About to buy a Clausing Colchester 1336 Engine Lathe (Master Mark I)

[MikeInOr]

If your British (insert type of machine here) doesn't leak oil, it's because it doesn't have any.

Congrats and welcome Brad. That's a great starter lathe.

I had a factory tech manual on CD for a Jaguar I had when I was young. The CD leaked oil!

 

[bradpj53]

 

[DeadGuyAle]

No expert but my two cents on moving something of that size - Don't load it into the pickup bed unless you have access to some serious lifting equipment on both ends.
Rent a drop deck trailer and plan from that point on how to load.
I'm picking up a much smaller Clausing 4900 this weekend (800 lbs). Current plan is place on two 2'x2' 1.5" thick plywood platforms with 5" castors.
Bolt each end down to the platforms using the leveling mounts and roll on/off the trailer.
At double the weight maybe machine rollers as opposed to platforms but I have no experience with something that size.

Once again Drop deck trailer!
Good luck!

 

[bradpj53]

There are a couple of publications on owwm.com. A parts manual is listed under Clausing and a manual is listed under Colchester. Machine weighs 1550 lbs give or take. The lathe is driven by a two speed motor to get 16 speeds. Since there is no back gear, the two speed motor becomes important to getting the rpm range you want, absent the vfd. A vfd does not like two speed motors if they are of the Dahlander type rather than having two separate windings. That doesn't mean you can't run with a vfd but you can't switch between motor speeds while the vfd is powered up. You might want to talk to Mark or others about how to best deal with that. A downside of that configuration without a vfd is that there are few speeds above 750 - three I believe, so a vfd is a huge improvement if you sort out the wiring to isolate the vfd from the drum switch that drops out the poles on the motor. Motor is 8 pole and four pole. If Dahlander, four of the eight drop out in high and I would expect that to be the case. ask the seller about all of this and verify he is still running the original motor. If he swapped it out, see what is used now to get the 40-1800 rpm range.

Dave

Is there a straightforward way to tell if it is a Dahlander type?

 

[Beckerkumm]

I suspect it is. A dual winding motor would be a large frame size. That is large but I'll guessing Dahlander. That is usually the case when the rpm choices are 2-1. You can put it on a vfd but leave the drum switch intact and always engage it to the proper rpm before turning on the vfd and turn off the vfd before switching back and forth. The other gears are OK to adjust without turning off the vfd assuming there is a clutch. Dave

 

[bradpj53]

IF it were mine and had the original motor I'd replace it with a new inverter rated motor and unleash a bit more speed potential, I'm sure that the 1336 can safely be driven at 2000-2200 rpm given the headstock design and bearings. I also recommend redesigning the entire electrical cabinet at the same time so all the controls are brand new. Then Brad would have years of worry free machining.

I'm very interested in this approach; can you recommend links or resources on doing exactly that? I can always post in the electrical forum but thought I'd ask.

 

[Beckerkumm]

Talk with Mark Jacobs here. He did the systems for my two lathes. Outstanding work. Dave

 

[TorontoBuilder]

I'm very interested in this approach; can you recommend links or resources on doing exactly that? I can always post in the electrical forum but thought I'd ask.

I'll send you two links later. I'll also write up how I did mine later. I just spent the day picking up my Colchester from my new friend's farm shop where is was temporarily stored and then lifting a ton of stuff in our shop so I am beat at the moment.

By the way, have you managed your move yet?

I loaded a lathe the past two weekends in a row, last weekend it was our old 12x37 with the variable speed, and this weekend my Chipmaster.

I would not use a pick up for either, the lathe ends up very high and requires a very high gantry crane to load and unload, or forklift. We nearly had my lathe slide off the forks today... luckily the lathe was just inches off the ground and I was able to position and the use load binders to strap it to the fork lift and try again.

I'd use drop deck, a pallet truck and maybe a come along to help pull the lathe onto the trailer with the pallet truck.

In hindsight had I brought my narrow webbing I'd have slung that thru the lift point, hook the webbing onto the fork and lifted it that way. I used the built in lift point when I got home and the lathe lifted perfectly balanced better than anything I had ever rigged before.

 

[bradpj53]

Talk with Mark Jacobs here. He did the systems for my two lathes. Outstanding work. Dave

Do you know his member ID by any chance? Can't find him by name. Oh- I think it must be mksj based on some of his posts.

 

[bradpj53]

So the 10 hour round trip is done and the machine is home, tucked in under plastic in my open bay until I can get it moved into my small machine room next weekend.