New to me Clausing lathe

[Nesse1]

Those are very good lathes.
I have the square head 15x50 Colchester marketed by Clausing.
Yours is made in Colchester England.. At least that's what I believe.
Those guys took a lot of pride in their work!!

 

[Oldseabee]

I called Clausing again today and they said that this lathe was made in England. So I asked are they still making manual lathes. They said yes but the castings are all from Taiwan. So I would guess England's EPA shut down there cast foundries just like here in the usa.

 

[Oldseabee]

I called my rotary phase converter guy here in town. He thinks a 5hp will run it. And the cost is 500.00
These are getting expensive. There are a lot of options with FVD I just know if they are really worth the effort. A rotary phase converter is simple to set up. I think the fvd may be a RPITA. Or am I wrong with that assumption? Home depot has a Vevor brand up to 4 hp for just over 100. Has any forum members used these cheaper VFD?

 

[Oldseabee]

I found the answer
Stay far away from vfd as I want to keep the original wiring and switches . I read one person's post on all his vfd issues bit his run fine on a rotary phase converter. And another almost the same machine, 3 hp motor running perfectly on a 5 hp rotary phase converter. Just have to wait until payday.

 

[Oldseabee]

One more question. For those of you with this heavy lathe has any one used casters to make it easy to use
From the pdf it looks like 1/2 threaded holes. Probably Whitworth threads too would be my guess.

 

[woodchucker]

One more question. For those of you with this heavy lathe has any one used casters to make it easy to use
From the pdf it looks like 1/2 threaded holes. Probably Whitworth threads too would be my guess.

NEVER... EVER put casters on a lathe . It is top heavy and may fall over if you try to move it.
NEVER... EVER put casters on a lathe, you need to level it, and if you are moving it, you can't level it... I am talking leveling across the ways, not leveling the length..

You can get really hurt, if you don't understand how top heavy a lathe is, and how it can fall over while moving.

 

[mmcmdl]

You can get really hurt, if you don't understand how top heavy a lathe is, and how it can fall over while moving.

I know !

 

[Oldseabee]

Well it's home now in the garage but not in it's final spot. I had to leave room for cleaning up the back are too. Overall the machine seems to be in great condition. Just needs a lots of TLC such as cleaning. Their are chips everywhere. And old sticky coolant cutting oil.
I'm enclosing a picture of the inside of my manual. These are very precesion lathe.
I'll try to document all that I do. The quality is apparent as soon as touch any hand wheel, each has a single cut knurling along the outer edge. Don't see that anymore.

 

[Oldseabee]

Pictures

 

[twhite]

Subscribed. Looking forward to your new project.


Cutting oil is my blood.