Colchester Bantam 1600

After many years of owning a Myford S7 I decided to purchase Colchester Bantam Mk1 to sit along side it. Initially I was concerned regarding the lack of a clutch. Those concerns have been abated. All I can say is what a solid, well engineered bit of engineering the Bantam is. Over the moon with it's quality. Good Old British kit., along with my Myford S7. Tom Senior mills and my Boxford Shaper. It's like going back into a 1960 Training workshop. I only wish bar stock was at 1960 levels.

Excellent, just remember if you're doing all the cutting with the rear toolppst the motor is going the wrong way!!!

The Myford /Colchester is a good combination,you will soon appreciate the large spindle bore,it is so useful.

Did you really need two lathes? I suspect the myford will soon be out of favour.

I manage easily with one lathe. If I have more than one job going, at the same time, I change the chuck - a chuck is the far cheaper option than buying another lathe.🙂

A colchester would have been on my initial list of machines - except for the expense and size, at the time.

I have just bought a Bantam mk1 1600 with lots of accessories to replace my S7. It's under a sheet while I sort out my garage but I keep looking at the S7 thinking I don't want to let it go.

My neighbour across the road who helped me get it out of the van said he wants it. Maybe a good solution as I can always go over and use it for imperial threads. The Bantam is metric so imperial threads not so easy.

Both my S7 and my Bantam 1600 have rolls to play in my workshop. The much large bore on the Bantam has major benefits, but I would not want to work at small BA size work on it. That's where the S7 comes it to play.

Why not Peter? You can do small work on a large lathe but you can't do large work on a small lathe.

I made these a few weeks ago on my Bantam.

Edited By Keith Rogers 2 on 01/06/2023 12:56:09

Edited By Keith Rogers 2 on 01/06/2023 12:56:48

I suppose you know it is illegal to manufacture coins of the realm. I'll just hide for a while now.

BTW nice looking bolts.

regards

Edited By Oldiron on 01/06/2023 14:05:37

I have a Myford ML7R (enhanced to S7 less gearbox spec.) and a Colchester Student. I suspect that you will find, like me, that the Colchester as a lathe will walk all over the Myford, but only as a lathe. The Myford is a complete machining centre in itself with every conceivable accessory designed or manufactured for it over the years. On mine, with the attachments I have made, I can turn, mill, slot, hob, divide, graduate etc. plus a few other jobs over the years. On the Colchester I can only turn and part-off and that's about it but I wouldn't be without either machine.

Oh goody! I’m very pleased, now, that I never bought a Colchester. I hadn’t realised that it could only turn and part off (isn’t ‘parting off’ one form of turning?)!! I’ve been spared that grievous mistake, made by so many Colchester owners.

Question : Do all Colchester owners have to own at least one other lathe? Do shout out if you only run the Colchester, too.

It might make a good topic for a forum poll?

Well when they came up with the marketing strapline....

"The world turns on Colchester lathes"

They never did mention milling or dividing etc 😊

I think to be honest we are not comparing like with like, the Colchester, Harrison etc etc lathes are more for industry use where they would have seperate milling machines. The Myford at the time of it being introduced was ideal for the traditional man in a shed where he/she had only room and the money for one machine, and the versatility of the Myford meant that it could do more than the Colchester as there was lots of accessories to extend the myford from more than just being a lathe....

I have a Colchester Chipmaster and I have added tee slots to the cross slide. This with a few attachments gives it all the versaltity that a Myford has and much more.

Alan

Tell me, have you been funny long?

Hi, well just because some people what only one lathe, there is no reason why others what two, or three or five in my case, which includes my father's old RandA one, which I don't use very much now. I've also got three milling machines, so there!

Regards Nick.