Colchester Bantam Mk1 1600

[slim_boy_fat]

I have been removing all the oil hole covers today, they are ball-bearing sprung. Most of them are shot, all of them have been incorrectly fed with grease. Instead of trying to prise them out, with a knife or flat blade screwdriver, I have found that tapping an easy-out in, then pulling them out works very well, and it's very fast.

Oil hole covers and oil sight glasses are two things I will need to buy new.

You can get oilers like grease nipples as a straight swop for the 'sprung' ones, I got them for my Myford - can't remember what size I needed.

 

[Dieselman 63]

You can get oilers like grease nipples as a straight swop for the 'sprung' ones, I got them for my Myford - can't remember what size I needed.

Some can't be nipples for clearances, though I get what you're saying.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Some can't be nipples for clearances, though I get what you're saying.

I think there's only one I haven't been to swop over for the same reason.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Bought some 0000 steel wool - ultra fine and it's really making a difference to the machine. Some pics to show you just why this needs to be taken apart, it is absolutely filthy! Every screw is dripping in black oil (before and after):

This is from inside the apron. After I scooped out all the grease, the circlip just fell apart when I tried to take it off

More baked on oil from the rear of the saddle

And these are the front ones - one cleaned with steel wool

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Time to sort out an electrolysis tank. Saved me a kit of effort. Found getting them out for a scrub regularly sped the process up no end and did an excellent job removing rust from the pitting. Even made some jigs for bolts to go in 10 at a time.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Time to sort out an electrolysis tank. Saved me a kit of effort. Found getting them out for a scrub regularly sped the process up no end and did an excellent job removing rust from the pitting. Even made some jigs for bolts to go in 10 at a time.

Most of it is just oil and grease. It's been 'well loved' in that it's been fed 10x the amount of lubricant it needs so no rust has formed! Oddly the motor wasn't lubed at all, still had original Hawker Siddely grease in it. I'm currently repainting all the internals yellow, using a tinlet from Humbrol saves on buying a big tin of bright yellow I'll never finish.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Wish mine had more oil over it when I found it. Could have been a lot worse I suppose considering the age of it. What colour are you going outside? Satisfying seeing paint go on ain't it.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Was originally going for baby blue but after seeing it on the motor I'm not so sure anymore. Unsure whether to do two tone, that is one colour for the base and one for the machine or one all over. The original is sort of oxford blue lower and grey upper. The internals seem to have been yellow but faded to white so these are going back to yellow and that looks really good I must say. I will probably find something in the range of grey-green/blue.

I'm struggling to lift the dried oil staining from parts of the machine. Can anyone help with tips? It might scrape off with an engineers scraper, but that would remove material which I don't want to do. It's almost a part of the machine. Have tried petrol, turps, degreaser and now I'm trying soap but not hopeful. Kero I will try once I buy some as I'm out of it atm.

 

[Dieselman 63]

This is the sort of stuff I'm talking about:

Well, I tried washing liquid and after an hour it started blossoming all green and yellow, thought that was good. A go with the power drill and a scouring pad brush and it's come up very shiny, so I'm happy about that

Light reflections = good

Next up was this part of the gearbox. It's the bit where the oil is filled, it's a bit like a side reservoir with a single gear inside. I'd say this piece wasn't really that bad at all, it looks worse than it is.

Wire brushed the paint, did the old detergent trick on the metal then used the drill again to buff it up. Then I just gave it another coat of red-oxide primer, that's it done. There was no gasket for this piece but tbh I might make one as it holds oil and all the edges are caked in dried oil.

So that's another bit I can put in the 'finished' box.

 

[Dieselman 63]

There is a pin, as far as I can see, it's shown vertically in the cut-away gear just to the left of 'B'. It retains the shaft in the gear.




View attachment 116068

Where did you get your copy of the drawings from btw? Mine are really fuzzy, badly scanned

 

[Seadog]

On this site - https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=547F...1448&parId=547FE296ECFD561F!164&action=locate


It has manuals for hundreds of lathes.

 

[Dieselman 63]

On this site - https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=547FE296ECFD561F&id=547FE296ECFD561F!1448&parId=547FE296ECFD561F!164&action=locate


It has manuals for hundreds of lathes.

Ah! I think I posted this a while back. A wonder I didn't think to look for my own.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Progress is progress, not so much to report but I am getting there with the side reservoir. This piece had a lot of dried oil on it, especially around the edge. Hopefully the gasket I make will stop this from happening again.

And now clean. Not quite brand new but it will do fine.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Bought gasket paper - bonus, it's Flexoid made in England, that made me happy. First time making a gasket, it went well using a ball pein hammer.

And a coat of green-grey primer for the reservoir casing. Cleaned the internals, now just to wait for the paint to dry and I can put it all back together and call this piece done

 

[RichardM]

The black stuff around the edge and running down looks like sealant to me. Rub grease into the gasket to soften it up prior to fitting, makes it deform easier to faces irregularities and usually re-usable if the cover has to come off again.

 

[Dieselman 63]

That did occur to me, though the reason I chose to replace with paper was because the oil had mixed into one congealed mess. Thanks for the softening tip, off to buy some grease today from Total. Strange they used sealant really as both the gearbox and headstock had paper gaskets.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Ready to see the boring colour I've chosen for my machine? Okay, here you go:

I like it. It's grey enough to be a machine, with just a hint of colour. The original was grey-green, now it's grey-blue. My chapter defined in the history of this one lathe.

 

[jenki]

The only think I have found to clean the oil staining on the metalwork of mine was an industrial kitchen cleaner called 'Deepio' used as hot as possible and scrubbing.
I have not tried it on the machined surfaces as it is pretty caustic.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Flipped the bed last night with the engine crane. Time to see what's lurking underneath. I've got the Dremel on the go grinding out all the casting webs on the corners inside the bedway. These wouldn't have been a problem when it was initially painted, but they are hiding a lot of sawdust and gunk and they're impossible to sand out smooth, so they are going. The little rotary sander attachment is also really helpful for smoothing out corners after the grinder. Might crack out the paint stripper later.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Your keeping me motivated now. Can't let you beat me to a working lathe lol. My dremmels had a good workout too.
Tomorrow should see the rest of mine ready for paint.
Never bothered with paint stripper. These things are the nuts for paint removal. Used then all the time when I was restoring sash windows regularly. The thicker the paint the easier it comes off. 30 mins saw my cab naked ready for wire wheel. And its clean in comoarison to paint striper. http://www.google.co.uk/shopping/pr...cQFjQqKQENxRZpdI_vZzT-USJeiPqVjRoC7sYQAvD_BwE