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Clausing Colchester Mod 13 lathe

Ive got an opportunity to aquire a Clausing Colchester Mod 13..the square topped machine..I believe its also sold as a Harrison M300

Machine is incredibly low hours..they added a CNC attachment to the compound and used only that..so the ways are virtually unused/unworn and it probably has less than 500 hrs on the machine itself.

Old customer of mine, and they would like me to have it, so I have a definate "in"

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This is probably late 1980s to late 1990s machine. It still has all of its paint

Its completely different than my Clausing 1500 and I see mention of it as the perfect gunsmiths lathe on various message boards.

Anyone have any pluses and minuses of this lathe?

I have a Hardinge HLV-H as well, but its simply too small for gunsmithing of any serious nature.

Gunner

-- "The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their? president.. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince".

Reply to
Gunner Asch
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We have a Harrision M300 here in our maintenance shop. It is a pretty robust workhorse capable of very accurate work. This is *really* rigid lathe! Ours had problems with a couple of polymer gears in the 'box when we got it but the spares were readily available and cheap. All is fine now. One main advantage for us was we could get 1.5" matl down through the spindle.

This is our one:

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JB

Reply to
JB

Can you please let me know where you got the gears from? I'm looking for a couple for my M300.

Reply to
Jordan

When I needed a few items for my M300 I just looked up Harrison's contact details on the internet then rang them and ordered the parts. Might be easier for me as Harrison are in the UK on the other side of the country.

Reply to
David Billington

Thanks. I'll be in UK next month. Prices here, from a company called 600 Group, are mind-bogglingly high.

Is it just me, or is the M300 what inspired myriad Asian copies? Sure looks that way.

Reply to
Jordan

Harrison have been part of the 600 group for quite some time. The parts I ordered were acceptable in price, I wouldn't have called them cheap. I did ask about a travelling and fixed steady and I didn't think the price was too bad but as I didn't need them at the time I have bided my time and bought on ebay since. They did have a minimum order in the UK but your gears might be more, you'll have to enquire and I expect they're a standard module so maybe you can fashion from a stock gear if required.

Regarding the steadies I've seen them go on ebay several times for about what I was quoted for new about 3 or 4 years earlier.

Reply to
David Billington

I had 3 broken gears in the headstock, replacement quote was over $2000 a couple of years back. I know they are very well made and all, but that would have made the lathe a write-off, if I hadn't been able to find a good second hand headstock, luckily.

Reply to
Jordan

I've got to ask what happened, did it come that way or a major crash? I can understand why a good second hand headstock would be a good option. I had assumed it was some of the feed drive gear not those in the headstock.

Reply to
David Billington

I got the lathe with the headstock gears broken. A mystery how that happened, although a friend reckons it could have been deliberate damage

- possibly by a disgruntled employee. It could be the change gears outside the headstock are a lot cheaper. I've already bought the 1.5 module cutters so might try my hand at gearcutting.

Reply to
Jordan

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