Apart from the usual used lathe things like worn bearings and ways:
Check that the extra change gears are present 54, 56, 84 tooth I think, (to give all the selections in the H and L sections of the gear chart) (Often in a plastic bag tucked into a slot behind the belt cover on the head stock)
Check that the headstock oil is circulating - the 'level indicator' actually shows flow not level
Check that the head stock bush is present (MT5->MT3 truncated)
Check that the gap piece is present
Check that the Apron oil pump works (pain to get at if not)
They are good machines in my view
Thanks for that info.
Is yours noisy? That seems to be the biggest complaint. Some people report having to wear ear defenders
I’ve seen one grainy photo of it so can’t tell you how good or bad it looks yet.
Colchesters of the more modern generation such as the 2500 you are going to see can be very soft in the head. I have a Triumph 2000 and I had to fit a servo motor with direct drive to the spindle to bypass the headstock drive gearing.
In this vid you can hear it running with the servo motor driving it and the headstock drive gears disengaged, I then engage the gears and you will hear it is slightly louder
But that's because it's knackered Hood !
A decent Master2500 sounds NOTHING like that
I thought I had posted before.You will have to show us more photos and details of your conversion Hood.
I thought I had posted before.
Basically I just made a big mounting plate that sits behind the headstock for the servo. I then ran a toothed belt from it to a pulley I fitted to the spindle.
I fitted switched to the end of the shaft for the stop/start/rev lever and configured the servo drive to the inputs from them. I fitted a pot which varies a 0-10v analogue signal to the drive so I can get from zero RPM right up to 2000rpm.
It is a servo motor, the servo drive is 230v 3 phase, the motor is also 230v.I think you may have. What voltage does your stepper motor run on ?
But that's because it's knackered Hood !
A decent Master2500 sounds NOTHING like that
It is a servo motor, the servo drive is 230v 3 phase, the motor is also 230v.
Not a servo motor but you could do similar with a VFD and an induction motor. You would need to fit a bigger motor to compensate for the lack of gearing though. My servo is 5Kw if I recall and although servos have an almost flat torque curve from zero rpm to rated rpm it still lacks the power at the lower revs so ideally I should have had a bigger one on it. If it had been solely driving the spindle it would be fine but it is also driving the feeds via the gearbox so...Could that be run on a vfd ?
Not a servo motor but you could do similar with a VFD and an induction motor. You would need to fit a bigger motor to compensate for the lack of gearing though. My servo is 5Kw if I recall and although servos have an almost flat torque curve from zero rpm to rated rpm it still lacks the power at the lower revs so ideally I should have had a bigger one on it. If it had been solely driving the spindle it would be fine but it is also driving the feeds via the gearbox so...