Switching gears on my Clausing Colchester 13”

Defender92

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Amateur with a new lathe here. So as I’m leaning to use my new lathe I’ve noticed changing the gears is not easy. I discovered it’s much easier when the spindle is engaged. This was a very BAD idea on my Craftsman Atlas lathe.

Is this something I should NOT do?? I’m wanting this lathe to last a long time and not do any unnecessary damage or wear.

And these plastic levers are fragile!

Here’s a video to show what I’m talking about. Video of my lathe
 
That's the way it's done . :)
 
Dave has thousands of hours more than I do on a lathe.
I have your lathe, basically.
You are experiencing the same thing I have.
I don’t have the confidence to shift under power.
I find spinning the chuck/spindle by hand with a bit of pressure on the gear shift lever does the job.
 
Nothing wrong with changing feed/threading gears under power, but don't do it under load, on some industrial lathes spindle speeds can be shifted under power, but again not under load.
 
Manuals I have seen and warning sticker tells you not to change the gears while the machine is running. I apply this to both headstock and gear train. You need to engage the spindle and gear train (L,H), when you shift gears you need to rotate/manually jog the chuck back and forth until the gears engage. Doing it statically without moving anything or having the gear train engaged, often the gears will not be lined up. I usually bump the jog button to make sure everything is engaged properly. Also on these types of gearboxes it is sometime hard to tell if the gear is fully engaged, doing it by hand you can feel the gear pop into place and into the detent. Changing gears under speed one would expect damage to the edge of a spinning gear engaging a static gear. I also often double check my gear settings as it is easy to get the lever settings wrong until you are familiar with them and also what order to change them.

ERL-1340 Gear Chart.jpg
 
The Takisawa would not like this…it would be like shifting a non-synchronized transmission without using the clutch, seems to me.

If these lathes are truly designed to shift under power, I’m impressed.
 
I have no experience with any model of Colchester. But I do have experience with non-synchromesh gearboxes in various applications. And I agree completely with @mksj. DO NOT shift gears under power, regardless of whether under load or not. And my opinion of Colchester just went down. Not for designing the lathe as they did, but for failing to put a warning tag of some sort on the headstock.

And if the plastic handles dion't give you a warm fuzzy, make replacements out of aluminum and store the plastic ones away for future use as patterns.
 
Manuals I have seen and warning sticker tells you not to change the gears while the machine is running. I apply this to both headstock and gear train. You need to engage the spindle and gear train (L,H), when you shift gears you need to rotate/manually jog the chuck back and forth until the gears engage. Doing it statically without moving anything or having the gear train engaged, often the gears will not be lined up. I usually bump the jog button to make sure everything is engaged properly. Also on these types of gearboxes it is sometime hard to tell if the gear is fully engaged, doing it by hand you can feel the gear pop into place and into the detent. Changing gears under speed one would expect damage to the edge of a spinning gear engaging a static gear. I also often double check my gear settings as it is easy to get the lever settings wrong until you are familiar with them and also what order to change them.

View attachment 411752
Ok. This is what I kind of figured. I guess I will just have to get a feel for my machine. It’s still new to me. Better safe than sorry and I will pop it into gear not under power
 
Feed gears which the OP was asking about are fine changing on the fly . Lathe SPEED gears are another story , so we are talking about two different animals here . And we are talking about his Clausing lathe . The 20" Colchesters , the 17" Colchesters , the 15" Colchesters , the 13" Metosas and all the Harrisons in at work are changed when running . Never any issues or loud noises . Yes , you can turn the chuck by hand and do the same thing . Doesn't matter here . Here's a 20" Colchester I ran at the Sun . Oh , Glen ( in the pic ) retires this Friday also . Great machinist and mechanic . :encourage:
 

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