Hi Neil

I have a Colchester Master 2500 that gets used in my bicycle frame building business. It came out of a College in Glasgow and is in immaculate nick, the four jaw had never been on the machine!!. I have collected a good range of tooling for it and it gets used on every frame I make from just simply facing head tubes to length to scewcutting steering columns and making the odd fitting that is not available from my usual supplier.

Cheers

Dave Yates

That's a very interesting combination. Any chance you could write an article for Neil that covers the pros and cons of the two lathes and what you use them for?

I've had a soft-spot for Dean Smith and Grace since overhearing a chap who owned one slap down a group of raucous Myford fans. About 5 years ago I was in a queue to pay for some bits at the Bristol Exhibition. Three Myford owners were mercilessly ragging a mate about his decision to buy Chinese. Mr DSG turned round and said "I suppose Myfords are OK if you like making toys but the chuck in my Dean Grace and Smith weighs more than your Super…"

I would love to own a Myford in good order but think they are over priced. People buying them just for the bragging rights put me off too!

Dave

It's an excellent argument for owning a Myford!

When I eventually got to see an ex-colliery DSG in the flesh I was amazed how big it was. I reckon it would just about fit into an empty single garage, but there wouldn't be enough room to operate it. The chuck was at least 2ft in diameter and looked far too heavy to lift manually. If my memory is right the owner told me the motor took a 15kW 3-phase supply.

I still want one though, just for the bragging rights…

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 22/08/2016 17:03:06

Three lathes – a Warco WM180, great for small bar work such as pins, bushes and studs. Limited travel on slides, no tee-slotted cross-slide, and, initially, no leadscrew handle / handwheel. Thanks, though, to some brilliant service from the Warco spares departmenf that was soon rectified.

Warco GH1232 – again a very nice lathe, especially with the digital readouts on saddle and cross-slide. Let down only by the relatively high bottom speed of 70 rpm. A bit high for roughing out 9" and 12" diameter cast-iron loco driving wheels? Even with carbide tips? And for screwcutting coarse threads? Some time ago I discussed this matter on another site – I am not at all keen on variable-frequency drives and intend now to machine new pulleys to half the speeds.

'Zyto' – despite its age and the flat-belt drive possibly the most versatile in the workshop. As currently arranged with an ovehead countershaft, screwcutting up to a shoulder is easy — pull the belt over and stop. Tee-slotted cross-slide allows readily for rear toolpost and other attachments. Only one complaint – 3/8" bore / 1MT mandrel and yet a 2MT tailstock quill?

I started off with a Myford M type which I believe to have been a Drummond design and it served me well when I mastered the art of turning the saddle handle the wrong way.

Next up was a wonderful Henry Milnes toolroom lathe that was being thrown out from work because the wet plate clutch was slipping and no amount of adjustment by the mainenance dept could cure it. I had a wander into the toolroom one lunchtime for a look and realised that the maintenance dept were adjusting it the wrong way. The clutch was operated by a Maxim toggle and needed loosening, no tightening!

I bought the lathe for the company book price of £60 but had to dismantle it to get it home. It was 3 phase so I bought a static converter which served me well until I moved house. The first day of moving in I had a look for where I could run a feed down to the workshop (garage) and was overjoyed to find three 400 amp fuses coming into the electrical cupboard. The lathe had to go when I moved house again. I had to downsize because picking up chucks and vices was a killer!

My present lathe if a Boxford which is ok but I miss the power of the Milnes.

Edited By Brian Hutchings on 05/11/2016 13:42:35