Colchester Chipmaster Clutch question

[Peter_HParticipant @peter_h]

I have a spare headstock in pieces that I am going to refurbish and “just swap over” with the current headstock. I’ve noticed that the friction plates from the spare Matrix clutch look like they may be oily. Assuming it is a dry clutch, do the members have any thoughts on cleaning and drying the friction plates please?. Also I can’t find any information on the original thickness of the plates so it would be a good measure of wear if this knowledge is available too.

Lastly, the tapered brake disk – should it be tapered down all the way to the end?. On mine, the small diameter taper end runs out about 2mm or so from the end and is parallel for that last 2mm. Is this wear, and if so is it OK to face a bit off it?

Sorry for so many questions!.

[PeteParticipant @pete41194]

I can’t provide an answer about your more specific questions. But an old trick for oil soaked wood is to position it close to but not touching, and slowly move it over something like an electrical hot plate for some minutes. It’s the heat that helps to thin and drive out the oil. A direct flame on the surface should not be used. Wipe off with paper towels as the oil comes to the surface, and keep reapplying the heat until very little oil reappears. At that point, I’d use either a pressurized spray can of brake or electrical contact cleaner.

If you don’t already have it, your used manual and that clutch assembly drawing is here. https://pearl-hifi.com/06_Lit_Archive/15_Mfrs_Publications/02_Machine_Tools/Colchester_Chipmaster/Chipmaster_Manual.pdf

[Peter_HParticipant @peter_h]

Smart idea, it has to be worth a try. I wonder if a hot air gun would be OK?. I have one that you can set the air temperature between 50C and 300C. That manual is the clearest copy I’ve seen yet. Thanks for your your help Pete.

[PeteParticipant @pete41194]

If you have a heat gun, that would probably work even better.

[notlobgp14Participant @notlobgp14]

Don’t worry about oil soaked plates.  Mine was just the same, until I stopped the oil leak.  It works just fine.

David

[Ian Owen NZParticipant @ianowennz]

Back when we used Tric for cleaning our transmission parts we used to get workshops drop off oil soaked brake shoes.

We used to put them in the Tric for about 30min and they came out clean as.

We had a drum with Tric in the bottom that covered a hot water cyl element, and a copper tube coil that ran around the top that we ran cold water through.

Turn on the heating element and the cold water and a vapor used to form in the drum absolutely brilliant for getting rid of oil, the dirt used to just blow off.

You probably can’t get tric anymore.

Ian

[Peter_HParticipant @peter_h]

You certainly can’t, it was withdrawn decades ago.

What you described, we had a commercial version of. It was the standard way of cleaning and de-fluxing  circuit boards for a long time. Dip it in the boiling trike for a minute or so, then pull up and leave it in the vapour. It condensed on the board and dripped off and was, at that point, 100% pure solvent. A very efficient and contained way of cleaning and degreasing but we didn’t realise how dangerous it was.

 

P

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