Evening all (well it is here :-)).

I've got a Mk1 Colchester Student lathe.

Just been cutting thread on a bit of bar with a left-hand die, and to do
this I reversed the motor so that it ran backwards. In this case, it was a
short, easy job at very low speed, so I wasn't worried about damaging the
machine.

However, it got me to wondering whether or not it *is* OK to run the Student
backwards - if so, it'd be a relatively simple job to arrange switchgear to
reverse the motor, rather than crawling around under the back of the machine
moving wires and links about.

The chuck is pretty unlikely to come undone, and I don't think anything else
in the drive train is threaded on and therefore likely to come loose.

On the same subject - anyone know of any spares for this machine? I'm
looking for among other things the tool for undoing the chuck (American
L-zero fitting, looks like it should be a sod-off C spanner) and also the
internal parts of the brake, which are missing.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"The boys are dreaming wicked or of the bucking ranches of the night and
the jollyrodgered sea." Dylan Thomas (1914 - 1953) Under milk wood