Colchester Bantam Mk1 1600

[Dieselman 63]

Under the motor plate at the rear under the headstock there is a cast tree with the numbers 26 75 under it. Anyone know what this is about? I know it's a 1975 machine but could it be a coincidence? And why the tree?

 

[phm87]

Looking good, get a couple of stands to put the lathe on, pain in the ass being on the floor, or do the base first.
I suppose the young don`t mind scrabbling on the floor, but it made my back ache just looking at the photo!

 

[Dieselman 63]

Looking good, get a couple of stands to put the lathe on, pain in the ass being on the floor, or do the base first.
I suppose the young don`t mind scrabbling on the floor, but it made my back ache just looking at the photo!

I'm young and I don't mind Need to strip the stand first, buy an angle grinder to get the cup brush etc.... sooo many things to do! It's dripping in oil which although a pain has stopped rust from forming so I'm pleased about that. Pics later tonight.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Well so long as I have the lathe I'm keeping this crane which probably means forever. They're brilliant! I might get another strap because it's a pain undoing things you've lashed up perfectly to do another job, but one step at a time...

Had a bit of a tidy up which involved me putting the bed back on the stand. I cannot for the life of me work out how to remove the saddle from the bed and apron though! I've taken the rear slide off which means the saddle now rocks if you lift it, but I don't like doing it as it's pressing on the spline shaft. I took the screws out from under the apron (4, 2 each side) but it's still not coming off. Looking over the exploded parts diagrams hasn't helped either. Someone help me out? I'm stuck at this stage

Another thing I've been wondering is this. I took the data plate off the motor, under it was written 'Col 16' which refers to the 1600 machine.

So on the cabinet is this plaque, showing the two speed options - 1hp/2hp. My question is has the machine been re-motored? I would have expected to find a 2hp motor but then again I know nothing about electrics. If it had been re-motored, then why would there be the words 'col 16' under the plate? Hopefully someone can clear things up. I can see that it is a two speed motor, but it's the hp rating I'm confused about.

The plaque had blue spray paint over it from the cabinet, scraper/brasso got it off but lifted a bit of the enamel which I'll retouch one day. Let's just say Colchester make better machine tools than metal cabinets...

 

[phm87]

If your going to take the apron off also, I would put the bolts back in the top of the saddle, then disconect the leadscrew and other two shafts and remove them, make sure the half nuts are not engaged, then chock the apron and remove the bolts again, drop the apron leaving the saddle in place. There could be adjusting gibs under the saddle, I am not sure as I have not worked on a colchester. I am sure someone will be along with a better answer. Good luck.

 

[Keith 66]

I rebuilt one of these at the college where i worked, the saddle has gibs under its front & rear edges there are small allen screws with lock nuts on the sides for adjustment & bigger allen screws set in counterbores from underneath hold them tight. A small mirror is useful to see where they are.

 

[Dieselman 63]

I rebuilt one of these at the college where i worked, the saddle has gibs under its front & rear edges there are small allen screws with lock nuts on the sides for adjustment & bigger allen screws set in counterbores from underneath hold them tight. A small mirror is useful to see where they are.

I got the rear ones sorted no problems but the front ones are going to be a right old faff to get out. Thanks for the tip.

In the meantime I've been taking the bedway wipers out, they've turned to a mush of bakelite, swarf, sawdust and oil. Horrible to get out. Can anyone vouch for a suitable replacement? Seen some on Ebay made out of rubber.

 

[RichardM]

I've just made a set of felt ones and the holders for them for my "new" 280, I tried to get one of the old ones off to clean it and it cracked into bits.
Boxford have discontinued them and returned to felt and I wasn't going to pay £50 plus for a set of felt ones.

Maybe worth getting a piece of felt and cutting some out.

 

[Dieselman 63]

You wouldn't think it'd be so hard to find a C spanner but evidently it is, there's some on TradeMe at $118 but that seems a bit high to me. I'll keep raking the second hand shops.

I've decided to take the motor apart to clean the dust from inside. There's some light surface rust on the rotor but apparently this isn't a bad thing so I'm leaving it. The grease nipples have never been used still with original 1975 grease in there, I must admit I wasn't thrilled but the bearings seem okay. Now both end caps are off and I will start stripping and repainting it... but what colour? Someone has repainted the lathe at some stage early in its life I think, and done quite a good job but they didn't take everything apart so I keep finding patches of Colchester Dove Grey. The primer looks cream. I'm thinking about a pastel blue for it I saw a yellow one once and it looked terrible. I just find grey a bit depressing!

 

[Dieselman 63]

Sorry for turning this into a 'Mee' style thread, PB is crap and I am going to switch to Imgur but so busy lately haven't had time to upload the pics. The motor is apart, and I am cleaning the end plates. One has been fully stripped and the first coat of paint applied - decided to paint inside the ducts gloss black to smarten up the chipped paint.

I took the gearbox cover off last night and revealed a lot of caked crap at the bottom. Scraped that out, don't really want to start taking the gears out as it's definitely not my strong point and it's a bit complex. Think I might just try and flush/clean it all with kerosene and a toothbrush. It was proper hard to crack open, I strongly doubt it's ever been removed for inspection, the oil had all congealed to make a sticky mess around the locating pins.

In unrelated news, I got a set of 1-13mm HSS bits for my Fobco Star. Took them straight out of the box and into the drill bit tidy. My mum has asked me if the lathe has given birth to another lathe, as the project has quickly taken up the remaining half of the garage with parts in bins, bits laid out etc!

 

[Dieselman 63]

Time for some pics.

The motor backplate is primed, and the bolts are cleaned and oiled.

The motor end plates are removed. The one in the foreground has had the 'repainting' treatment (you can see where the motor pulley went, and was painting around). I cleaned the crap off before stripping it.

After one coat of stripper and brushing

Round two...

No finished pics, but I will grab some soon. Here are my new bits all tidied away

The bottom crud has been scraped out. More to come though.

Cheers

 

[slim_boy_fat]

My mum has asked me if the lathe has given birth to another lathe, as the project has quickly taken up the remaining half of the garage with parts in bins, bits laid out etc!

Whereas a bloke would have understood straight away.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Dieselman 63]

Whereas a bloke would have understood straight away.

Keep up the good work!

The masterplan is taking shape, buy a lathe, conquer the remaining half of the garage

 

[Dieselman 63]

Finally, got the leadscrew and gearbox off the bed. Now its ready to be cleaned and stripped. I've been doing a lot of thinking about it, and I find that's important when you're restoring something, don't rush and just think it through. One of the helpful features on this lathe is that the locating pins are threaded which allows them to be tugged out with a screw and pliers.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Gearbox cover removed, painting has begun to prevent any flash rusting and it looks quite fetching in pale blue I must say. I wasn't going to repaint the interior but tbh it needs it, the paint is flaking away. Boring job with a wire mini brush. Disappointingly yellow paint isn't a base colour, so I'll have to pay to get a tint made up, or use red.

The lead screw is off for cleaning and I've been emptying out more oil holes bunged up with grease, honestly what is it with some people, they go berserk with the stuff.

 

[Dieselman 63]

This lathe just keeps on giving up sawdust and swarf. I thought I had the last of it, but nope! A fresh source has been located

Started stripping the tray

Got the pump free - Satan himself must have designed the securing method, two hex screws under the pump right inside the sump, they are an absolute pain to remove. Removed this solid lump of mush from the mesh. Been there a while...

First coat on, I'll start filling and sanding to get it smooth now

 

[Dieselman 63]

Inside the sump - clean and happy

The first new paint goes onto the sump, and the S holder is replaced - not sure if I'll paint it or leave it bare, I think it looks quite good atm

The pump has been cleaned inside out, too. This fine mesh was really blocked, took a fine wire and patience to get it clean

Finally something I cleaned a while back, the lovely enamel and brass oil filler for the headstock

 

[Dieselman 63]

The pump is online! Thanks to Pete showing me how to use a cap with the motor wired in Delta. Completely sad but I've been filling the sump and attached a hose, watching the watering can fill up and the sump empty... It's given me a big morale boost as when I bought it they said the pump didn't work - love it when all something needs is a clean and it works perfectly. Next step I think will be to paint the cabinet and then the tray, that will be a big job out of the way and not too hard either, just stripping and repainting.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Cabinet apart. Construction is pretty rough. Swarf and sawdust are the worst combination, seriously. My machine sat out of use for about 15 years behind a big Italian thicknesser and it really shows. I thought I might be able to get away without taking the drawer apart, but someone has liberally greased the sliders and they were quite furry!

Here's the tailstock end in for some treatment. Now that I am going to use a 230-400v inverter vfd setup I think I can say goodbye to the electrical cupboard, so I think I will buy some flat bar to keep rigidity on the stand and cut a piece of ply to make a shelf where I can store my chucks and save the drawer for tooling

 

[Dieselman 63]

Whilst the primer was drying I set to work on the gearbox but instantly got out of my depth. Fortunately I have a friend who is an expert in this field, and he said he'd take a look at it for me if I gave him some fish.