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Bought a clausing 13x36 lathe today

Followup to my earlier question to the newsgroup about lathe rust etc

Stopped by the seller today.

That Clausing Colchester lathe that I was asking about, I think looks worse on photos:

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than it is actually is. The thin layer of rust looks especially bad due to presence of dried gunk and woodworking dust. There is a lot of dust and gunk on the ways and they are not actually rusted. But the sides are.

The father of the owner is a woodworker, who uses his Bridgeport mill to machine wood. Hence the wood dust. No shit.

I have not been able to ascertain how worn the lathe is. It may be worn or it may not be worn. Haven't a clue.

The gears and stuff, look OK.

It is either 13x36, or 13x40.

There is a shitload of tooling, extra chuck, dogs, and so on included with it. All with some rust, though, but after 2 hours of wirebrushing most rust on the tooling will be gone. The machine itself will be harder.

It is a geared lathe, not varidrive. It seemed to turn when the belt was pulled and engaged the clutch.

It looks exactly like pictures here:

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The best matching picture from
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is this:

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the picture is this one

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I believe that it pictures a lathe that is identical to mine. Could not find any difference.

There is enough electrics in the back to make me suspect that the motor may be 2 speed.

The price was $425.

The motor looks very big, maybe 3 or 5 HP. I hope that it is 3 HP as I have a 3.7 kW VFD that could run it.

Anyway, I paid with check and I will pick up in perhaps 2-3 weeks. The sellers looked nice enough that I trusted them with the money, and I took some parts of the lathe with me.

Meanwhile I will clear out my garage and make a platform on casters to move it around. (those heavy duty casters from the Bridgeport bed). Their garage is also godawfully messy and casters are a must to maneuver it.

I have a question for now.

What is the weight of it?

Reply to
Ignoramus5355
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I enjoy working on well designed and well built machinery. If all you have to do is take it apart, clean off the dirt and rust, lube it up, and put it back together, then it looks like fun to me.

At that price, the transportation is a bigger deal than the cost.

I bought a Clausing 5914 for $1200 that had so much grime, I did not know that it was painted seafoam green for a month.

Reply to
Clark Magnuson

I do, as well.

I hope so, as well, but in addition to it I would like to rewire it with a VFD.

I think that with a little bit of effort, I can make a sturdy cart on casters, and put it on that cart.

scary stuff, no, I know that mine is machinery grey.

Reply to
Ignoramus5355

I've got a Clausing-Colchester brochure with a 13x36 lathe that looks similar but nor identical to yours and it says the weight was 1410 lbs. They came standard with eiher a single speed 1-1/2 HP or two speed 1-1/2-3 HP motor. Model numbers were 65## with both straight bed and gap bed versions available, where the "##" differed according to bed length, motor size and speed, and gap or no gap.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Henry

Mike, thanks a lot. Does your brochure talk about base dimensions? How many pages are in it, just curious?

i
Reply to
Ignoramus14972

Its a 13x36, with a spindle nose big enough for 5c collets, though you need the insert to hold the collets, and a handwheel and drawtube or lever actuated collet closer. I made up a handwheel and long draw tube.

Spray it down with PBlaster..and go damned easy with that wire brush. Use a brass one after the Blaster has had a chance to soak in.

Yes, it IS a gear head. And it will cut a chip that will make your eyes bug out.

It is. that lever with the red knob is the forward/reverse,. the smaller lever is high/low range.

you SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its 3hp.

Iggy..this lathe NEEDS to be mounted flat on the floor. Its NOT a portable. Sorry..if you need a portable, buy a Unimat.

It WILL twist. trust me on this.

About 1600 lbs

Check the hatch under the center of the lathe, the face plates were normally stored in there

gunner

at yoyodyne they were all veterans of the psychic wars exiled from the eighth dimension where the winds of limbo roar"              mariposa rand mair theal

Reply to
Gunner Asch

it wont work as well with a vfd.

Btw..thats a master, and its a model 1 1/2, later model with the safety carraige. I misspoke about it being a Chipmaster...a lathe i sold not long ago. To a poster here IRRC.

just to move it I hope..not to run it.

Gunner

at yoyodyne they were all veterans of the psychic wars exiled from the eighth dimension where the winds of limbo roar"              mariposa rand mair theal

Reply to
Gunner Asch

It's 16 pages but only a couple on the 13" lathes, with the rest dedicated to the 15" and 17" lathes in the series or the features common to all three.

It does show base dimensions - the 13" is around 60" long and about 28" deep at the widest point. It mentions 4 jacking holes, two at each end, but no indication if those are for floor mounting or something like jacking the bed in the lathe stand to tweal alignmnet.

It does have an example of the tolerance test sheet that the lathes shipped with. You might find that useful if you plan to re-furbish and sell the lathe.

Reply to
Mike Henry

Mike, would it be possible, to just take a photo of the pages, and maybe shoot me an email with them? ichudov@{algebra,gmail}.com

Thanks a lot. I am trying to decide how to make it movable (Gunner's points notwithstanding)

Reply to
Ignoramus28029

Great to know, thanks.

Do you have pictures of that? Just curious.

OK, will try to find one.

Nice to know. I have seen some big chips before.

OK

Good size. Just about right for a lot of reasons.

Well, I need to move it around while I am working on it, I can always stick enough 4x4 under it when I want it to stay in one place.

I will grab the tooling in a few days and will start working on degreasing it. May just go at some of it with hydrochloric acid. I have a good handle on the process.

Reply to
Ignoramus28029

Well, that sounds better! Sides of the ways are rusted? Those are not a precision surface, so you can just rub with steel wool.

Wood dust can be corrosive, so you want to get it all out.

Lube liberally, and then try turning something and check for diameter change along the length. Of course, you really want to level the bed to remove twist first.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Clausing has instructions on how to move their lathes in the manual, which can help avoid a blunder. They specifically warn against using a forklift to lift a 5914 by the chip pan, instead suggesting how to use slings, and show how to block things to avoid bending any of the long rods.

As it happened, the rigger I hired did know how to do it, so no problem, but in retrospect, it would have been better to have taken the model and serial number, and bought a manual from Clausing before the lathe arrived.

Gunner is right about not running a lathe on a cart. The lathe bed will twist, causing all sorts of problems.

In the manual is the lathe bed levelling procedure, which requires a single machinist's precision level with sensitivity of at least 0.003" in 6" (the minimum length that will span the bed ways).

The lathe levelling is repeated every time the lathe is moved, and verified periodically between moves.

Milling machines are not nearly as sensitive to levelling, so that fact that the Bridgeport doesn't care isn't good evidence that a lathe won't care.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joseph Gwinn

This lathe, has a different style cabinet. I think that I could either bolt casters underneath (that would be special heavy duty casters rated at 2,400 lbs each) or make a cart.

Joe, I need to move it around for two reasons, one is to get it home, and second for ease of restoration. If that negatively impacts its accuracy, so be it, I do not care at this point, I just want easy access to it.

Reply to
Ignoramus5615

Yes, it says 7/8" Whitworth (in the manual for a smaller but similar lathe)

I need to get rid of some books, running out of space also.

Seriously, coming back to this casters issue, I think that this boils down to the principle of putting first things first. In this instance, the first thing is to get it home and to clean it, wire it and to get it to run.

And that is accomplished much better, if it is put on casters.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5615

Sounds like we agree here.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5615

Igor,

If I decoded your email correctly, you should have something in your inbox at the algebra.com domain address.

If not shoot me an email.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Henry

Mike, thanks SO much, I am printing it as we speak and, if you do not mind, I have placed it on the webpage in hopes that someone else might find it via a web search. Thanks a lot for your help. Stop by if you want to have a look at it once I bring it home.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5615

Igor, feel free to share the brochure. Does the brochure lathe look like yours?

Reply to
Mike Henry

Yes, indeed, it does.

I will go there today to pick up tooling.

Reply to
Ignoramus4323

Well, there is an approach that *may* work:

Make a steel deck (plate with deep welded-on stringers) designed for stiffness more than strength. Put three (not four) casters on it, two fore and aft under the headstock, and the third centered under the tailstock. Bolt lathe to deck. Set deck on blocks. Level lathe as directed in the manual. Take deck off the blocks. If the deck is stiff enough, it won't twist the lathe bed too badly as you move it around. Level is used as a proxy for straight, which is the real requirement, so if the lathe bed remains straight courtesy of the deck, it should work out OK.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joseph Gwinn

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