I had been looking for about 8 months or so, and I ran across the type of lathe I was looking for, and it was cheap. The lathe is a 1964 Clausing Colchester 13x36" Master Mk1, to the best of my knowledge. The reason the lathe was so cheap is the previous owner wired it into single phase and destroyed the motor. Luckily. I was able to acquire an original replacement. This lathe will be a challenge for me since it has some issues. Luckily, I've already been able to fix several of them, with the primary concern now being some oil leaks, which doesn't scare me too much. The gears appear to be in good shape. The ways have typical wear, but nothing too outrageous. Cross slide and compound have about 15 thou backlash, but I plan to install a DRO so I'm not too worried. As for the electrics, I'll be doing a VFD and plan to use the contactor bank for inputs so the original levers still function. I also think I can remove the mechanic brake linkage and install a microswitch to my braking resistor. Overall the electrical side looks pretty easy and straightforward, and I look forward to doing it as I enjoy wiring.
Pictures:
She's an old war horse from a machine shop. The old man that owned the lathe carved his name all over it, Buddy Stone. I'll be seeing that forever. It had some sort of a homemade aluminum collet holder (I guess?) on it when I picked it up. I did get a three jaw Chuck (maybe Burnerd?) a follow rest, and a steady rest. Also have to go back and pick up what I think is a 5C draw bar closer. But I didn't see the draw bar itself, so no idea.
One thing I did notice is apparently I have a machinist special cross slide dial mount. As it's made out of aluminum. I'm guessing someone broke off the original cast iron mount. The cross slide has some forward and backward movement which is causing binding on the dial. I tore down the cross slide and found a late model cross slide split nut wedge style which I don't think is original to this lathe. I was able to get it a little better, but it still has a lot of resistance when moving the carriage towards myself. From what I understand older emco lathes used this same dial so I may be able to find a replacement.
Overall with some spare parts and additional tooling I ended up getting this lathe for $500. In North Texas I feel that's pretty inexpensive as it's a machinery desert.
Pictures:
She's an old war horse from a machine shop. The old man that owned the lathe carved his name all over it, Buddy Stone. I'll be seeing that forever. It had some sort of a homemade aluminum collet holder (I guess?) on it when I picked it up. I did get a three jaw Chuck (maybe Burnerd?) a follow rest, and a steady rest. Also have to go back and pick up what I think is a 5C draw bar closer. But I didn't see the draw bar itself, so no idea.
One thing I did notice is apparently I have a machinist special cross slide dial mount. As it's made out of aluminum. I'm guessing someone broke off the original cast iron mount. The cross slide has some forward and backward movement which is causing binding on the dial. I tore down the cross slide and found a late model cross slide split nut wedge style which I don't think is original to this lathe. I was able to get it a little better, but it still has a lot of resistance when moving the carriage towards myself. From what I understand older emco lathes used this same dial so I may be able to find a replacement.
Overall with some spare parts and additional tooling I ended up getting this lathe for $500. In North Texas I feel that's pretty inexpensive as it's a machinery desert.
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