# My new Colchester



## Frode (Feb 16, 2013)

Colchester Bantam 1600


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## Frode (Feb 16, 2013)

Since the day i got my lathe i have wondered why the chuck couldnt turn

guess what i found in the gearbox




	

		
			
		

		
	
:help:


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## Frode (Feb 16, 2013)

-It was thick ice in my new lathe gearbox


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## tripletap3 (Feb 16, 2013)

Frode said:


> -It was thick ice in my new lathe gearbox



Wow. I don't know what to say other than that. Keep us posted.

Congrats on the new lathe!!!


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## Pacer (Feb 16, 2013)

That has possibilities of being a very nice lathe! Clausing had some good stuff. But obviously you are looking at a lot of work ahead of you --- but have heart, it could just turn out like my South Bend that went thru hurricane Katrina, with the gear box - and everything else - filling with salt water, sewage, pesticides, etc, etc. With a lot of work it turned out quite nicely. I had to make one gear/shaft for the gear box along with every bearing on the lathe - even the motor survived!

Heres a link to a post I did on it, with a bunch of pics from the restoration ...

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/show...al-late-SB-from-Taiwan-and-a-Katrina-survivor


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## Frode (Feb 17, 2013)

You have done a real good job



What kind of tool do y use to remove all rust


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## toag (Feb 17, 2013)

yikes! that much ice my have made some exspansion cracks.
GL on the rebuild, it is a diamond in the rough... or frozen tundra.


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## Pacer (Feb 17, 2013)

> What kind of tool do y use to remove all rust



My primary tools are some of Harbor Freights finest) - I have 2 of the amazing little $15 4 1/2" angle grinders that I primarily use twisted wire cup brushes on - along with an occasional plain wire wheel. Then I have 3 of the - again, amazing - $15 air angle die grinders and about 5 of the straight ones primarily using the 3M wheels (or copies of 3M, which are cheaper) And, occasionally will have to resort to using sandpaper...!
Small parts are first wire wheeled on the bench grinder, removing as much as possible, then I have a blast cabinet (here again, another HF piece) that I use with glass bead for as many pieces that I can get in it - many times rust calls for quite aggressive action to get it off.

Its a lot of work, you may as well plan on taking it completely apart, taking a lot of pics before disassembly (you will thank your self on re-assembly). You can sure get yourself well acquainted with a machin in one of these projects!


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## HSS (Feb 18, 2013)

So Frode, what did you do with the Wooly Mammoth that was buried next to that lathe. Your lathe must have been out in the weather for a while to get the GB full of water. Good luck.

Patrick


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## Bradman (Feb 18, 2013)

I recently bought a 20x80 Tos lathe. I was so excited about the price I was paying and the the difficulty of getting it out of the guys garage that I didn't look it over very well. It had been stored and not operated for quite a few years. When I got it home (700mile round trip) I found the carriage was frozen solid to the ways. When I finally got the carriage off and apart I found it about have full of water. The comment about lots of pictures is right on. Had I not done that I would have never got it back together. Although the gears were rusted they we useable after clean up. I think I used a gallon of Krud Cutter. The result was a great lathe for a great price and a great learning experience. The Colchester project is a great candidate for the same experience. Good luck.


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## Frode (Feb 19, 2013)

rcflier said:


> Wow! Someone should be punished for this. It looks like it was very nice before it was left outside.
> 
> Let's hope it's "just" surface rust. But my first choice of tool would NOT be a steel brush.
> Rather like steel wool and some chemicals.
> ...



I am interested but i have to wait until i know more about my lathe and what i realy need.  

How many change wheels did i realy need to do metric screwcutting


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## samthedog (Feb 21, 2013)

Hello Frode. You would have needed 15 changewheels with a tooth range of 20 - 70. I would assume that you already have 3 on the lathe so this would mean that 12 more wheels would have given all threads possible... metric and imperial. For all metric I am not sure - and I am not sure if your machine is a metric machine as standard. I can email you an electronic version of the manual and spare parts list if you need one.

Paul.


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## Frode (Feb 21, 2013)

Thanks Paul Y can send pm all i need.

My Colchester have got a "new" 3 phase 230-400v el. motor, but i need information about the right wiring . its 6 difrent colour of lead from the lathe to 
el.motor

Can y take a look 




v1,w1,u1,v2,w2,u2...


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## samthedog (Feb 21, 2013)

Frode, you have a dual voltage motor and will need to wire it in Wye, or "stjarne". I have a diagram that I can scan and send you since I had to do the same with my motor. PM me your email address and I will send you whatever I have that can help.

Paul.


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## Frode (Mar 13, 2013)

Now after some week whithout hydraulick / gear oil,  the yellow paint inside my lathes gearbox start to cracks and peel of. Yesterday i received new oil. Did i have to repaint it or just brush away old paint...


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## brook_cottage (Oct 2, 2016)

I would like to run my Colchester bantam MK2 lathe from 240v single phase. But my Colchester lathe has a 2 speed 3 phase motor
I have attached a photo of the motor wiring and the name plate from the motor. Can any of you gentlemen help me out there.


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## wa5cab (Oct 2, 2016)

brook,

The two-speed function isn't an issue but you cannot run a three-phase motor directly off of the single phase AC line.  If you cannot get your power company to run a 3-phase line to your house (the Houston Looting and Pillage guy whom I asked the question of was still laughing when he hung up on me), you will have to buy or build some sort of single-phase to three-phase inverter.  

There are four general types.  The motor-generator set would use a large single phase motor to run a three-phase generator.  This is large and relatively expensive.  

Second, the simple static inverter uses capacitors and inductors to generate the leading and lagging phases from the single phase.  This is the cheapest type and there are dozens if not hundreds of them for sale.  Their drawback is that they work exactly right only at one load.  So generally, if you had several machines with different size three-phase motors, you would want a static inverter for each machine.

The third type, not AFAIK still sold commercially, is to use a static inverter to run a three-phase motor larger that the largest loads.that you expect and use the motor to generate the other two phases.  This works well, is cheaper than the M-G set, and was once common in small shops.

The fourth and newest type is the Variable Frequency Drive, or VFD.  This is actually a type of static inverter, as it uses no mechanical rotating components.  It wasn't practical to build back when your Bantam was new.  It converts the 120 or 240 VAC single-phase to DC.  And then uses solid-state components to generate three-phase AC.  It has the potential advantage over the simple static inverter of also being a variable speed drive.  

So the static inverter is the cheapest option.  The VFD is more expensive but has the advantage of also being variable speed.


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