lathe model questions

i'm going to look at this in a day or two, other than the pic its all i know other than the price is all but giving it away. any general info would be great

MK 2 (squarehead) Clausing Colchester Master / Student.

See colour picture close to the bottom of this page Colchester Student & Master Mk.1 & Mk. 2 Lathes . Metric only gearbox on the one pictured on the web page. The one you are looking at has the standard imperial / metric box as shown in the middle of this page Colchester Student & Master Lathes Headstock & Gearbox .

Decent quality middle of the range workshop lathe it its day (late 1950's early 60's) sold at a very attractive price. Solid, accurate and lasts well, within reason, but made to be destroyed for the value of the work it does. Known for noisy headstock gears and eye-wateringly expensive headstock bearings. Realistically not an economic prospect for major rebuild work. Too complex to go right through and the result probably isn't worth the effort.

If its a lot better than it looks and can be put back into service with only relatively minor work then buy it and use it. Personally I'd not go much beyond the new cross & top-slide screw and nut or replace a few small bearings level of work.

Clive

1. Where's the rest of it ?
2. Is the bag of cement in the Pix included in the deal ?

digger doug said:

1. Where's the rest of it ?
2. Is the bag of cement in the Pix included in the deal ?

Click to expand...

This- where’s the compound, tailstock, and headstock cover??


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digger doug said:

1. Where's the rest of it ?
2. Is the bag of cement in the Pix included in the deal ?

Click to expand...

By which he means that the lathe pictured has no compound slide and no tailstock. It's unusable as shown unless you can find the parts it needs.

last rites said:

i'm going to look at this in a day or two, other than the pic its all i know other than the price is all but giving it away. any general info would be greatView attachment 264285

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Not sure how much of a newbie you are, but you will not be making anything with that lathe anytime soon.

That is a "for parts" lathe, and looks as though it has already had some critical parts removed.

Unless there is more to the story, I wouldn't even go look at it unless I had another identical lathe I was trying to repair.

As mentioned by others: no tailstock or compound slide...unusable as a metal lathe as shown in the picture.

One or two things I used to look for on pre owned lathes that weren't running - does the machine have the full compliment of original plastic knobs ? Well that machine hardly has any, operators who care look after small things like that.
Is the work light still working ? No sign of one in that photo. Is the coolant piping in good condition ? No sign of any in that photo.

Some people might think these are minor details but to me they are indicators that the lathe has been mistreated. Lathes like that can end up as the " Shop Lathe " and you get all sorts of Tom, Dick and Harry using or more accurately misusing them.

I don't see any oil in the headstock sight glass either.

Any sign of a chuck ?

Regards Tyrone.

+1 for what Tyrone says.

With that level of dismantling you have to assume that there is something wrong with it and wonder why a fix wasn't done. Why did strip down guy give up. Could be as simple as not being prepared to do more than a basic adjustment / tighten the bit that has worked loose job in which case it might be reasonably salvageable. Or could be he found an "Oh sh.." fault that was going to take hours and $$$$ to fix so just downed tools and left it.

Assuming the rest is there, just out of shot, can you be sure the parts are for that lathe. Some parts are scraped to fit, e.g. tailstock, and won't interchange between machines. Colchester's are "better" than most of that vintage about this being made on production line rather than individually built up. But you can't be sure.

Realistically the world has moved on from the days when the only way to get a lathe of any size inexpensively was to find a beater and get to work on it. You could easily spend enough to get a "used but as OK as it ever was Far East import" and end up with nothing objectively better.

Given that you are asking the question we have to assume your aren't greatly experienced of knowledgable on lathes (yet). Its not a SouthBend, Myford or similar relatively simple and light hobby lathe. The market and fix / buy rules are different.

Clive

I’ll be the contrarian here. If it’s nearly free as you say, I’d load it up. Evaluate what you have with the help of someone knowledgeable in your area. Check ebay for parts availability, save the search to get daily email updates. You may get lucky. Worst case you part it out on eBay and spend the proceeds on a working lathe.

I just finished a Logan 12 missing compound, crossfeed screw assembly, apron, and QCGB. I found all but the compound within a month. I used a production cross slide in place of the compound - but still looking. Turned out real nice.
Granted, parts for hat Clausing will be more of a challenge. If this is for hobby use it may be interesting.

Rex TX said:

I’ll be the contrarian here. If it’s nearly free as you say, I’d load it up. Evaluate what you have with the help of someone knowledgeable in your area. Check ebay for parts availability, save the search to get daily email updates. You may get lucky. Worst case you part it out on eBay and spend the proceeds on a working lathe.

I just finished a Logan 12 missing compound, crossfeed screw assembly, apron, and QCGB. I found all but the compound within a month. I used a production cross slide in place of the compound - but still looking. Turned out real nice.
Granted, parts for hat Clausing will be more of a challenge. If this is for hobby use it may be interesting.

Click to expand...

The spindle bearings, if shot,are crazy expensive for that lathe. I didn't read the replies so I apologise if it was mentioned.

Maybe it is just a bad photo but the edge of the swarf tray looks very beatup to me. Like stuff was rammed into it. If it is similar to the one on my M300 it would take a big hammer and several blows to dent anything at all. I wonder what happened to it?
It would make a nice boat anchor and even includes extra cement for shoes.
Bill D

It'd make a hell of a nice tube notcher, but that's about all I can figure.