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Colchester Chipmaster Parts

D

Dantheman84

Plastic
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Hi there,

My name is Daniel and I live in Ballarat, Victoria Australia. I'm a Sheetmetal worker by trade but I'm currently in my third year of a Machining apprenticeship.

What a fantastic site, there is a wealth of knowledge from many experienced people, thankyou.

I am currently rebuilding a Colchester Chipmaster Lathe and I need some parts for it, I thought I would try here just in case anyone has some or knew where I could get some.

I'm looking for a Tailstock handwheel, rack, and rack pinion gear.These don't have to be brand new parts, I've tried a couple of places in the UK for new parts but the prices are quite high!

I thought maybe someone on here has wrecked/broken a Chipmaster or Bantam lathe and just might have some parts.

I'd really appreciate if anyone could help me or point me in the right direction.

Thanks and kind regards
Daniel.:)
 
The rack & pinion are 14DP which is a prick to find nowadays. I have the 14DP cutters because I had to make a new rack & gear for my Chipmaster. The gear was easy, the rack was a major PITA. I used a shaper with a single axis DRO and it came out fine, but I wouldn't do it a second time.

I strongly suggest you swap them to 16DP 20 deg PA and be done with it. The current rack cross section is an odd angled pentagon to engage fully with the planed bed recess, it doesn't really have to be like that.

IIRC the gear is integral with the pinion shaft which is splined. If you make the shaft with a blank for the gear I'll cut the gear teeth for you.

The handwheel - shrug. Mine is broken & brazed together. I'd like a new one but it's not important.

Oh yes if the Kopp variator is misbehaving, good luck with *that*. I don't like mine and it's on the list to replace, just as soon as I find something else with a 10:1 speed range that'll fit. Not holding my breath.

I really like my Chipmaster and use it a lot.

PDW
 
Hi Guys

Thanks very much for the suggestions, I will take those all into account. Oh really Limy Sami, its a small world then. Ballarat is known for it's exceptionally cold weather!! Thanks for the suggestions too PDW, I haven't as yet pulled the rack off or the apron apart to look at the pinion but I know for a fact it needs a new rack. I have read before that a way in repairing a worn pinion gear is machining the worn gear off and press-fitting a new gear onto existing shaft, as I haven't pulled mine out yet to have a look i'm not sure this method will work or not. Thanks very much for the offer of cutting a gear PDW, i'll keep that in mind. If I do swap to a 16DP gear/rack, the standard dimensions for a 16DP rack is physically smaller than mine, so I may have to improvise in mounting it to the machine.I will post a pic of my machine when I get a chance. There's a bit to think about, but suggestions are welcomed and once again, thanks for everyone's help and advice.
Cheers
Daniel
 
PDW said:
The rack & pinion are 14DP which is a prick to find nowadays. I have the 14DP cutters because I had to make a new rack & gear for my Chipmaster. The gear was easy, the rack was a major PITA. I used a shaper with a single axis DRO and it came out fine, but I wouldn't do it a second time.

I strongly suggest you swap them to 16DP 20 deg PA and be done with it. The current rack cross section is an odd angled pentagon to engage fully with the planed bed recess, it doesn't really have to be like that.

IIRC the gear is integral with the pinion shaft which is splined. If you make the shaft with a blank for the gear I'll cut the gear teeth for you.

The handwheel - shrug. Mine is broken & brazed together. I'd like a new one but it's not important.

Oh yes if the Kopp variator is misbehaving, good luck with *that*. I don't like mine and it's on the list to replace, just as soon as I find something else with a 10:1 speed range that'll fit. Not holding my breath.

I really like my Chipmaster and use it a lot.

PDW
Click to expand...
Hi PDW,

Just wondering if you had an OD on your 14dp pinion gear that you replaced on your Chipmaster? I haven't pulled mine apart yet, but I have managed to source a 14dp rack and pinion and just wanted to check some specs on it. Thanks and kind regards
Daniel
 
Dantheman84 said:
Hi PDW,

Just wondering if you had an OD on your 14dp pinion gear that you replaced on your Chipmaster? I haven't pulled mine apart yet, but I have managed to source a 14dp rack and pinion and just wanted to check some specs on it. Thanks and kind regards
Daniel
Click to expand...

Sorry, lost in the mists of time I'm afraid. Memory says it was a 12 tooth gear so it's easy enough to work out. That's *IF* my memory is correct about the tooth count....

The pinion gear I pulled out was 12 teeth but it was so hacked about and its fit to the rack was so poor that I wouldn't take it as gospel. I know I made a 15T one but I've never fitted it - I think that was because the existing rack, almost certainly also butchered, was too poor a mesh with the existing gear. As I'd made my new rack the same dimensions as the old one before I found out this little gem, I merely elongated the holes in the rack to get proper tooth mesh and called it good. That was 12 years ago and I haven't revisited it so it must be OK.

So the moral is, check carefully what you have so you don't get caught by a previous owner's compounding butchery.

PDW
 
Hi Daniel, I have a Chipmaster with pristine rack & pinion but suspected their fit from day one, then came the stories of gutted racks & pinions. So after measuring & calculating decided a 13 t pinion the way to go. Hercus in Adelaide had 13t 14dp pinions on the shelf. Need to turn off the old pinion & fit the Hercus one..but only had it 4 or 5 years! Had the Chippy 20-odd without taking a cut so no rush. Fitting DRO scales at present...very...slowly.
 
Having read post more carefully..the OD of the original 12t pinion is 1.088 inch cf Machinery's HB 1.0426 inch i.e. already way oversize for 14dp but still too small. It's 20 degree pa. Measured backlash was 0.026 inch original set-up. 13t pinion has OD 1.145 inch.
Hercus no longer manufacture lathes but have changed hands & are still, almost exclusively, manufacturing gears. Hadn't thought of it but that includes racks, but you'd need to consider the awful irregular pentagonal cross section required..it IS British you know. Hercus have website www.hercus.com.au
 
The Harrison 10aa parts should fit of course. You probably already knew that. I think the chippy carriage is also interchangable with another Harrison...maybe the 250 something or other?
 
Thanks for the additional suggestions. Swarfless, I'm thinking I will go with Hercus for a gear and rack. Their prices are very reasonable. I can buy a 12 tooth 14dp 1.071" OD gear and rack, both 20 degree pa. The 1.071" OD i can buy is very close to the 1.088" OD of original gear if I'm understanding your post correctly? The rack dimensions are slightly smaller than my Chippie rack but I think I'll be able to make it work. Yes, the only issue is the weird shaped cross section of the rack, I'm not sure what I'll do there yet.
Cheers
Daniel
 
Hi Daniel, I would NOT buy a 12 t pinion from Hercus, even the oversize original used by Colchester is too small & the amount of tooth engagement is pathetic. I concluded this from 1) the noise the gearing produced if the saddle was pushed along the bed by hand 2) measuring & calculating engagement 3) passing a bit of wire solder through the rack & pinion & measuring the squashed solder. On my Chipmaster a 13t Hercus pinion should give 5 thou backlash which is a tad tight but I figure easy to adjust but trimming a bit off the top of the rack IF necessary. The Hercus 12t pinion would be worse than the original. I wouldn't fret over the 8% increase in feeds.
Maybe building the Hercus rack up to the profile of the Chippy's with mild steel soft soldered on, milled to shape afterwards?
 
swarfless said:
Maybe building the Hercus rack up to the profile of the Chippy's with mild steel soft soldered on, milled to shape afterwards?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't bother even doing that. Maybe a bit of Devcon metal putty or similar where the screws go through, otherwise forget it. The shape has little to do with securing the rack, it's all location.

There's a fair bit of wiggle room anyway - my pentagonal rack is shimmed down to get proper tooth engagement (I ran a slot drill into the holes & elongated them). I've never had a moment's trouble with it.

OK it's a bit of a hack, it works. The pentagonal shape was a stupid idea in the first place.

PDW
 
Hi guys,
Just wondering what you think a genuine taper attachment for a Chipmaster is worth? I'd be interested in your thoughts.
Thanks for all your help thus far.
Cheers
Daniel
 
I'd be buying, there's one available at the moment on eBay in UK. What do you think pdw? Is it way over the top price wise? Might be worth looking at making one for that price.
Cheers
Dan
 
Dantheman84 said:
I'd be buying, there's one available at the moment on eBay in UK. What do you think pdw? Is it way over the top price wise? Might be worth looking at making one for that price.
Cheers
Dan
Click to expand...

Can't seem to find the listing so I don't know.

There's a real hard limit to what I'd pay for one though. Probably around $1000 and it'd have to have the telescopic cross slide screw included.

But I have a TA on my Monarch lathe so while I'd like one, I wouldn't pay a huge amount for one. Not really something I use a lot.

PDW
 
It's listed for 650 pounds, so around $1050 of our dollars, plus shipping to Aus. I'm not sure what I'll do, every now and then when a taper needs to be cut it would be handy but I guess those times would only be a handful. I'd love to have it but that doesn't mean it's a necessity either. Hmm, difficult decisions!!
 
Dantheman84 said:
It's listed for 650 pounds, so around $1050 of our dollars, plus shipping to Aus. I'm not sure what I'll do, every now and then when a taper needs to be cut it would be handy but I guess those times would only be a handful. I'd love to have it but that doesn't mean it's a necessity either. Hmm, difficult decisions!!
Click to expand...

That's about what I paid for my Monarch lathe *with* taper attachment.

I think it's overpriced with the likely shipping cost. Nothing stopping you making an offer though.

Keep in mind how much tooling that you'd use far more that you could buy instead with the money.

PDW
 
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