New member looking for help

[manfromthemistParticipant @manfromthemist]

Hi My names Barry from Northumberland in the UK. I’ve recently bought a colchester Student and installed it in my garage hooked upto and inverter,

I was hoping to get started using it but it has a little issue which I would like to address just to make my life easier when using it,

hope you guy’s can help

 

[manfromthemistParticipant @manfromthemist]

the little issue I’m having is the lever on the front of the head stock that changes the direction of the lead screw will engage a gear when rotated anti clockwise and the lead screw turns feeding th sadle into the chuck and the cross slide from the center out, but When I go to reverse the direction by turning the lever fully clockwise it rotates about half a turn and comes up against something solid but doesn’t engage any gear and does’nt drive the feed system,

I’ve removed the top of the headstock hoping to see whats in there for something that may be obvious, but I need to drain the oil to see whats under it. Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Welcome to the forum

H

[Grizzly bearParticipant @grizzlybear]

Hi,

Got it, crystal ball is now covered up.

Good luck…………

[Grizzly bear]

On Grizzly bear Said:

Hi,

Got it, crystal ball is now covered up.

Good luck…………

Ditto!

[old foolParticipant @old-fool]

Hello Barry I’m Bob

Sorry for the delay  I’ve been mulling over your problem. I have the “master” version of your “student”

and had a similar problem with one of the speed change levers when I first got mine. In my case it was easy in that the gears are right in the top.

Some clot (not a direct translation) had tried changing gear while it was running and put a burr on 2 of the gears! A wet afternoon was spent with a small file, a bit of card to catch the chips and a magnet to stop them running away. Now works fine.

It struck me that some “cleaver-clogs” had realised if you change direction at the end of a cut the lathe will wind itself out again, bit more depth and go again. I think the motor reverse switch will work that way, although it’s hard on the switch, several burned sections have been removed from mine so now it’s too delicate for that.

Back to your problem. Not sure how you will get to the gears on that lever. First step will be to get the oil out, I would try one of them very cheep syphon pumps Machine Mart do (£5 ish) then see what you can see. If you have to strip the box….. good luck. A good first step would be to enter your lathe type and serial No. online you never know you may get a W.S. manual in PDF.

If your lathe has been used as it was intended i.e. to instruct students in a classroom then all sorts of abuse may have happened. When you get it right you’ll find it’s a lovely tool, love mine to bits.

Hope that was helpful. Let us know how you get on.          Bob

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Strange how some folk seem to think that machine tools have synchromesh! And damage the gears.

(Herbert Preoptives being the exception, probably epicyclic gears)

Am intrigued that the cross Slide moves OUT when, the sliding traverse moves as one would expect, TOWARDS the chuck Normally it would move IN, unless the tumbler reverse  had been actuated..

Maybe this is the cause of the problem, so that effectively the levers are trying to engage two gears at the same time.

Partial strip and careful examination looks to be needed.

Good Luck. (Keep us posted on what you find!)

Howard

[old foolParticipant @old-fool]

Hello Howard,

That’s exactly how mine works. The drive feed is engaged from the saddle, by moving the same lever from one slot to another the feed shaft is turning the same way. To reverse the direction you change the direction of the feed shaft from the headstock. On the Colchester it’s totally separate from the screw cutting thread, and the engagement lever is separate too. If the screw cutting lever is engaged then the facing/surfacing lever cannot be. Even if you wish to lock the saddle with it while doing a facing opperation. One of the problems I found early on, No saddle lock! An early mod on mine.

Bob

 

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

There are at least two different saddles for the student mine is an upward lever with torque control and a push/pull for selecting surfacing/facing and yes it has a saddle lock. Ex university machine.

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

Not sure I understand replies by Grizzly or Sod, must be missing out on something.

This may not be any help, but I suspect that someone tried to engage those gears while the machine was running and I dont think they like that. I recall seeing two gears stripped on another lathe due to the same thing.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Larry, both those replies are not very helpful at all, and could very well put a newcomer off.

Regards Nick.

[larry phelan 1]

On larry phelan 1 Said:

Not sure I understand replies by Grizzly or Sod, must be missing out on something.

…

Barry’s first post announced he had a problem without saying what it was.  He explained soon after in his second post, which should be fine.   Unfortunately, Grizzly and I didn’t get Barry’s second post until much later, so we were confused!

Our problem was likely due to an intermittent forum bug that occasionally fails to deliver pictures and posts.   Most obvious when a post appears with a gap filled later by an image.   Some people see the image immediately, others don’t.

‘Now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t’ posts are harder to spot, but that happens too.

I guess it’s a forum server cache error.  Difficult to diagnose.

Dave

[Nicholas Farr]

On Nicholas Farr Said:

Hi Larry, both those replies are not very helpful at all, and could very well put a newcomer off.

Regards Nick.

Nick, see explanation in #804903.

At the time, it appeared that the newcomer wasn’t going to say what the problem was, and grizzlybear asked for elucidation.  Interestingly,  grizzly’s polite request is missing this morning,  making the exchange look odd.

My comment was addressed to grizzlybear and anyone else who had noticed that Barry’s second post was delivered late, not to Barry!

Confusing or what!  Root cause is a bug, not anyone being unhelpful.

Dave

 

 

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

I am delighted to hear that Dave, because I could not understand it. I have always found the more experienced Members of this Forum to be more than helpful and as Nick said, something would be enough to put anyone off !

So, I am glad to see that it was not as it looked, and I would like to welcome Barry to “Metal Bashers Ltd ”

As the Bard said “All,s well that ends well ”

PS  Those machines were used quite a lot in schools so maybe not threated with too much TLC.

[manfromthemistParticipant @manfromthemist]

Hi Bob, thanks for the reply, I spent a day looking at the problem, then found a bent indexing pin, that prevents the reverse selector  handle from being turned to far, it was bent out and when I tightend the allen screw it was locking up, to slack and it wouldn;t control the trotation, once found and straightened it now works beautifully as intended,

many thanks to all who offered advice and guideance it was very much appreciated

[old foolParticipant @old-fool]

No problem Barry. Glad it was simpler than I feared. The big problem is both “student” and “master” versions are intended to be used by apprentices. Out of them 1 will think he knows more than the master, 1 never wanted to be there anyway 2 will never make turners as long………. can’t say that can I? So the potential for messing about is immense. I have literally seen folk put a chuck key in and start it then laugh uncontrolably when it stops with a shuddering bang.

Anyway glad it’s sorted. If you come to love yours as much as I do mine you’ll have lots of happy hours making swarf!

There’s always someone on here who has solved all problems you may find, just ask. See you farther down

Bob

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

Delighted that it,s all sorted out, as has been said, there,s always someone here who can help !  Such a simple thing can cause so much bother but as another said, some folk are not too lighthanded or understanding.

Good machine, may you have many hours happy turning with it.

PS No matter what the problem just ask !

[manfromthemistParticipant @manfromthemist]

Cheers Bob, and everyone at ME, in regards to the chuck key, during my days in engineering instruction I’ve seen many keys lauched across the training school floor, luckily everyone missed the other apprentices.

followed by a good talking too, we even considered putting springs on the keys so you had to push against the spring to engage it.

kids will be kids

 

many thanks everyone

Barry

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

Regarding springs on chuck keys, I bought a Tos chuck some years ago [never got around to fitting it, still on the To Do list ! ]

It came with a spring already fitted, never saw one like that before, good idea.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Barry,

Glad that you have sorted the Problem,and that it was simple cure.

probably, caused by someone whose mindset was “if it won’t move, get a much bigger hammer.”

Anyway, you are now up and running and new vistas open up!

Howard.

[manfromthemistParticipant @manfromthemist]

Hi Larry,

I don’t know why more manufacturers don’t supply them like that

mind it only happens to you once and you learn a very valuable lesson,

someone once said

a wise man learns from his mistakes

an intelligent man learns form other peoples mistakes.

many thanks Larry

Barry

[Nicholas Farr]

On Nicholas Farr Said:

Hi Larry, both those replies are not very helpful at all, and could very well put a newcomer off.

Regards Nick.

I agree with you Nick.   Sorry to see such stupid comments from long established members.

Even more surprising from a moderator.

[Oldiron]

On Oldiron Said:

On Nicholas Farr Said:

Hi Larry, both those replies are not very helpful at all, and could very well put a newcomer off.

Regards Nick.

I agree with you Nick.   Sorry to see such stupid comments from long established members.

Even more surprising from a moderator.

There were no ‘stupid comments’.  It’s a misunderstanding, probably caused by a forum bug.    If OldIron can’t see my post  #804903 , then he’s been bitten too!  No-one did anything wrong.

Unless they’ve been jumping to conclusions!  Here’s the post OldIron finds ‘surprising from a moderator‘.  I don’t understand why he’s upset by it.  Members can make their own minds up:

 

Storm in a tea-cup, I think.

🙂

Dave

[JuddyParticipant @juddy]

Its sarcastic and unwelcoming to a new member and amazing this needs pointing out to you, the order in which the posts appear make no difference to the tone.

An apology would have been better than ‘I did nothing wrong’ as you obviously caused offence enough to make  members comment.

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