# Just acquired a Clausing 6300 lathe



## Choiliefan (Jun 19, 2020)

For the past few months I'd been wondering about this lathe, situated under a lean-to surrounded by some farm machinery maybe 30' off a road leading to my brother's house.    My brother spotted it as well one day and stopped in to inquire about it and was told he could have it for free.   Owner said he would help load it as soon as his Mahindra tractor (with forks) was repaired.  Well, last Saturday we loaded it up and brought it to my house where we dropped it in the yard with the gantry crane without mishap.

As soon as it was on the ground, the sky opened up with big drops of rain so I scrambled to find some plastic as a cover.  Well, it rained hard for the next four days so I couldn't get out and bond with my new acquisition.  Bummer...  

Been biding my time poring over everything I could find on these lathes and am very impressed with the engineering that went into it.  Headstock has an oil pump and the quick change and apron gearings are bathed in oil.  Very much looking forward to see what's under all the gunk and schmutz.  A quick once-over shows the tailstock is the (missing) lever type which seems a plus to me, the thread dial is MIA as is the entire drive to the spindle.   All the rest of the basic things are there including what appears to be an L00 8" Buck chuck.

Plan is is delve into, clean and assess what we have and if feasible adapt another drive to it.  Wish I had more to show but it's very wet here.  That's a magnetic plastic shield holding the base door closed.


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## markba633csi (Jun 19, 2020)

Perfect opportunity to upgrade the motor and drive- great score
-Mark


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## 9t8z28 (Aug 24, 2020)

Very cool.  I have been looking at getting a Clausing 6307 with a taper attachment.  I am pretty sure it is basically the same as yours but I am not sure.  Do you know where to find any info on these machines?


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## middle.road (Aug 25, 2020)

Can't wait to see the 'unveiling'.   
What a score.


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## DavidR8 (Aug 25, 2020)

How cool is a score like that! 
New lathe day!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Tim9 (Aug 25, 2020)

Man....nice score. Give me a picture without the plastic. SPRAY IT WITH WD-40...and you’re good to go. FWIW, My lathe looked like pure crap. I bought it from a scrapper who got it after the  Katrina flood. And my bed is still real good. Sat out unprotected when I got it and the hardened bed had no pits whatsoever.


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## Janderso (Aug 25, 2020)

Can't beat a Clausing.
It's amazing the abuse these machines can take, with a little elbow grease they are ready for another generation.


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## Shootymacshootface (Nov 26, 2020)

I live mine.
How is the refurbishing going?


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## WEL0058 (Nov 30, 2020)

Update pleeese with photos attached...


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## Janderso (Nov 30, 2020)

Wow, that's quite a transformation.
How's it perform?


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## Tim9 (Dec 1, 2020)

Janderso.... my Clausing is just fantastic in my opinion. The motor had bad bearings when I got it. Katrina water only submerged the motor. I did change the Delrin bushing in the Var-drive sheave and rebuilt the two hydraulic cylinders. But that’s about it. All in all it’s amazing in my opinion. I can easily hold within 1/2 thousanths when I have a tailstock support. And finish on parts like a mirror. And I love the controls. Really like having the clutch which disengages the drive system without turning off the motor. Changing the vari-drive Delrin bushing is simple I would never do away with my Vari-drive. A lot of people put VFD’s on these Clausings but personally I would do everything possible to keep your lathe original. The Clausing has a nice control system in my opinion. 
   My South Bend 9” just doesn’t compare. I absolutely love my Clausing.


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## Tim9 (Dec 1, 2020)

By the way.... I noticed you have a tailstock too. That’s a good score because lots of these Clausings seem to be missing the tailstocks. They had turrets and I’m guessing the tailstock just got separated at some point.


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## wa5cab (Dec 2, 2020)

No, I didn't look up the specific model number but most that are missing the tailstocks were probably ordered as turret lathes and never had a regular tailstock in the first place.


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