I tested the Colchester yesterday. Except for the broken then welded together - poorly but functional - hand wheel on the tailstock, it was in remarkably good, dare I say excellent condition. All of the speeds and feeds work as they should. There is about .025" backlash in the lead screw, about .012" in the cross slide, and about over .005" in the compound. The runout in the headstock spindle was less than .0002". The headstock was remarkably quiet and very smooth even at top speed - 1,000 r.p.m. The ways were in excellent condition with negligible wear.
The owner said he bought it from a friend who owned an auto repair shop and knew nothing more about it. He said he's only used it a handful of times on small hobby projects, and the only thing he's ever done to it was an oil change.
The motor is the 230V 1PH 1.5HP - GE if I remember correctly, so I assume that makes it the "mark one and a half" as mattewsx says. It has twin v-belts. $1,500 seemed like a bargain, and my SB 9a doesn't come close to comparing. I asked him what his bottom dollar was. He said $1,000 and I couldn't hand him the cash fast enough.
Congratulations, a nice Colchester for the price of a thrashed SB.
