Colchester Student Mk 1 - some questions

damaging the

switchgear to

anything else

loose.

(American

Austin,

No problem reversing the Student - the L0 fitting is ok for reversing due to the key on the taper. There is a Yahoo group for Colchester Lathes

- you have to register, and the moderator is sometimes rather slow doing his bit but lots of useful information.

ps have you escaped from the Landrover list !!!!

AWEM

On or around Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:05:34 +0000 (UTC), "Andrew Mawson" enlightened us thusly:

hehe. Nah, I'm still there as well.

I'll have a hunt for a suitable DPDT switch. Luckily, we're on single phase here so it's not too many connections to shunt around to reverse it.

All it needs then is a decent sized motor. Currently has a 1.5HP, which is not really enough - ISTR the student originally had a 3HP motor.

The Colchester Student was NEVER intended for home use !!!!!!

Schools, colleges and aprentice training schools yes. Small shop yes.

AWEM

Why would you want to make LH threads by reversing the lathe? You just reverse the feed and cut left to right, at least that's how I do it. Bugs

On or around Tue, 13 Dec 2005 18:00:34 -0600, Mike Berger enlightened us thusly:

the 1.5 on it won't actually run it at maximum (1200) speed. Not enough starting torque to accelerate it. It also won't start at speeds over 500 until it's been running for a while and has gotten warm. Long term, I want a 3HP motor and a bigger starter switch - this one has an 8.summat amp cutout, which is fine once running but if you try to start it from cold in too high a gear it cuts out before it's up to speed.

On or around 14 Dec 2005 06:34:01 -0800, "Bugs" enlightened us thusly:

if you read the original post more closely, I was using an LH die in a dieholder in the tailstock chuck. This is an 8M1.25 thread on an 8mm bar.

I agree that in general it should be possible to cut LH threads as you describe, with a suitable tool or chaser, but I doubt it'd be easy to get a decent result on the 8mm bar.

for cutting threads on a large job, I'd do it as you describe.

The names "Student" and "Master" (of both the Mk. 1 and Mk. 2 designations) refer, in effect, to the centre height and bed length - the Student being 6" x 24" and the Master 6.5" x 30" - for, in all other respects, the lathes were identical. As standard, for the home market, both lathes were fitted with a dual English/metric screwcutting gearbox but a cheaper "Dominion" model was also offered that had an English-only screwcutting gearbox (though with two additional pitches of 11.5 and 23 tpi), a

Andrew Maws> The Colchester Student was NEVER intended for home use !!!!!!

length -

market,

gearbox

English-only

Mike,

Missunderstanding of English phrases here !!!!! "Home Market" is a term we use for selling into the UK as opposed to "Overseas Market" and does not refer to selling to homes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (what a lovely thought garden/backyard lorry/truck got/gotten lift/elevator - two countries divided by a common lanuage)

AWEM

On or around Thu, 15 Dec 2005 16:55:48 -0600, Mike Berger enlightened us thusly:

yeah, but "home market" in this context refers to machines intended for the UK, as opposed to overseas.

According to Andrew Mawson :

[ ... ]

Hmm ... here (USA) a backyard may *contain* a garden, or even

*be* a garden.

The difference (for us) is between an area for general use and one specifically dedicated to the growing of cultivated plants -- either food plants or flowers.

Enjoy, DoN.