# New to me Colchester Master Mk1.5



## warrjon (Aug 3, 2018)

These lathes do not come on the market very often down under, so when I found it I snapped it up. 

I had to bypass the 415v starter and wire the motor Delta for it to run on the inverter but run it did. Note to self first job this weekend is to move the inverter off the shelf and mount it on the wall.

 It's in very good condition with minimal wear on the bed, I measured 0.02mm with an indicator base on the carriage indicating on the tailstock spindle, so far so good. Lead screw wear I could not measure and the feed shaft has about 0.05mm wear getting better. 

The lathe is sat on 100mm square post offcuts ATM, this weekends job is to machine 6 feet to get it on the floor and leveled properly, but I chucked up my trusty bar with 2 75mm aluminium disks and took a light cut and over 200mm it cut a 0.02mm taper WOW.

Only things I have found so far are 1 broken bolt in the back of the RH crossslide gib and the crossslide nut which I have ordered a new one. I'll pull the gib when I replace the crossslide nut stick it in the mill and drill out the broken bolt.





The way wiper were missing so I made these from an old polyethylene cutting board as a temporary fix. I have ordered a couple bits of acetyl to make a set of wipers and I also need to machine covers.


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## MAKEITOUTOFWOOD (Aug 3, 2018)

Looks awesome. Congratulations.


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## MozamPete (Aug 3, 2018)

Nice Buy - I've been tempted by a couple of Colchester Round Head lathes myself as an upgrade from my Myford ML7, they seem to come up for sale quite regularly in South Africa for reasonable prices.  Just cant afford the space for one at the moment.

To me they are beautiful and just what a classic lathe should look like.


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## markba633csi (Aug 3, 2018)

Very nice, love that t-slotted carriage
wish we saw more of them here
m


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## Janderso (Aug 3, 2018)

It looks like you scored big time.
I can't say I have ever seen that make/model but it looks like a good sturdy piece of equipment.
Congrats.


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## warrjon (Aug 3, 2018)

Thanks guys, I was wrapped in finding it. The models we got down under were the same as the UK, and maybe a little different than the Clausing.

The front T slot has a stop for the crossslide, both stops trip the autofeed a great feature I didn't have on my Hafco.

It looks like it spent its life machining plastic and brass. Nearly all the swarf I pulled out of the nooks and crannies was acetal. The suds pump is toast but I'll never use that, just removed it and cleaned out the tank.

There is a small score on the front of the carriage V way (doesn't make any difference to the indicator reading) but no wear groove. Even the brake works.


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## warrjon (Aug 3, 2018)

MozamPete said:


> Nice Buy - I've been tempted by a couple of Colchester Round Head lathes myself as an upgrade from my Myford ML7, they seem to come up for sale quite regularly in South Africa for reasonable prices.  Just cant afford the space for one at the moment.
> 
> To me they are beautiful and just what a classic lathe should look like.




The Myfords are a great lathe and and here often go for more than I paid for the Colchester. There is something about classic machinery, I think I will be buried with my car and lathe haha.........


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## wa5cab (Aug 3, 2018)

I don't know how or of what the original Colchester way wipers were made but on the later Atlas, they consist of four pieces:

Stamped and welded cover or retainer
Neoprene (probably) wiper
Felt oiler
Retaining screw


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