Colchester chipmaster rebuild

Next came the nameplates. I removed the scum and paint, then polished the brass before painting. Then used a blunt scraper to remove paint from the raised surfaces.Not perfect but a lot better than before.

Then came the variator. Possibly the heaviest component. It was greasy but looked good. I gave it a clean and topped up the oil to the specified level and using the correct Shell oil.

Then I began on the ways. This was heavy of course but I managed in its set location.

I then worked on some odds and sods and began work on the stand. A heavy thing and strong.

Then to get the lathe in the shed I had to cut parts of the floor so I can mount the lathe on steel and concrete mounts. I made them using box section filled with cement. I used bar to enable a bolt hole if required.

Wow! Outstanding.

Lovely job!

Neil

Excellent job on the refurbishment, the Colchester should serve you very well. But, I notice from your album pictures that you seem to have it in a wooden shed which is unlined and uninsulated. To preserve and care for you nice clean lathe you could well install some insulation for the roof and walls, a couple of inches of Kingspan or similar all round would be a worthwhile investment together with a small amount of background heating it would prevent your good work being got at by the dreaded rust bug! While you are at it lining the walls with ply or similar will make it much easier to fix shelves, hooks and cupboards and as a bonus will much increase the strength and security of the shed.

You probably have all this in mind already but if not before winter gets here would be a good time.

John

Thanks Journeyman, I do plan on putting insulation into the shed. I’m just collecting materials for it as I go. I left enough space behind the lathe to do this.

Next I had to get the base of the lathe into the shed. The shed has about a 9 inch step but by using a trolley getting the stand from the garage to back of the shed was surprisingly easy. And all on my own too. The harder part was the lathe bed. This was painfully heavy but my trusty engine crane took it in its stride. The base and the bed mount on only three points, triangulated. According to the manual this keeps it very steady.

Once the bed was bolted down I assembled everything.

The headstock was the only thing I needed help with as it was just too heavy for myself. But once it was on everything else fell into place.

Not sure if it’s easy to see but I changed to a single phase motor. I don’t really need reverse but it works from the standard switch so you can’t tell to look at it. The motor is 3 he. The variation works on all speeds with no bad noises although I don’t run it at particularly high speed.

The lathe all complete and tested works a treat and is awesome . The only annoying thing is the missing handle on the carriage wheel so that will be my first project

First test of the lathe and going well. I still need to finish painting the motor cover and bottom of the stand but it will have to wait

The handle was an interesting first project. At first glance it seemed easy but it required facing, taper turning and screw cutting and using a slitting saw on my Kerry super 8 converted mill. For a novice it was rather interesting to do. I think it came out well. The outer handle is stainless steel and the inner bolt is mild steel. I wanted the handle to rotate like the others on this lathe. I found the surface finish was excellent and the lathe could take very big cuts although those we just test cuts.

So in conclusion, whilst this lathe is not completely finished as it requires a little more paint it is finished in terms of being able to turn and cut. I’m very very happy with this beast and once my classic mg is at the painter I can spend more time getting the shed insulated, installing a proper milling machine and getting the too long storage sorted. I’ll keep posting as I go along.

Wow 2.0.

Very nice.

Well done Adam, I am quite sure you will be very happy with this lathe

Alan