sized belts. Anyone know for sure the size of belts????
Also how tight to tension them (book says 3/4 inch deflection in middle) Push hard or light to deflect? Adjust both front and back motor mount tilt plate same amount and how do you know that's right?. Motor is a single phase 240VAC. Where the motor engagement pivot/roller is located there are two bars parallel to the spindle in behind and to the rear (of the lathe) where the top bar has a vertical bolt which is not engaged in anything and protrudes down from the bar. I suspect it needs to go into the lower bar, which did not pull forward. Just got a manual from Clausing and I think it shows this on page 7 of the 6500 manual to the right of round bar A.
Suggestions appreciated. In order to have a convenient way of knowing the X and Y positions of the toolbit, I added a Trav-A-Dial on the lathe bed, much like Big bob has on his: This is a great thing to have, very convenient. I also made a bracket for holding an AGD style travel dial indicator, to monitor the carriage travel in the transverse direction: In the above pic, the 1/2'-20 bolt can rotated for easily zeroing a reference position of the indicator, for incremental movements. This setup helps keep track of the position without the need to account for backlash in the crossfeed screw. It appears that Joe H (from post #20 of this thread) also uses a dial indicator, though his is placed closer to the operator. The T-slots on the carriage of this style of lathe are convenient for bolting down a makeshift bracket. And the flat surfaces of the cross slide are convenient for a magnetic holder.
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