Hello again, sorry but I've missed your first name somewhere along the line. I started my apprenticeship in 1970 on a Colchester Student lathe, never heard of a Boxford, the saddle wheel would throw me as It's on the left of the cross slide like a Ward capstan lathe, I got put on one once and kept crashing into the collet chuck, I was used to the saddle wheel being in my right hand. I once worked on an old Herbert 9 turret lathe with a dog clutch on the turret to rapid traverse towards the chuck, you just had to pray that you could disengage it before you crashed It, It was a scary machine. You've got me hooked now, looking forward to seeing the Riley running...
Allen, it's Allan :-) i done my apprenticeship in the 80's so worked on Colchester Bantams, Students and Boxford AUD's, they always looked smart in their grey or green paint and chrome handles so when the Boxford 280's came in with their plain styling, white/yellow colours schemes and black handles they didn't look solid so i always avoided them, but having had one now know they are a solid machine if a little noisy ( the Colchester although it has worked for over 30 years is Rolls Royce quiet in comparison ), you've got a few more engineering videos to deal with but the workshop is nearly tidy and i'll be back on the Riley.
Nice looking mustache, sir. Also nice lathe! I have one similar but still trying to get 3 phase power into my little workshop. I find it daunting to rewire the lathe and I have no clue about how to do it and its cheaper for me to get 3 phase power instead of the vfd.
Thanks Toasty, they are a nice lathe and if you can get 3 phase into your workshop go for it, then it opens up opportunities for all sorts of engineering machinery available at good prices, i upgraded again as the a chance deal came along and run a 3 phase rotary inverter to run 4 machines!!.....here's that story th-cam.com/video/0otEX_q8BQI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=dKtHplIpGKslCVlB
Nice lathe, looks similar to the Boxford STS I recently picked up. Did you inspect the meshing of the gears when you opened the headstock up? I noticed on mine that the there was some uneven wear on the gear teeth and it turned out that the gears aren't always 100% meshed, sometimes it's more like 75% and I think I noticed a similar issue on your video. The gear changes are controlled by a detent plate on the back of the headstock so the only way to fix it would be to remake that plate, which I am considering having a go at. The X and Z hand-wheels on mine also don't seem to turn as freely as they should, I think there may be some parts missing but it's been a bit of a head scratcher as the parts that are present are slightly different to what is in the manual, have you taken your hand-wheel assemblies apart and inspected? Cheers, Jeremy
Hi Jeremy, Yes the STS is based on the architecture of the 280T, the T stands for training so it was a stripped down version without the quick change gearbox and lower spec head bearings, my one had come out of a school so gear wear was very little but the chuck key had been left in many times judging by the dings and paint loss around the chuck being a give away. I didn't have it for long as i had the opportunity to get hold of a Colchester Student 1800 ( see later videos ) and the movement of the X and Y axis move a lot easier than they did on the Boxford ( mine had hard plastic wheel handles and parts did vary from the manual ) but they are still a superb machine if slightly noisey gear wise ( Boxford made a small mill with the same square styling and are criticised for being noisy when running ). If yours works fine and you are just using it for pleasure i wouldn't worry too much about the gear wear as it will probably outlast you but good luck if you choose to make a new indent plate .
@@TweedsGarage Thanks for the response. Just after left the above comment I saw your other videos and realised you had replaced the machine with a nice old Colchester. My STS has the upgraded Gamet spindle bearings and the full threading gearbox but I haven't been able to power it up yet as we are still in the process of getting 3ph power connected. Good to hear that they had a reputation for being noisy because the previous owner said "it is a bit noisey at the highest speed but it doesn't show up in the surface finishes". He suspected it might be wear in the spindle bearings, these are insanely expensive so I was hoping they wouldn't require replacement. I am wondering if adjustment to the gear meshing might improve things a bit, I may give it a try at some point, shouldn't be too hard, just a bit of fiddling around. Yes my hand wheels are also plastic, everything looks original, just seems odd that they don't match the drawings, they probably changed the design at some point over the years. Anyway, it looks like you have the dream little garage setup with the Colchester and the Bridgeport!
The Colchester has Gamet bearings and yes they are expensive but i suspect they are fine, be careful if considering striping the head down as the manual tells you how to adjust the Timkin bearings ( which were fitted to my 280T ) but states that the Gamet bearings are set in the factory and give no indication of how to do it . Happy Turning 😊
@@TweedsGarage that’s interesting because my version of the manual does actually give the specification and process to adjust the Gamet bearings but does say that it is for reference only and “disturbing the spindle bearings is not advised”. I would only attempt it absolutely necessary and I’d probably also consider just replacing them with the Timken equivalent, from what I’ve seen they appear to be interchangeable.
@@9534alex its around 380kg, unfortunately the manual moved along with the lathe so thats a rough weight but its no heavier than that, a standard Luton van tail lift will lift it and a pallet truck will fit under the cupboard between the stands and lift it no trouble.
Hi, I've just got a very similar lathe and I'm hoping to replicate what you've done. I'm curious about how you've managed to match the gearbox speeds to the speed on the controller? Have you set the maximum speed on the controller to whatever the motor would run at under normal 3ph operation? Or am I overthinking this? Cheers!
Hi Chris, it was pretty flexible, i tended to set my gearing for the speed i required with the controller speed set to nearly maximum which then allows you to turn the speed down if tool chatter starts , or stick it in middle range with the controller set at mid speed which gives you the flexibility to adjust your speed up or down when required.
Many thanks for producing this very useful video. I now basically have the same set up and I'm delighted with it. What a lovely machine and what a cracking VFD. I've given you a little mention here at 1:11 th-cam.com/video/3ftHTUZtAfI/w-d-xo.html Thanks again
Will be interesting to see what turns up next. Sorry couldn't rest.
Hello again, sorry but I've missed your first name somewhere along the line. I started my apprenticeship in 1970 on a Colchester Student lathe, never heard of a Boxford, the saddle wheel would throw me as It's on the left of the cross slide like a Ward capstan lathe, I got put on one once and kept crashing into the collet chuck, I was used to the saddle wheel being in my right hand. I once worked on an old Herbert 9 turret lathe with a dog clutch on the turret to rapid traverse towards the chuck, you just had to pray that you could disengage it before you crashed It, It was a scary machine. You've got me hooked now, looking forward to seeing the Riley running...
Allen, it's Allan :-) i done my apprenticeship in the 80's so worked on Colchester Bantams, Students and Boxford AUD's, they always looked smart in their grey or green paint and chrome handles so when the Boxford 280's came in with their plain styling, white/yellow colours schemes and black handles they didn't look solid so i always avoided them, but having had one now know they are a solid machine if a little noisy ( the Colchester although it has worked for over 30 years is Rolls Royce quiet in comparison ), you've got a few more engineering videos to deal with but the workshop is nearly tidy and i'll be back on the Riley.
Mine is exactly the same but called a tf weird must be just the years they where released great work
Slightly later training version, the letters denoted the level of options they had
Nice looking mustache, sir. Also nice lathe! I have one similar but still trying to get 3 phase power into my little workshop. I find it daunting to rewire the lathe and I have no clue about how to do it and its cheaper for me to get 3 phase power instead of the vfd.
Thanks Toasty, they are a nice lathe and if you can get 3 phase into your workshop go for it, then it opens up opportunities for all sorts of engineering machinery available at good prices, i upgraded again as the a chance deal came along and run a 3 phase rotary inverter to run 4 machines!!.....here's that story th-cam.com/video/0otEX_q8BQI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=dKtHplIpGKslCVlB
Nice lathe, looks similar to the Boxford STS I recently picked up. Did you inspect the meshing of the gears when you opened the headstock up? I noticed on mine that the there was some uneven wear on the gear teeth and it turned out that the gears aren't always 100% meshed, sometimes it's more like 75% and I think I noticed a similar issue on your video. The gear changes are controlled by a detent plate on the back of the headstock so the only way to fix it would be to remake that plate, which I am considering having a go at. The X and Z hand-wheels on mine also don't seem to turn as freely as they should, I think there may be some parts missing but it's been a bit of a head scratcher as the parts that are present are slightly different to what is in the manual, have you taken your hand-wheel assemblies apart and inspected? Cheers, Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Yes the STS is based on the architecture of the 280T, the T stands for training so it was a stripped down version without the quick change gearbox and lower spec head bearings, my one had come out of a school so gear wear was very little but the chuck key had been left in many times judging by the dings and paint loss around the chuck being a give away. I didn't have it for long as i had the opportunity to get hold of a Colchester Student 1800 ( see later videos ) and the movement of the X and Y axis move a lot easier than they did on the Boxford ( mine had hard plastic wheel handles and parts did vary from the manual ) but they are still a superb machine if slightly noisey gear wise ( Boxford made a small mill with the same square styling and are criticised for being noisy when running ). If yours works fine and you are just using it for pleasure i wouldn't worry too much about the gear wear as it will probably outlast you but good luck if you choose to make a new indent plate .
@@TweedsGarage Thanks for the response. Just after left the above comment I saw your other videos and realised you had replaced the machine with a nice old Colchester. My STS has the upgraded Gamet spindle bearings and the full threading gearbox but I haven't been able to power it up yet as we are still in the process of getting 3ph power connected. Good to hear that they had a reputation for being noisy because the previous owner said "it is a bit noisey at the highest speed but it doesn't show up in the surface finishes". He suspected it might be wear in the spindle bearings, these are insanely expensive so I was hoping they wouldn't require replacement. I am wondering if adjustment to the gear meshing might improve things a bit, I may give it a try at some point, shouldn't be too hard, just a bit of fiddling around. Yes my hand wheels are also plastic, everything looks original, just seems odd that they don't match the drawings, they probably changed the design at some point over the years. Anyway, it looks like you have the dream little garage setup with the Colchester and the Bridgeport!
The Colchester has Gamet bearings and yes they are expensive but i suspect they are fine, be careful if considering striping the head down as the manual tells you how to adjust the Timkin bearings ( which were fitted to my 280T ) but states that the Gamet bearings are set in the factory and give no indication of how to do it . Happy Turning 😊
@@TweedsGarage that’s interesting because my version of the manual does actually give the specification and process to adjust the Gamet bearings but does say that it is for reference only and “disturbing the spindle bearings is not advised”. I would only attempt it absolutely necessary and I’d probably also consider just replacing them with the Timken equivalent, from what I’ve seen they appear to be interchangeable.
Thanks for the info!
Any time!
@@TweedsGarage do you have any idea of the machines weight I'm in the process of buying my own boxford 280
@@9534alex its around 380kg, unfortunately the manual moved along with the lathe so thats a rough weight but its no heavier than that, a standard Luton van tail lift will lift it and a pallet truck will fit under the cupboard between the stands and lift it no trouble.
@@TweedsGarage thanks again friend! My 1 tonne chain hoist should have no problem fingers crossed
Hi, I've just got a very similar lathe and I'm hoping to replicate what you've done. I'm curious about how you've managed to match the gearbox speeds to the speed on the controller? Have you set the maximum speed on the controller to whatever the motor would run at under normal 3ph operation? Or am I overthinking this? Cheers!
Hi Chris, it was pretty flexible, i tended to set my gearing for the speed i required with the controller speed set to nearly maximum which then allows you to turn the speed down if tool chatter starts , or stick it in middle range with the controller set at mid speed which gives you the flexibility to adjust your speed up or down when required.
Many thanks for producing this very useful video. I now basically have the same set up and I'm delighted with it. What a lovely machine and what a cracking VFD.
I've given you a little mention here at 1:11
th-cam.com/video/3ftHTUZtAfI/w-d-xo.html
Thanks again
Thanks for the mention Lozl and glad you found the video helpful, they are a great lathe ( if a little noisy .....¨they all do that Sir¨ )
Horrible music