Mind the Gap! - Removing the gap piece from a Colchester Triumph 2000 lathe.

Someone was restoring a classic Porsche 911 & brought the alloy wheels in to us to see if we could machine the rims - just a light skim on the lathe to get rid of the corrosion pitting. 15" wheels actually measure a bit more than 16" across the outside lip of the rim so we needed to take the gap piece out of the lathe bed to make room...

[@kentdixon5716]

Thanks for showing the actual removal, everybody talks about the gap bed lathe but no one shows the removal process, that is exactly what I was thinking of , come in handy for larger jobs such as wheel repair etc, thanks for posting !!

[@MidEngineering]

Thanks! Glad you found it useful.

[@BuchBay]

Hi, first of all, thanks for the video, I'm currently doing my final apprentice exam as a blacksmith. And i needed to remove the gap piece on one of the schools lathes. Problem is, none of the teachers had ever done it, I eventually found the manual from '98 to our machine, but I still didn't quite understand. This video was very nice too see, i didn't understand the tapered pins! or how to get them out, but thanks to you i have now gotten the gap removed!
So thanks :)

[@Improveng1]

Interesting exercise and well executed. Great to see the original build quality of these superb machines. Slide hammers are an excellent way of removing locating pins and are very easy to make. It's a thumbs-up and a sub from me.

[@fuckingpippaman]

i you have imperial screws and you live in a metric country you're doomed ahhahahaha. I have to remove stuff from a student 1800 and i had to get inventive. I also ordered some allen keys and THE MOTH****ERS didn't made the kit with the key between 3/16 and 1/4 basically the only one i needed. Had to make it from a metric one. The one thing i wanted to avoid

[@mandylad]

Hi . I'm thinking on buying a Colchester triumph lathe. How do you find them? Would you recommend one to someone one? Are they capable of doing some bigger jobs? Id like to be fit to make digger pins and bushes..

[@MidEngineering]

I've been pretty happy with mine. I went to an auction thinking about bidding on a turret mill & ended up buying this instead! Had it about 25 years now & it's been capable of dealing with pretty much anything that's come my way. Not quite big enough to do modern car wheels. I have done a few digger pins, bushes & bosses on it. Next video (when I get to finish editing it) will show some of that...

[@andyjota8906]

so what would the maximum diameter you can turn on that lathe with the bed section removed?

[@MidEngineering]

22.5" according to Colchester's specs. (Can't measure mine because the gap piece is back in now!)

[@izakbartley7985]

What size wheel is that/ how big can you fit

[@MidEngineering]

15" x 6J. Could go up to 20" diameter but the gap is only 9" wide. Not really enough for modern car wheels.

[@izakbartley7985]

@@MidEngineering Ah yes i seen the next video. Shame it didnt work looked like a cool job