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Great old British lathe vid
- Thread starter jabberwoki
- Start date
paulsomlo
Well-known member
I want one! Unfortunately, all the Colchester lathes are now made in Taiwan.
dutchgray
Well-known member
They were never the best lathes made.
They might have been the best for the money at one time.
There is an awful lot of Colchester's still around.
I think they were the only British lathe manufacturer that built machines on a production line.
I have one currently, a Master 2500 long bed, it's for sale currently as I would rather keep my DSG which is the same size machine but is over double the weight.
They might have been the best for the money at one time.
There is an awful lot of Colchester's still around.
I think they were the only British lathe manufacturer that built machines on a production line.
I have one currently, a Master 2500 long bed, it's for sale currently as I would rather keep my DSG which is the same size machine but is over double the weight.
dutchgray
Well-known member
Most of the "good" Taiwanese built machines are Colchester clones anyway.I want one! Unfortunately, all the Colchester lathes are now made in Taiwan.
In reality they are as good as a Colchester was anyway and better than most used lathes.
The Taiwanese lathes are so cheap really and the market for really great new manual lathes is tiny.
cherokee
Well-known member
And I thought you had this video of an "old" style lathe.
First thing that popped into my mind.
First thing that popped into my mind.
Oregon rock crusher
Well-known member
I liked the video for it's detail in going through the entire manufacturing process of a lathe. From foundry work, machine work, gear making process, and finish work the video was very thorough with a good narrative.
I watched it a few times through the years, it's a very interesting video.
"The best" is a silly thing to determine quality anyway. Never in the history of the universe was there ever a product that was "the best" in every quality a product can have.
Lathes aren't something a homeowner would buy. At least not the massive self-standing ones. The difference between what one might consider the best and the worst lathe on the market at the time wasn't that substantial (unless you search for some niche stuff, I mean the best and the worst that was used in the field, e.g. the best and the worst toolroom lather or the best and the worst industrial lathe...). Today there's more difference with more foreign manufacturers making them as cheap as possible, but back then in Europe... Caseneuve, Boehringer, Weiler, Morando, VDF, Schaublin, Colchester and countless others... They all made quality machines. Big differences came in operator preferences for the gearbox, and some lathes sometimes had a few more extra features (brakes etc...). Or depending on the age, older ones were often not on roller bearings.
"The best" is a silly thing to determine quality anyway. Never in the history of the universe was there ever a product that was "the best" in every quality a product can have.
Lathes aren't something a homeowner would buy. At least not the massive self-standing ones. The difference between what one might consider the best and the worst lathe on the market at the time wasn't that substantial (unless you search for some niche stuff, I mean the best and the worst that was used in the field, e.g. the best and the worst toolroom lather or the best and the worst industrial lathe...). Today there's more difference with more foreign manufacturers making them as cheap as possible, but back then in Europe... Caseneuve, Boehringer, Weiler, Morando, VDF, Schaublin, Colchester and countless others... They all made quality machines. Big differences came in operator preferences for the gearbox, and some lathes sometimes had a few more extra features (brakes etc...). Or depending on the age, older ones were often not on roller bearings.
slowtwitch73
Well-known member
Boxford?I think they were the only British lathe manufacturer that built machines on a production line.
dutchgray
Well-known member
I don't know how they built them, but they did make an awful lot.Boxford?
dutchgray
Well-known member
Colchester's were definitely built to meet a price point, partly achieved by large production numbers but also by cutting costs in certain areas. They didn't do so well with heavy use, alot were bought for general purpose workshop use, education, garages, hospital maintenance, factory maintenance use etc, which they are well suited too.I watched it a few times through the years, it's a very interesting video.
"The best" is a silly thing to determine quality anyway. Never in the history of the universe was there ever a product that was "the best" in every quality a product can have.
Lathes aren't something a homeowner would buy. At least not the massive self-standing ones. The difference between what one might consider the best and the worst lathe on the market at the time wasn't that substantial (unless you search for some niche stuff, I mean the best and the worst that was used in the field, e.g. the best and the worst toolroom lather or the best and the worst industrial lathe...). Today there's more difference with more foreign manufacturers making them as cheap as possible, but back then in Europe... Caseneuve, Boehringer, Weiler, Morando, VDF, Schaublin, Colchester and countless others... They all made quality machines. Big differences came in operator preferences for the gearbox, and some lathes sometimes had a few more extra features (brakes etc...). Or depending on the age, older ones were often not on roller bearings.
The small 5 by 20 Chipmaster is probably the best they made, a good one of those is a nice machine to use.
Any of the smaller Colchester lathes are popular on the hobby market, because they are good enough, common, parts are available and they are not too big or heavy.
I don't think any British machine tool is actually much good when compared to what other parts of the world was doing, we had a very protected market back in the old days.
Rolls Royce always ordered their DSG's with a special headstock that used the standard Gamet precision bearing arrangement but an additional and very large plain bearing to support the spindle nose. There isn't actually anything wrong with plain bearings especially with large machines where you don't need high spindle speeds anyway, but nowadays replacing a worn one would be a problem as there is very few left who know how to pour them and even less who can properly scrape one in for you.