New to me Vintage Clausing Colchester Lathe Questions

[TTMotorsports]

Ok so I recently bought a Clausing Colchester 15 Lathe. Now it has serial Mch F 4/59554 and I an Curious on what year and model this thing is. Also one item i need to figure out soon is the cross slide. I can move it in the Y direction accross the ways front/back BUT the cross slide that you can rotate to the angle you want to feed it in is locked up and will not move. I loosened the set screws, which one wsa replaced by an allen bolt. Loosened the 2 nuts to rotate it at the angle desired BUT i cannot get the smaller handle to allow it to move where the tool post is mounted to. SO 2 questions.

1: Any idea on year/model or who to contact to get that info.

2: how do I get the compound piece on the cross slide to move.

First post on this board but haven't needed to post since I had a little Southbend Model A that everything worked on so that was nice. No experience with a large lathe like this but excited to start using it.

 

[boslab]

Think it’s locked, there’s a bolt or Allen screw to nip the gib I beleive
Mark

 

[TTMotorsports]

Ok I cannot see anything on the ways or anything on this thing that could lock it down besides the 3 allen set screws which i loosened but didn't change anything, still locked up tight. Loosening the 2 hex nuts on this allows it to spin for angle but doesn't change and it can't move.

How would you remove this compound from the cross slide anyways so I could clean and inspect it internally?

 

[TTMotorsports]

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Keep releasing the two shrouded nuts and you’ll be able to lift the compound off the cross slide.

Regards Tyrone.

 

[TTMotorsports]

Ok I got the compound off the cross slide. wasn't fun but I was able to unscrew the nuts and had to lift the compound up while doing it so the nuts would full unscrew. Then I got the compound to move since someone in the past decided to tighten the nut on the lead screw thing tight as they could which locked it up. SO loosened that and cleaned it really good top and bottom and reassembled and all is well now. Now just need to get a cross screw knob for the cross slide adjuster.

 

[GregSY]

I owned essentially the same lathe for 15 years...mine was 1968 and your looks very close that.

 

[john.k]

You have a "roundtop" Colchester Triumph.........and there is a free manual/parts online download -somewhere .........I also recommend you make sure the head oil level is well up,as the rear spindle bearing will not tolerate low oil.........also wash out with solvent the innards of the saddle feed shoe (safety saddle) and squirt oil in there as its likely neglected and full of swarf.

 

[michiganbuck]

It looks like a very decent machine, good to find a manual for it.
Here is a PDF, might be near similar to your lathe, computer magnify up the parts photos.

http://manuals.chudov.com/Clausing/Colchester-13-inch-Geared-Lathe-Manual.pdf

 

[GregSY]

I took mine apart and cleaned it up...I have lots of photos. If you have any particular area, let me know and I'll see if I have a pic.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

It looks like a very decent machine, good to find a manual for it.
Here is a PDF, might be near similar to your lathe, computer magnify up the parts photos.

http://manuals.chudov.com/Clausing/Colchester-13-inch-Geared-Lathe-Manual.pdf

When I worked at the high school the engineering shop had 6 “ Colchester Student “ centre lathes. 5 were the more modern “ 2000 “ type but 1 was similar to the one in the photo but with a slightly more squared off headstock.

The kids all wanted to use the more modern “ 2000 “ lathes so the other one became my personal lathe. I really liked it a lot. As long as you were sensible with depth of cut etc you do nearly anything with it. It was really user friendly and pretty accurate once you got the hang of it. I’ve worked on loads of “ Colchester “ lathes and they were decent machines for the money. I used to call them the “ Ford Focus “ of lathes. “ DSG “ were the “ Rolls-Royce “ and “ Bohringer “ was the “ Mercedes-Benz “.

Regards Tyrone.

 

[James H Clark]

TTmotorsports: Contact the Clausing dealer in Kalamazoo, Mi. They can tell you what year you have from the serial number. I contacted them years ago when I bought a 13 x 36 Clausing/Colchester. You may be able to obtain a parts manual for it. Good luck.
JH

 

[john.k]

The model you have is a roundhead Triumph with "safety saddle"....the gears in the head are quite different to the Master/Student models the pics shown are of............I have downloaded the correct manual off the web somewhere.

 

[TTMotorsports]

Ok so I heard back from Clausing email I sent and it's a 15” 6500 series lathe. They emailed me the manual as well.

My Model 6537 lathe, s.n. F4/59554 was sold to Clausing Dealer United Machine Tools on 12/23/1966. They sold the lathe to Dienamic Tool and Engineering in Van Nuys, CA on 3/8/1967.

So it is a 1967 Lathe is what they are telling me. Cool the company is still around and can tell me this info and give me the manual.

 

[Gpoole]

Are you in California too? I'm having trouble getting a hold of the clausing rep for CA. Clausing gave me their contact and I reached out a couple times with no response. Looking for a half nut and threading dial for my 13" 8000 series

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Are you in California too? I'm having trouble getting a hold of the clausing rep for CA. Clausing gave me their contact and I reached out a couple times with no response. Looking for a half nut and threading dial for my 13" 8000 series

I used to deal with a company in the UK called “ Nobilla “ in Knebworth. They used to deal in new and pre owned “ Colchester “ lathe spare parts. Their main business was buying and selling “ Colchester “ lathes but some of the lathes they bought they cannibalised for spare parts. Give them a ring.

The way the £ is against the $ at the moment you can’t go wrong.

Regards Tyrone