Nice little lathes. I did my Engineering apprenticeship (1976-1980) in a company that made saddle gearboxes for Colchester lathes amongst other parts (topsides, compound slides and tailstocks). The gearboxes were for the larger Colchester lathes, Triumphs and Masters. At the age of 19 and still on day release at college, I ran the gearcutting shop, Hobbers, shapers, vertical and horizontal broaching machines, and an induction hardening plant where we hardened the gear teeth. You have 2 shafts running along the front of the lathe to drive the saddle gearbox. A lead screw for thread cutting and a spline shaft for feeding. I don't think we made parts for the Chipmaster, but we had one in the turning shop. Some machines were special purpose ones built by Colchester. Looking into the saddle gearbox on the vid I can recognise a lot of the parts. It was a busy place shipping out a fair few gearbox assemblies every week up to Colchester for assembly into new machines.
Fantastic presentation, really informative and useful. I'm considering a Chipmaster or a Boxford VSL. I'm getting the sense that this is an altogether better machine. Yours looks beautiful and restored. I'm green with envy!
Nice job there, i like your footings and good control operation bit too. I’ve just got a chipmaster, but it was coveeed in gunk and couldnt make any of the gears out. The variator also wont adjust as the cogs dont meet just inside the cabinet
Can you tell me the diameter of the hole thru the bed that is the balanced lifting point of the lathe when assembled? I need to move a chipmaster within a few days
Hello dude what a brilliant project! what brought me here is that recently acquired a chipmaster lathe myself and discovered the Headstock is requiring a re alignments due to its turning quite a taper onto unsupported stock. how did you go about aligning yours? looking at a taper test bar but getting mixed messages online as to what the morse taper size is in the spindle bore. feed back would be great from you, cheers
I got a test bar but it was made in India and it was about as straight as wet spaghetti. It's easy to adjust, loosen the 4 bolts holding the headstock on and it rotates on a pin.
Just a comment on the motor conversion. Consider putting the 3 phase back in and using a VFD. I have heard several times that a single phase motor affects surface finish quality
Yes I have a vfd already and tried it but the original 3 phase motor has the wrong insulated windings for effective vfd use (class E). I need to get a class F motor. I am on the lookout for one, then I can lose the variator as it is very loud. Newton Tesla is a good place for a complete kit but very expensive.
I TRULEY HOPE THAT YOU ALWAYS STAY THE WAY YOU PORTRAY YOURSELF IN THESE ''SMALL BEGINNINGS''. WE KNOW IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU GET BIG AND THIS CHANNEL BLOWS UP! THANK YOU FOR THE CONTENT AND YOUR TIME!!
Hello, What colour did you use for the lower base? I was looking on "Paragon Paints" website and they list the "Ash Grey" which looks like the pale upper colour, but I couldn't see a colour which looked close to the bluish base.
hi,for you how much the bed weights?because i'm buying one and i need to dismount it because i have to lift it from an underground canteen with steps thank you for the reply
Good informative video on your Chipmaster. Did you manage to utilise the contents of the power control box on the rear of your lathe when you did the single phase conversion or did you utilise modern single phase components in the power control box?
The only thing I re used was the main switch as I wanted it to look the same and I like the control handle and knob. Eventually I'll go back to 3 phase but with a variable frequency drive and no variator.
@@MG-Driver I'm currently converting my Chipmaster to single phase. Did you connect your "lollipop" control lever to a modern forward, stop, reverse switch hidden in the original control box?
Nice little lathes.
I did my Engineering apprenticeship (1976-1980) in a company that made saddle gearboxes for Colchester lathes amongst other parts (topsides, compound slides and tailstocks).
The gearboxes were for the larger Colchester lathes, Triumphs and Masters.
At the age of 19 and still on day release at college, I ran the gearcutting shop, Hobbers, shapers, vertical and horizontal broaching machines, and an induction hardening plant where we hardened the gear teeth.
You have 2 shafts running along the front of the lathe to drive the saddle gearbox. A lead screw for thread cutting and a spline shaft for feeding.
I don't think we made parts for the Chipmaster, but we had one in the turning shop.
Some machines were special purpose ones built by Colchester. Looking into the saddle gearbox on the vid I can recognise a lot of the parts. It was a busy place shipping out a fair few gearbox assemblies every week up to Colchester for assembly into new machines.
Fantastic presentation, really informative and useful. I'm considering a Chipmaster or a Boxford VSL. I'm getting the sense that this is an altogether better machine. Yours looks beautiful and restored. I'm green with envy!
Nice job there, i like your footings and good control operation bit too. I’ve just got a chipmaster, but it was coveeed in gunk and couldnt make any of the gears out. The variator also wont adjust as the cogs dont meet just inside the cabinet
Just bought myself a chipmaster. Your vid is a fantastic source of information - thanks
Can you tell me the diameter of the hole thru the bed that is the balanced lifting point of the lathe when assembled?
I need to move a chipmaster within a few days
Hello dude what a brilliant project! what brought me here is that recently acquired a chipmaster lathe myself and discovered the Headstock is requiring a re alignments due to its turning quite a taper onto unsupported stock. how did you go about aligning yours? looking at a taper test bar but getting mixed messages online as to what the morse taper size is in the spindle bore. feed back would be great from you, cheers
I got a test bar but it was made in India and it was about as straight as wet spaghetti. It's easy to adjust, loosen the 4 bolts holding the headstock on and it rotates on a pin.
That is really informative thank you ! Great useable result too of course 😊👍
Just a comment on the motor conversion. Consider putting the 3 phase back in and using a VFD. I have heard several times that a single phase motor affects surface finish quality
Yes I have a vfd already and tried it but the original 3 phase motor has the wrong insulated windings for effective vfd use (class E). I need to get a class F motor. I am on the lookout for one, then I can lose the variator as it is very loud. Newton Tesla is a good place for a complete kit but very expensive.
I TRULEY HOPE THAT YOU ALWAYS STAY THE WAY YOU PORTRAY YOURSELF IN THESE ''SMALL BEGINNINGS''. WE KNOW IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU GET BIG AND THIS CHANNEL BLOWS UP! THANK YOU FOR THE CONTENT AND YOUR TIME!!
Hello, What colour did you use for the lower base? I was looking on "Paragon Paints" website and they list the "Ash Grey" which looks like the pale upper colour, but I couldn't see a colour which looked close to the bluish base.
Hi
1:55 thats called the apron
Are Colchester lathes top of the uk lathes?
If not top then pretty high. They were built to a spec, not a cost. Can't speak for newer ones though.
hi,for you how much the bed weights?because i'm buying one and i need to dismount it because i have to lift it from an underground canteen with steps
thank you for the reply
It's got to be around 150 to 200kg at least. The whole lathe is 500kg. I lifted headstock myself but it's also very heavy, around 75kg.
@@MG-Driver thank you!
Very nice
MG-Driver
did you know the lathe was made it 1974.
I looked up the serial number which gives the info. Was a while ago so can't remember the website
@@MG-Driver yes, its a great website www.lathes.co.uk
Good informative video on your Chipmaster. Did you manage to utilise the contents of the power control box on the rear of your lathe when you did the single phase conversion or did you utilise modern single phase components in the power control box?
The only thing I re used was the main switch as I wanted it to look the same and I like the control handle and knob. Eventually I'll go back to 3 phase but with a variable frequency drive and no variator.
@@MG-Driver I'm currently converting my Chipmaster to single phase. Did you connect your "lollipop" control lever to a modern forward, stop, reverse switch hidden in the original control box?
@@Dutchie74flh no I have not fitted a reverse yet. But will soon, I used the drum switch that's in the machine, but binned the rest
@@MG-Driver I see. Thanks. You did a great job on your Chippy. Best of luck with it 👍
where did you get the oil seal again? because i've got leak to.
I think the supplier was Kent Bearings but I can't remember the part number. I think I measured it and phoned them.
@@MG-Driver thanks,