colchester student mk1 clutch help

[mycoolbeard]

hello there
i have a colchester student that i bought as a unseen non runner
it came from a local fella who retired to make guitars then shortly died
it was in a slight state of dismantling when i first saw it but looking at the other machines in his shop that he had refurbished i have no doubt that it is all funcitioning
the motor is now returned having sent it away to have it serviced i am now at the point that is nearly ready to properly rebuild and get it a functioning peice of equipment.
the only thing im not to sure about is the clutch system between the main motor and the drive head
the motor has no clutch and when plugged in it only turns
if you turn the "pully" that the belt sits on the head the whole shooting match turns
so i as is if reassemble every thing then i plug my lathe in i will not be able to disigage the systems ....i think
the moter is a brook motor btw
having looked on the www i only seem to come to a dead end when the internal running gear is concerned

so my question is how does the main motor normaly disigage from the lathe drive system?

[Al_The_Man]

Are you sure it is not disengaged by one of the levers on the head?
We had a lathe of this era in one of the shops I worked many many moons ago that used this method, one was electro/mechanical lever actuated.
The motors ran continuously.
Al.

[mactec54]

Hi mycoolbeard

The long lever with the red nob on is the clutch the little lever with the red nob is the motor reverse you can flip it back & forward

[retired eka]

My brother has one similar to this one, just waiting for a restoration

Googling for Colchester Student Lathe Manual Online shows a manual can be found here:-

http://bbssystem.com/manuals/colchester_student.pdf

retired EKA

[mycoolbeard]

Originally Posted by mactec54 Hi mycoolbeard The long lever with the red nob on is the clutch the little lever with the red nob is the motor reverse you can flip it back & forward

the small red lever is atached to a on off junction box and the large one is conected to a electricial limiter switch but not clutch




ta for link to the manual will read it well

[mactec54]

Hi mycoolbeard

Check the PDF file that retired EKA put up & you will see how it should work the clutch was a option on these machine your one is switching the motor on & off as you use it but the 2 levers serve the same operation on/off & reverse the wiring is all in the PDF file
if your lathe had the clutch the motor would run all the time which is a better option than the stop starting of the motor but both ways achieve the same thing

[mycoolbeard]

thanks to all involved
my poor printer

the link answers all questions apart from how to use it
luck would have it that ive a few ideas on that front

[gridley51]

As someone else mentions,a clutch was an option and not many of these had it.The large lever at the front middle switches the motor on when it it pulled out and up.Pushing it down switches the motor off and putting a bit more down pressure on it puts the brake on and slows the spindle quicker.The little lever in the middle of the big one reverses the motor.This should only be operated when the motor is stopped.
Mark.