"Austin Shackles" wrote in message
...

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

Austin,

No problem reversing the Student - the L0 fitting is ok for reversing
due to the key on the taper. There is a Yahoo group for Colchester
Lathes http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Colche...-User/messages -
you have to register, and the moderator is sometimes rather slow doing
his bit but lots of useful information.

ps have you escaped from the Landrover list !!!!

AWEM