hey!, thanks Keith, it was my first attempt to . thread in steel, I had tried a few in ali before lol. to be honest I had been putting off screw cutting on the lathe as it looked complicated ,and by using a die holder I was getting away with it, but you've got to try these things and im glad I did :)

Thanks Jan, the lathes a work in progress when funds allow. You've spent many a hour behind one, was this for your job ?, what sort of things did you make, regards Chris 😊

skyrocketpuke Hi Chris, I went to a nautical college in the 70ties to become a marine engineer, a three year course. Turning on the Colchester Student was such a fun that I failed to pass the exam after three years and had to stay another year. I simply missed too many lessons in other subjects as I stayed behind the lathe making parts for friends who were involved in restoring old engines The teacher -who was a toolmaker by trade- did'nt care and began teaching me tips and tricks which I otherwise would never have heard from him during his regular lessons. It proved to be an advantage during my sea going career -11 years- were the lathe was mostly used for repair jobs, making parts that were not avaiable on board, valve spindles, wearrings for centrifugal; pumps that sort of jobs.

Hey Jan ! Wow great reply, you told your story beautifully it felt like I was there watching you lol, thanks taking the time to reply, kind regards chris

A Alexander mill now that is a boys toy ! A decent mill is on my wish list until then it's the crusty Clark drill mill ha ha , thanks for the sub and the reply it's nice to chat with you, chris

hey Dave, lol I wish I had a clutch, but no such luck, I think you can program the inverter for motor braking but its like setting the timer on a dvd player...painful lol

im jealous of your myford :) subbed to your channel, looking forward to watching your vids

It's a nice little lathe and it earns it's keep but I wish I had something larger. Several mods have been made to make it more efficient as well. Enjoy the vids that are there, not sure what I will be doing next.

It's quite worn, and all I could afford at the time, and my first "real lathe" my previous lathe being a 30's myford ml4 with plain bearings, what was your first?

I had a Chinese Grizzy 13" x 36" - It really was quite a nice lathe and learned a lot on it. My current lathe is a 20" x 60" - When I first bought it I took a piece of 6" dia 1018 round by about 4" thick and chucked it up. I then drilled a small pilot hole and drilled it with the biggest taper drill I own (about 2" dia) and was amazed that I could just turn the tailstock wheel and push the drill straight through that solid stock. I remember seeing the smoke billowing up and filling the shop. hahahahha

Those Chinese lathes look like they run real smooth, wouldn't mind one maybe a warco for model making

bigblue1402 hi dave I’ll have a look for you tonight 👍

hi Mark, good luck with your project :)

Lee Kennedy if you do like he done and revers the lathe and only advance the cutting depth you can't go wrong. Make sure you leave enough travel before cutting to take out any back lash.

It’s just a cheap 16mm tool holder and bit off eBay the whole thing was about £30 ! I’m still on the same carbide tip that came with it , to be honest I don’t really do much threading on the lathe I mostly use tap and dies , as I don’t go above 12mm that often , but I would look on eBay for a bargain 🙂 otherwise I’d go for Glanze , from chronos engineering

Adam Jones hi Adam👋 yes that’s correct, you have to do it this way on a old Colchester, even though there is a lever to select metric threads, I read that the lead screw is still imperial so you can’t use the thread dial indicator to pick up the thread like you can when cutting imperial threads ... so if it’s engaged all the time you don’t loose it , one problem though is crashing the tip into the chuck or cutting to far because you can’t control when the lathe stops unless it has a clutch.. or you make a lathe mandrel handle and crank it by hand ... I’m making a handle in the next few weeks 😊 thanks for viewing Chris 🙂

@@chris-the-bodge-sculptor ah great thanks, does this need to be done by using the same.number on the spinning dial by the on/off lever or can it be done in any rotation just as long as it's not disengaged? Sorry for the questions I'm jjsy trying to learn 😂

Adam Jones yes it doesn’t matter about the number if it’s engaged all the time , the thread dial is only needed on imperial threads on this old machine and try to go for the same number everytime if you can cutting imperial threads ,

Are the C/D etc selector levers working , there should be noticeable speed difference on the sliding feed speeds .. when they are at different settings, I’d imagine not only do they control the feed shaft , but also power to the gearbox , secondly I’d then move the sliding gearbox selection arm to its furthest points left and right and not any speed difference, mabye set up a felt tip pen and a card tube in the chuck to record any difference...

chris the bodge thank you for the inputs. I will test them.

Colchester bantam, now that's a nice machine, what do you use it for chris? hmm... is a clapper box at home on a capstan lathe?

codprawn pop the cover and see if the dog clutch arrangement is in-gauging, sometimes it’s really dirty in there and a oil change may be needed .

@@chris-the-bodge-sculptor The oil looks clean through the sight glass but I will give it a go. It feels like there is something solid blocking it. As if that position has been deleted although the lathe is supposed to do metric and Imperial. Keep up the good work your videos are great!

codprawn I had the top plate off so you can see what’s happening, on mine you sometimes have to wiggle the the chuck to and throw to engage...kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a7JdnNGLxrTRcmg.html

@@chris-the-bodge-sculptor Took the cover off. The oil is spotless but drained it anyway. I used exactly the same oil you did - bought it ages ago - great minds eh? Nothing wrong at all. In fact I don't think the gearbox has even been run in yet! Do you change these gears under power? I didn't like to. Turn the chuck by hand - there are only 2 places the metric one will engage. Got to feel it in. Under power would be easy I suppose. Thanks again for all your help!

ISO68 oil sorry - another video of yours. My Triumph takes 2.5L in there.

Interesting, what's a laydown insert , is it a over the pond expression Glenn? And how much should one advance per cut? Kind regards Chris

Yea, those inserts lay down flat (like normal inserts) vs. the ones that stand up 90 degrees to those. They tend to be known as a weaker insert. When the thread has progressed and getting into the full cut, I'll back off a bit and only take a couple thou. I'm no expert by far, but that's just my experience. Do I need to send you a bottle of dark sulfur cutting oil? :) I take regular old small soup cans and an acid brush and put one at each machine. Fill it with the sulfur cutting fluid and mix in about 20% WD40 - works really good. Lube is good, obviously because it lubricates, but more so it keeps the tool cool (and a bonus, it takes some heat out of the work so you can get more accurate dimensions)

Hmm interesting, I'll back off on the final cuts, dark sulfur cutting oil is that like low fume stuff? I do have about four kilo of sulphur powder in workshop b from my rocket making days, could I mix some up lol, Chris

Yes reverse the lathe , since then I’ve made a spindle handle to turn by hand , you can find it on my lathe playlist

@@chris-the-bodge-sculptor Thanks for your help. I'm new to lathe work and am currently following an auction for a round top Colchester Student lathe like yours. Hope I'm successful!

@@ronnieg6358 👍🙂 good luck 🤞 hope you get it , not a expert myself... just messing around in the garage!

@@chris-the-bodge-sculptor Me too, just fascinated with machinery.

Hi Ray !, yep the old girl is worn, plenty of backlash on all moving parts, and groans/ rumbles on start up, lol

skyrocketpuke Nothing wrong with the backlash - it is essential if you don't want to grind your gears to dust :-) But it does show why you need to go well beyond the entry point for everything to take up the required slack.

pmailkeey good point! 😀

@@chris-the-bodge-sculptor Had to check the bloody book about leaving the leadscrew half-nut engaged for metric threads. What a pain ! Just hope I never come across any ;)

pmailkeey same here ! Most of mine are done with taps/ dies unless is a big one , one of my next jobs is to make a spindle handle do I can cut threads by hand, it’s hard work it crashing in the chuck without a clutch 🙄

@@chris-the-bodge-sculptor Select neutral - by placing the front spindle gear lever straight up. Then you're not having to turn much of the gearing and motor. Have you looked at the brake failure ? Likely just needs adjusting. Take left hand (changewheels) cover off - the brake is in the top belt pulley. We don't have a brake but the clutch option - that's easy to adjust without tools. It may just be a matter of altering the length of the actuation rod - long screw with a locknut type setup.