Colchester Student 13"

[ScottyM]

Hey Everyone!

A few months ago I picked up a 1962 Mk1 Colchester Student Dominion with 13" swing and 24" between centres. I had been looking for a decently stout lathe in this size for a while and was originally wanting one of the older Standard Modern 12" (or bigger) Utilathes. This one popped up within reasonable driving distance and since I have always liked the roundhead Colchester's decided to pull the trigger. It came with a three jaw chuck, steady rest, follow rest, multifix toolpost, 4 position toolpost and a decent amount of tooling.

The guy I bought it from had owned it for 4 years and had hardly used it. He told me it previously belonged to a hospital, the older gentleman he bought it from had been the sole operator since the lathe was new and bought it when the hospital wanted to sell.

First things first was getting it home. It was out near the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border, ~10hrs one way from my place. I left on a Friday after work and made it there that night. Went and picked it up first thing the next morning and was back on the road headed home with the spoils. It was a miserable day floating around 0 when loading and snow/rain. I wrapped it to within an inch of its life and was so glad it did. It snowed hard for the first few hours of the drive still hovering around 0 out, the temperature then plunged to a nice -20. The wrap job isn't pretty but it held, was interesting trying to seal everything off.

Because of the temperature drop after rain/snow there was a some frost when I unwrapped it. Not wanting it to rust in any spots I wiped everything down and spent a couple hours cleaning it, finishing with a coat of wd40 to drive out any remaining moisture. The thing had a good layer of oil and grime on it so I don't think rusting was even remotely possible.

I then pulled it off the trailer, wired on a new plug and ran it through some initial tests. Everything seemed to work as it should, ran smooth and without issues. I was happy with what I was finding and what it could take for cuts.

After a little fun I started the tear down. Any time I get a new machine tool I tear it down to the bare nuts and bolt, clean out the grime, oil/lube properly and take stock of what needs replacing or fixing. I'll post what I've gone through to date below so these posts don't get too out of hand. I plan to rebuild this lathe to better than new, scraping and all. I want to bring everyone along for the journey since hopefully you all enjoy this stuff just as much as I do!

 

[YYCHM]

Nice looking machine. What did that set you back if you don't mind sharing?

 

[ScottyM]

Once the machine was sat where I wanted it, I pulled the headstock cover to inspect. Opening it up revealed all the gears to be in great shape. The spindle has no play in it and almost no runout with a tenths indicator on it. Just recently I've noticed that the input shaft and idler have some play due to worn bushings. That's an easy enough fix and I hope to tear down the headstock soon to get some measurements and make some new ones, haven't done so yet because I don't have bronze on hand in the right size.

Next up was getting the topslide and cross slide off followed by the apron and saddle. The topslide and crosslide both have some wear but not much, around a thou at the worst when measured on a surface plate. The crosslide operates smooth across its entire travel without getting tight. The topslide gets tight at the end of its travel when extended out. Further inspection brings me to think the gib is ever so slightly warped and causing this. Nothing major, very happy still as this machine is almost 60 years old and could be a lot worse.

I completely disassembled both, cleaning lead screws, nuts, threaded holes etc. This included the dials on the handwheels. These were terrible to reassemble as there are spring loaded balls within to keep pressure on the dial, allowing to set 0 with it staying in place once released. There are a lot of holes on the top of the cross slide that were packed with chips. This thing seems like it cut mostly brass/bronze in its previous life. Both were reassembled after the deep clean and set to the side.

Getting the saddle and apron off was a bit more involved. The saddle is held on with a bracket on the underside of both ways. I didn't see a good way to get the one on the operator side off without pulling the apron off first. To get the apron off you have to remove both the leadscrew and feed shaft. The feed shaft has a coupling outside of the gearbox making it easy to remove. To remove the leadscrew you have to open up the gearbox and remove some gears and collars that retain it from within.

Components on top are removed when pulling out the leadscrew.

With the leadscrew out I was able to pull off the apron and saddle. Can still see old scraping on the areas that were covered. The saddle has wear on the underside but overall in good enough shape to run until I can rescrape. One thing I did notice was poor location of the oil grooving, on the flat way the hole is right on the edge so when oil is pumped in most spills off the side. I will redirect the holes and extend the grooving. Gave it a good clean and set aside. Also replaced wipers.

 

[ScottyM]

Nice looking machine. What did that set you back if you don't mind sharing?

Thank you! Don't mind at all, paid $3k for it. I thought it was a great price given the shape and coming with all steady's. The multifix that came with was brand new and some beautiful skoda live centers that were never used still go for around $1700 total.

 

[YYCHM]

What's a "multifix"?

 

[ScottyM]

What's a "multifix"?

It's a type of toolpost that lets you change angles to repeatable positions very quickly. I've never owned one until now, now don't think I could buy a different style.

 

[ScottyM]

Next up was the feed shaft worm box. When pulling out the feed shaft, the worm box (has the gearing and lever to select surfacing or cross slide feeds) comes off as well. This thing was beyond packed with chips and old solidified oil. The first picture is after I had already cleaned some of it out. Surprisingly there wasn't any serious damage to the gears, can't complain about that. the coupling on the lower right is what connects the feed shaft to the gearbox, it also includes a ball bearing clutch which is such a beautifully simple design.

The bushings where the feed shaft rides were very worn but easily replaceable. So I drove them out and turned some replacements out of PTFE. Originally this was just temporary until I had some bronze but they might stay as I'm sure the PTFE will last for quite a while.

Gave the leadscrew and feed shaft a good scrub too, both are like new.

Can't forget the feed screw coupler, pulled it apart and cleaned/oiled.

 

[ScottyM]

The apron was also covered with chips and solidified oil, but again no serious damage. Tore it apart and scrubbed everything down, lapped any burrs/highspots and reassembled. I always make sure to thoroughly clean the oil ports. No good cleaning everything else if the next time you oil it, it flushes grit right back onto the surfaces.

After a good cleaning.

At this point I started cleaning the bed and chip tray out getting ready to start reassembling. Started top down, picture was mid clean between the ribs of the casting. The ways are in great shape for being unhardened, I have yet to doing some serious measurements but after a quick pass with a master level I don't expect more than 2.5 thou. The scotch-brite and sand paper was also just for the chip tray where I did a couple test spots to see what I was in for.

No pictures but the feed shift lever was removed and cleaned as well as the rack.

Also thought I should mention I am moving all my machine tools to a different area of my shop, don't have my normal workbenches set up here and not many places to set tools. All this teardown is messy work and only made worse by the tools everywhere. Apologies to all that these pictures may have driven up the wall, trust me, I was the most affected!

 

[Tennalum® 7068]

Nice find and something that sounds like it was barely used or run hard.

Love the clean up pics and something that I have done before with a old much larger VDF lathe. I wiped out the entire headstock as the bearings were shot and needed replacing.

 

[PeterT]

Your tear down pics & descriptions are great. That looks like a a nice machine.
What kind of spindle nose is that? How is the motor configured (voltage/phase).

 

[ScottyM]

Pulled the chuck apart the other day, expected a lot more in there! Pictures below are as it was when opened. Wipe down and back together it went with a light oiling.

This is where the lathes at right now! mostly reassembled with just the feed shaft remaining and much cleaner. Always nice operating something after a teardown and cleanup since you know it's good, also know the machine inside and out if it starts giving you lip.

what's left on the list for the near future:

- Cleanup gears at the back
- Teardown and replace headstock input and idler bushings
- Replace belts
- Tailstock
- Fab splash guard

For the remainder of the winter my plan is to get the lathe to 100% mechanically, then this spring/summer when I can really tear it down I'll scrape any surfaces that need it and repaint. Stay tuned and happy reading!

 

[DavidR8]

Wow, that looks fantastic, great find!

 

[ScottyM]

Nice find and something that sounds like it was barely used or run hard.

Love the clean up pics and something that I have done before with a old much larger VDF lathe. I wiped out the entire headstock as the bearings were shot and needed replacing.

Funny you should mention that! My cousin has a nice VDF lathe that I helped him setup the other week. The headstock is a little out though and he's got the bug to work on it again. I sense a teardown coming. Awesome machine!

 

[ScottyM]

Your tear down pics & descriptions are great. That looks like a a nice machine.
What kind of spindle nose is that? How is the motor configured (voltage/phase).

Thanks Peter!

Spindle is an american L0 taper, little more on the uncommon side now but a solid simple design in my opinion. Looking for a nice collet chuck and 4 jaw at the moment, just missed out on a rubberflex in Edmonton. Maybe someone here got it?

Currently has 1.5hp single phase motor. This would have come with a 3hp 3 phase motor and plan to go back to that. Always try to avoid single phase on lathes this size for the vibration issues. Cant imagine the lathe with 3hp. I was tossing some heavy cuts at the current motor and didn't even blink.

 

[Tennalum® 7068]

The VDF is my brothers machine and it’s a beast you can run that machine very hard if you want too. My brothers machine is bigger than the one you got pictured there.

 

[Dabbler]

I love Colchester lathes! My very first lathe was a clone made in Taiwan, and I'm still using it. (a 1930's design with some weird 1940s changes!) You will get great service from it!

I've heard from JohnN that VDF lathes are beasts! also a very nice find!

 

[Brent H]

Awesome find and clean up/restore!

I just missed a Colchester Student in the spring cause I was stuck at work - got a nice Standard Modern though....The Older Colchesters are great and well built lathes. We have a Colchester/Clausing at work here and it has some let downs in its construction. The compound is pretty weak and poorly designed compared to older models. We have had to replace it due to wear after 10 years and not, what I would call, intense use.

Wicked tool post, you will love it....very jealous ...LOL

Looking forward to more of your posts!

 

[CalgaryPT]

Are those Acetal/Delrin bushings you made?

 

[ScottyM]

@Tennalum® 7068
Yeah that's a little guy as far as VDF lathes go!

@Dabbler
I also love the Colchester's and was happy to find one. They are very well built machines, great designs made to last. I especially appreciate all the wear areas being easily replaceable. One of my favourites in terms of looks. I seem to like the styling of that period as I'm rebuilding a 1963 F100 unibody at the moment as well.

@Brent H
Thank you! Isn't that the worst when you see a great find but miss out because of those dang responsibilities What size/year Standard Modern do you have?

@CalgaryPT
They very well could be! That was the only bearing material I had on hand in the right size and wasn't labelled. The general slipperiness of it makes me think its PTFE but my hands were also nicely impregnated with oil at that point in the rebuild.

 

[RobinHood]

The bushings where the feed shaft rides were very worn but easily replaceable. So I drove them out and turned some replacements out of PTFE. Originally this was just temporary until I had some bronze but they might stay as I'm sure the PTFE will last for quite a while.

you caught those in the nick of time before it wore into the casting.

that should last a very long time. The key will be to keep the feed rod clean as any hard particles will easily embed in the soft PTFE and abrade the shaft quickly.

i make it a habit of turning off the feed system when not in use