Help wanted: Colchester Student Apron

[speedy]

Well the headstock is done and the machine has been thoroughly cleaned down; man there is a lot of crap still there in a "clean" machine. It appears to have been waterblasted and blown down ( rusty oil etc in all the crevices and cavities ).

I have removed the taper turning attachment, the compound and cross slides. Now the saddle and apron needs to be removed.

Can anyone who has removed these items before give me the real oil on the method for their safe removal? I suppose I could use logic and have a go, but are there any secrets or fishooks to the job ? I am going to fit a drain in the base of the apron to facilitate future oil changes and coolant draining; maybe grind a low point if one isn't evident.

Thanks for any assistance

cheers, Ken

[zl1byz]

Hi Ken, I have removed the apron on my Triumph. Although bigger and hevier probably pretty similar. I made a fixture that fits on my trolly jack, kind of like a gearbox lifter. There was no way I could control that baby on my own. I was going to post a pic, but photobucket seems to be grumpy with me at present. I can log in but when I try to do something it kicks me of and says log in again, Grrrr.
Do you have a manual? I got one from 600 machine tools in Manukau for the cost of copying it. I dont know if they usually do this, but they did for me. You need to be carefull to get the right one. Over the years Colchester often made quite a few iterations of the same model. Sometimes pages seem duplicated but the part numbers are different or there are two numbers which means ther are two possible parts depending on the flavor when they built your machine.
Does the Student have a lube pump on the aprin? If it does one thing you need to watch is that you don't snag the pipe for it when dropping the apron. Other than that and pulling the lead screw & shafts first should be fairly straight forward.

John.

[zl1byz]

Here is the Pic!



John.

[aboard_epsilon]

well its my guess that the apron takes way oil.
it's my guess also that there is a pump in the apron that oils the ways.
so the way oil serves two fuctions it's is pumped around the apron bearings and oils the ways .
There should be a site glass there that indicates leval of oil
because it's being transfered to the ways as well, it will be lost ...and the oil leval will go down
your ment to keep topping it up .
all the best...mark

[speedy]

Thanks John and Mark.
Yes , Kevin at 600 machinery is an approachable helpfull bloke.
I have a manual for the 1.5 that was kindly sent by Hood, Scotts are sending up a copy of the MK2 at some time. It will be interesting to see if it is more comrehensive than the 1.5.
I should be able to handle the Student apron with the assistance of some dunnage and a spare set of hands.
How do I recognise a lube pump on the apron? This one just seems to have the screwcutting lever,traverse/feed knob and engagement lever, some oiling points and no oil sight glass ( it looks to be plugged )
I had a spare few minutes today so I pulled the gearbox cover and the gears look good just a small amount of very slight rust on the top shaft.

cheers, Ken

[aboard_epsilon]

just had a look at the manual.
THERES NO OIL PUMP THERE
i was thinking of the square head student.
so i dont know what oil your apron takes .
all the best.mark

[Al Flipo]

Ken
In order to remove the saddle and the apron from your lathe you first need to remove the leadscrew and the feed shaft from your lathe and that requires disconnecting the two shafts from inside the quick-change gearbox. After that, just separate the apron from the saddle supporting the apron with your left hand while undoing the Allan cap screws from the top no big deal.

[zl1byz]

Hi Ken, if it had a pump there would be a plunger on the front of the apron to push, obviously it hasn't so that wont be a problem. The Triumph does and the oil for the apron is way oil. Anyway I don't know why we are banging on about oil as you didn't ask about that in the original post, probably got it well sussed.
Hell anyone that would water blast a lathe should be blasted themselves,
Your lucky to have a spare set of hands to do these things, mine is still growing. Reportedly he is a bit concerned with the arrival of the shaper that if dad runs all his machines at once there wont be any power left at the house and he would be right, hehe. Amazing what a ten year old comes up with. Now if only I could get him to wear something on his feet when he comes in the shed.

John.

[speedy]

Mark, Al and John, thanks for all the advice everyone!
The manual arrived today and looks to be the same as the 1.5 ( surprise? )
I took the compound, cross slide, tailstock and t/turning att. to Darrens today and gave them all the big clean in the kero bath then the final treatment with rust remover and a scotch pad...almost as new now ..beauty!
Yes John I have a couple of pairs of spare hands, the trick is finding them as they don't hang about to help the old man as they once did They do come when called when they can though ..they're good sons.
Your sons' concern about the power consumption reminds me of a young chap , some years ago, who threatened to "squeeze my power" and cut off the supply by tieing the power cord up!
Swarf in the feet..Ouch!!

cheers, Ken