I need to tell you a story. It will go on a bit, but stick with me. My father was born in 1926, left school at age 14 and went into a machine shop. Started as an apprentice and was Works Manager by his early thirties, when I was born. He was treated disgracefully by the company when I was a toddler and my mother had to spend some time in hospital, so he told them where to stuff their job. He gained a teaching qualification, started in the early ‘60s as an Assistant Lecturer at a local Technical College, and worked his way up to Head of Department, in charge of dozens of staff, hundreds of students and five large teaching workshops. With the decline of manufacturing in the UK, it was decided in the late ‘70s / early ‘80s that three of those workshops were to be closed down. He decided that it was time to upgrade his own garage workshop and prepare for early retirement. Milling machines, shapers, grinders, etc. were to be sold by sealed bids, together with around two dozen Colchester Students. He picked out the best lathe, then swapped parts from other machines to build the best gearbox he could. Then he covered this machine with gunk and swarf, painted “SCRAP” on both ends in blue Hammerite, parked it in a corridor and threw a grubby old tarpaulin over it. It was completely overlooked by local businesses and other bidders, and my father bought it for just £15. I should confess that, although I could read a micrometer before I could read a book, and could operate a lathe by age 12 (basic stuff like parallel and taper turning, drilling and tapping), I ended up with a career in the printing trade and a predominantly woodwork hobby shop. He retired around 1984 and died in 2004. When my mother also passed in ‘13 and the house was sold, I moved the lathe and other machinery to my own workshop. Now I have also taken early retirement, with This Old Tony’s help I am getting back to using it.
How naughty of your dad to do what he did to get the best. Something I would do, particularly if the the company had treated me like some do. It's amazing to me that some companies don't realize what the most important resource is: US!
@@michaelalpin6139 It would seem that, for the next couple of years before he finished, he ‘borrowed’ quite a bit of tooling over the weekends and somehow forgot to return it. From sets of twist drills to a spare Burnerd 4-jaw. Anyway, the whole college is gone now. Suffice to say, I will never need to buy any cutting tools. Ever.
This brought a tear to my eye - I had a Colchester Triumph which I sold in 1980 - wish I had kept it now - but it reminded me of a time I was driving over the tops to Colne in Lancashire; just leaving Halifax - it was November, just before Guy Fawkes night in the late seventies, I noticed a tractor loading lumps of timber on to a massive bonfire - the lumps of timber were - machine tool patterns - there were scores of them, lined up ready to be burned. Halifax and environs was an important machine tool manufacturing centre for many years, and we just let it go. Lack of investment and shortsightedness gave it all away. Preferring the easy return on juggling money, we have sold or let die all our hard won heritage in manufacturing. It's not just down to Far Eastern costs - Germany and Switzerland have managed to retain and grow a well respected machine tool industry - the city of London has a lot to answer for - financial jiggery pokery and cronyism - bolstered by self serving, corrupt politicians. - I feel much better for that !
I'll second that! I worked at Myford Machine Tools in the 70's and 80's and much of this film seems very familiar. Not much changed between the 50's and the 80's, no investment to speak of. We sat on our laurels and let the world pass us by.
I live in Brisbane Australia nowadays but in the period before the '74 election of prize clown Gough Whitlam there were several machine tool companies here. We were so far from anywhere that many firms made lathes,mills etc etc .All began dissapearing under Whitlams incompetence ,to the point where only chicom equipment is available these days. When ever a technical college closes,there is/was a race to get a Colchester lathe . it was labor policy here to close down tech colledges so that the globalist policy of a "service economy" could take root. After all under the globalist agenda we are not supposed to do creative things in case someone gets offended. I myself first used a Colchestor Triumph in 1969 ,today i use a Romanian built ARAD lathe (!) from 1972 which is a useful machine but not a patch on the venerable Colchestors.
@@Mercmad We had the same policy in the U.K.- the manual skills such as metalwork and woodwork were made unfashionable in the late 80's - a customer of mine who ran a small tool business asked if I knew anything about lathes, as he had a been offered, from a teacher friend, two lathes from a school in Oldham - would I go over with him to have a look at them. On arrival at the school there were two pristine Boxford lathes with full tooling - I told him they were hardly used and asked how much they were asking for them - "Oh nothing - they just want them disconnected and removing" - I was speechless. Needless to say they were in the van and off site in two shakes - I think he donated £50 to school funds.This was happening countrywide in schools and technical colleges, and they wonder why we have a shortage of engineers.
@@jackdawes8264 It became uneconomic to manufacture - simple as - I owned a cutting tool business which, as the 80's ended, became harder and harder to run profitably. Interest rates were 15% above base, and China started dumping products at a third of our manufactured cost - I ended up having to loose 25 people - bury my pride, and source material from Taiwan
there was mechanical engineering once ! today you have addicts hanging out in large numbers ! Today your capitalism takes off your last pants))) And you are talking about development))) Nonsense
@@radbabic3532Guess everything is cnc now, I love my 1934 south bend heavy 10. 2 1/4 bore is more than I ever needed. It feels more personal when you complete something with a manual machine, born in 69 I miss the 90s. Crazy how the world is today.
Who do you blame for that? At about this time, Britain madly wanted into the European Common Market. Later, they couldn't wait to engage in stupid maneuvers like "Brexit".
It is a sad indictment of the way this country has turned its back on engineering processes and manufacturing that once was the backbone of its wealth, which has been flogged off to the local scrapman or foreign consortiums. The disappearance and decline of school led creative base skills as part of the education carriculum and technical colleges in favour of turning them into academies - where one can now obtain an NVQ in Origami or Social Media Studies - exacerbates the overall situation. We now have a generation that don't know how to bang a nail in to a piece of wood - let alone what a lathe is. Splendid film. Absolute gem. 👍
@@bigboreracing356 Whilst entirely supportive and acknowleging of the fact that there are many of a younger generation who have the mindset and ability, the message is really aimed at the lack of systems to support and foster those of that ability, where the creative base practical skills and engineering backgrounding have perhaps been lost with the fixation with IT skills. Whilst IT and data driven stuff has its place, one can't screw a nut on a bolt with a laptop. If I'm looking in the wrong places, then I'm sorry. Perhaps you can enlighten me to where the right places are. Thanks for your comment generated. Underneath, there perhaps lurks a commonality of interest.
My parents worked their - A long long time ago. Father was a timed served turner. Also worked at Paxman Diesels which was just up the road. Yep, kids of today have not got a clue when it comes to anything 'practical'. Even the so called 'College courses' in engineering only teach you to pass the exams and not the subject as it used to be.
@@petermartin3818 your not wrong in the things you say, in fact I’d argue your absolutely correct in terms of failures of systems. But you have to also appreciate the prospectives from the younger generations within the metalworking industries. They are thrown into work with a fraction of the training that was previously deemed necessary, often exploited for cheap repetitive manual labour, co-workers refusing to teach them anything because they are scared of been replaced (pathetic thought I have always considered myself, if you rate yourself how are they going to replace you to begin with). There’s a lot of issues in terms of recruitment, training and development within the manufacturing sectors but the issue is with how things are organised. Not the young workers themselves who often tolerate far more crap than workers perhaps might of tolerated during the golden years of British manufacturing.
People are learning but about CNCs its the next revolution na.. changing times are constant .. lathes replaced had working on metal cnc is replacing lathes it's only natural
My father worked for the company for 10 years .....he absolutely loved his job. This was back in the day when this country used to have manufacturing industry
My dad is a mechanical egineer he's now 69 and i'm about to finish university in about a year. When he was learning to use the lathe in a tecnical school there was a bunch of brand new Colchester lathes, those used to work always keeping the motor runing, and the chuck started to spin when a cluch was engaged. Time later he started his own workshop which thankfully has never stoped for about 35 years and one of his first machines was big colchester lathe with a 15 hp motor , that thing is a beast. I've seen almost 300 kg parts being machined there, and I have that slow starting noise form the cluth engaging always in my brain. I have used it since I was 12 and that sound just feel powerful and humble
My grandfather was a tool maker and shop steward - alway went to work in a tie and waistcoat and his light brown overall- slick of brill creme and a a roll up - still have his mics and tables - a wonderful gentleman who would’ve loved this - probably as much as we loved him - thank you
My first job, foundry / lab technician at Metalclad, Swansea, Wales, UK. Part of the 600 Group of companies they cast all the lathe beds for Colchester Lathes. My job, included furnace and raw material melt control, chemical analysis of the previous days castings, mould sand analysis, in particular water / moisture content. Long time ago, but never forgotten.
What an amazing video and piece of history. I've never seen complete machine tool manufacture such as this. The amount of hard work, literally blood, sweat and tears and precision that went into these machines is incredible. Not a Brit but it brings a tear to my eyes too.
when you've 7 billion ppl , quality and service are history ....GOOD OLD DAYS WITH GOOD AND HIGH QUALITY STUFF...btw when UK was UK for NATIONALS... FUCK DIVERSITY ...
Del Cat what he means is back before people needed breast fed at work and worries about shite like that. Health and safety didn’t come into it when skilled sensible people were of abundance .
@17:30 "However it is in the spindle bearings that precision reaches its peak" . . . @19:00 "machine can measure 4 millionths of an inch, and in each bearing the dimensions do not differ by more than 10 millionths of an inch". That's wicked accuracy / tolerance / variation for the immediate post WWII period (1960's this film?) and I'm so impressed. Such quality of workmanship, such a focus on doing the best possible, not "good enough" - building up to a quality not down to a price. I want one!
Mr shed man , I now consider myself to be a very lucky person to have a 1918 Colchester master 6" originally belt driven from an overhead line shaft, a three step pully behind the chuck , This lathe I purchased from an advert in a brawed sheet paper 6 tyre kickers had looked at it an walked away from it i went to see it an bought it on the spot the whole machine was brown with rust as it had sat in a garage for many yrs. With the help of a late friend he and i set to made an angle iron frame 50x50 x 5mm 100mm off the floor to hold a very heavy,, large motor. Then out from that frame with more angle mounted a lay shaft and using an old timing belt from my car to drive that shaft, A three step pully on the end of the lay shaft then allowed me to drive the chuck using a 1" ratchet strap running over two fixed rollers an one adjustable roller mounted at bed height to allow me to tension the belt I made to drive the chuck. 6" swing ,, 3' between chuck an tailstock overall length 6' 6" a brut of a machine made when Britain was at the leading edge of industry, look where we are now an idiot at the helm and a Chinese virus pandemic running amock that brought us to near bankruptcy a year a go, and a whole year of listening to politicians LYING through their teeth an more U turns than a sat nav, at the next opportunity turn around , turn around , turn around ,
You've got to be kidding me - tolerance / variation of 0.00003" / 0.0007mm back then?? What wonderful quality equipment! Thanks for uploading, that's a pretty good transfer as well from old film stock. Magnificent!
work of being one of the very first factories to adopt numerical control. ND was cnc before computers and it was invented by MIT for the U.S. Air force in 1951. Being a supplier to the ministry of defense no doubt enabled the export of nc tech to jolly old Colchester
@@MatthewHolevinski Bought a square head Student 52 years ago, still using it. The only thing I`ve replaced is a three jaw chuck, the tailstock is just at a point where the tang on the drill fails to bite. Still has the original drive belts.
As a retired Toolmaker the Colchester Triumph 2000 was always my favourite lathe . And if there was a J&S surface grinder along with a Bridgeport milling machine you were in toolmaking heaven !
You so correct on that. I bought a new student 2 years ago , not bad but it's a actually a Harrison M300 and made in Taiwane. Even so still good by todays standards but I would rather of had an original student or master as technically they still better.
@ChrisHallett83 I think I know what I bought Chris as it was purchased new from 600SA group.The modern student which I own 2014 model is in fact just a M300 .
Matematiks I take it you mean “ Hembrug “ As a young Toolmaker In The Netherlands I worked on a Hembrug AI lathe and that in my mind was the absolute ultimate in small lathes , very high quality/ precise and versatile!
I wish ads were still like this, genuinely informative and interesting, shows the entire range of features and general scope of the product. Fantastic that this makes me nostalgic for an era I never existed in.
@@gmsyd09 he said 1/10 of an inch tolerance, but that is clearly incorrect, these devices are clearly accurate to 1/10000 of an inch or better as you said. Edit. 30 millionth of an inch. Mind blown. 21:22
Funny job being a nurse. I trained in Colchester and as part of my training I visited Colchester Lathes. They were an example of top quality occupational health. They had done a fantastic job of making a work station accessible for a disabled employee. The town was proud of the factory to.
@eiliannoyes5212 nurse training took me to many strange places. This one to be honest I can't remember who took us there but the environmental health took us to a supermarket, knackers yard, slaughterhouse, rat infestation and a gut scapers. They knew how to keep our interest. It was I believe part of the broad and all-around knowledge of all things relating to health thought to be needed as a nurse.
Oh wow! This is great. I started my apprenticeship in 1976 at a company on the south coast of England where we made saddle gearboxes for Colchester lathes. We also made the top slides and tail stocks. It was an old fashioned indentured apprenticeship, where my father was required to attend the interview as well as me. He had to sign the apprenticeship papers as well as part of his commitment (they don’t do that nowadays). And so began my four year apprenticeship. We made everything, the saddle gearboxes for instance - from the iron castings (having been seasoned of course by storing outside in the open air for at least a year), initially plough ground 8 at a time on a large Snow grinder (same make as the one in the film), then through successive milling, drilling by radial drills (and some of the first NC machines), horizontal boring (including some multi boring heads), to produce the main machined casting. Through to the steel shafts and gears, turned on Wickman single spindle machines or copy lathes and cylindrically ground. Then there was the gear cutting shop where shaping and hobbing machines cut the gears and spline shafts which were in turn induction hardened (I ran the gear cutting, broaching, manual drilling and induction hardening shop at the age of 19 to 20). Then all was assembled and tested before being shipped to Colchester. It was a good apprenticeship, 6 months in every department including inspection. I qualified as a Toolmaker at 20 years of age in 1980, and am still in Engineering now, and currently in the process of setting up a new machine shop. So glad I saw this video, many thanks for uploading😊
@@montyzumazoom1337 Yeah, I'm in my final year of a 4 year apprenticeship in Boilermaking. Spending one week a month at trade school learning the theory. All trades are done like that still. There are people who do work in the trades without their trade papers but they are paid a lot less and find it hard to get work. The trades here have lost their prestige in a way due to a big push of high school leavers going to uni, but with a flood of unemployed graduates it seems to be swinging back.
i knew when i was 6 or 7 i was going to work with metals, my grandfather had a friend that had a hug machine shop. the smell of a machine shop takes me back to being a kid. so of course, i took every class i could. metal class, welding class, lathe classes. I'm 54 and still love the smell of a machine shop, i work in mine every day, it's my therapy
Great Video, 👍 I served my apprenticeship at Colchester Lathes from 86 to 91. Ended up in the design office after my apprenticeship, then left in 92 after the site was sold to Tesco & the business was moved up to the Harrisons plant. 😢 Really good memories of my time there. Worked with some great people too. Happy days ❤
Brings back memories from approximately 1979 when I started my Apprenticeship as an Electrical Fitter at State Electricity Commission Victoria (Australia). All of the 1st year apprentices had to go through the basic training at the apprentice training workshop for 12 months. Very valuable experience learning the use of basic hand tools, lathe's, milling machines, shaper. Mostly Colchester machines. Excellent, looking back now very valuable training.
It was marvellous to find this on RUclips...thanks for posting it.I did my apprenticeship on a Flat Top Colchester Student at the start of the 1980's at British Leyland/Pressed Steel Fisher...Back in the 1990's I bought a Round Top Colchester Master which came out of a College...I still have it and use it almost every day.
I learned my trade as Centre-Lathe Turner on a Colchester 2000 on 6 Bay in the North Shop at R.O.F Nottingham from 1971 to 1975 then spent the next 35 years working all kinds of manual Machines. I then got put on one of the new C.N.C Machining Centres which took all the Skill out of the job as all it entailed was loading the metal onto the Machine, press a button and change the throw away carbide turning tips when required. Thats what kids today think is a skilled job. Best little Centre Lathe ever made was the Colchester. Happy Days.
That's not completely true. I still think the best cnc machinist, then especially, could perform on conventional machines first. Feeling the work, stability, rigidity and tooling performance is something cnc programming doesn't learn. If you have experienced e.g. chatter in a conventional way and ways to avoid it it also applies on cnc machining.
Worked at M Tools in Halstead in Essex in 1972, we converted Colchester Lathes into CNC machines. Was great to see this film, reminds me of many happy hours on the Student and later Triumph.
I’ve had my student around 15 years and still enjoy using it regularly. Would never be without it. Great video of what Great Britain was once capable of producing!
Colchester lathes were the first mass produced industrial lathes. Unlike most other industrial lathes spare parts could be fitted by the user rather than needing a skilled fitter from the manufacturer.
Excellent film, I had a Colchester Student, given to me from a factory that no longer wanted it, after 40+ years in service it was still as tight as a nut and I used it to build a half-size traction engine plus other stuff, beautiful machine, built to take use.
I work around the country on machine tools and I can honestly say that virtually every workshop still has a Colchester Lathe, along with a Bridgeport Miller and Jones & Shipman Grinder!
"The World Turns on Colchester Lathes".... What a wonderful strap line. If we were still allowed to be proud of our heritage, then this film would have made me very proud. I took my boys to HMS Belfast recently - she's got several Deane Smith & Grace lathes in her machine shop. Just beautiful bits of kit!
Thirty years ago I was working in a power plant that was being refurbished. I found the machine shop and was very impressed by how much the Colchester lathes could hog off at one time. The swarf coming off was almost red hot.
What a magnificent film. Made at a time when people took pride in their work, and when companies were making quality machines. Such amazing engineering.
Worked at Colchester lathe and did a 4 year apprenticeship in the 70s,Worked on most of the machines from snow grinders to laths.I was there the day they showed a grope of Chinese round the shop and saw the first lathe they made copying ours.Over 400 worked there at one time and we had one of the first cnc machine shops which then you programmed with tape and it cost £1000 for 1 k of bubble memory.Memory’s it was a good place to work and we were all very well paid for the time
Brilliant film, very interesting manufacturing process and nice to see some early process automation and the lathes really stand up to time. I wish I had a colchester in my little workshop.
The CHIPMASTER is still my favourite and many hours of using one gave me great pleasure. I own 9 Lathes. Some rescue and in bad shape. 2 Myfords. And 3 Raglans among them. Totally enjoyed this film. David and Lily Reading.
Wow, that took me back. In 1964 I left school and went to technical college to study general engineering, and electrical technology, where they used Colchesters in the turning shop. I didn't follow up on the mechanical side and opted for electrical engineering, but still look back fondly on using the lathes etc. Thanks so much for posting.
I used to love running these lathes and especially big ward lathes.... oh those levers and handles and things that slide in and out and positive clunks when turning the turret.
My school had a couple of metalwork workshops - possibly 3 lathes in one and 5 in the other. The 5 were a Student, a Raglan variomatic - both as 'proper' lathes, a small Boxford with a leadscrew (& likely changewheels in a box never opened) and 2 ultra-basic lathes - 3 speed, no leadscrew. I taught the metalwork teacher how to cut threads - on the Raglan - having done a bit on the Myford at home! I turned a screw and a brass nut while making a sash cramp for CSE metalwork. Got a 'commended work' for that - the teacher was well-impressed - and I would suspect he'd be as rare at giving 'commended work' awards as I was at receiving them !
This was one of the first lathes I ran when I was an apprentice in Canada. I did not know they were from the UK. It was a workhorse, I machined thousands of parts on it.
When I think of lathes, I think of how they made our society possible. These machines are amazing, and everyone should have an appreciation for the hard work, design, and care that went into these machines. These machines can last several decades and still function, or even be brought back up to functionality. It's astounding.
And this is why they are still the best lathes ever made! I have two elderly Colchesters in the workshop and they still easily capable of holding their own in a modern(ish) workshop. Quality never goes out of fashion. Can you just imagine this sort of attention to entail being put into new " far eastern" machines? Look past the shine and buy a good quality older machine, you won't regret it!
They are great machines, still makes me laugh when I tell people that I learned dimensions in both Imperial and Metric and have to stop myself ordering M10 set screws 2 inches long! The only issue I can see here is that the Ford Thames vans they used were more likely to break down than the lathes ever were. Great video, thank you.
if you want a sheet of plywood, they come in metric thicknesses. then you ask for a sheet in metric dimensions, and the salesman says, " A four by eight foot sheet, sir ?"
Started my apprenticeship at Colchester Lathe mid 80's. The whole factory has long been demolished and now has a Tesco supermarket in it's place. Happy days playing cricket at lunchtimes 😅
The sort of jobs people were proud of regardless of how lowly the task each one took pride in what he was doing and got a living wage for doing it. How we threw this away!
@@bob733333 hey Bob, the global governance that you reference is actually global elites cutting costs by sending manufacturing overseas. It in no way reflects global governance, it's more global greed. Thatcher and Reagan era politics very much prioritised the stock and servic markets over manufacturing, opting to reduce overheads by extorting underpaid overseas workers. I'm not saying the boogie man doesn't exist, I'm just saying that you should check who is under the mask like a Scooby Doo cartoon.
What amazes me are the machines that make the machines. Just wonderful, and look at all the tricks & knowledge they had even way back then. Clever engineers & proud of their good work.
Amazing. I've just got myself a roundhead master, still need to get it running. This is when great Britain was truly Great, now, it's just Britain. How far we have fallen is staggering.
We need to get back to making quality machines such as this, made to endure and if needed repaired instead of thrown away and replaced. Better products, better work and skills, better for the environment.
Thing is, they never did get thrown away. Eventually everyone who needed a lathe had either a Colchester or Harrison and stopped buying lathes entirely.
@@will5948 by throw away, he means the chinese lathes that quit working when the burrs holding them together finally wear off. China is pure garbage. The colchesters, monarchs, moris. Meant to last compared to the scrap heap imported from china
@@mackk123 I meant 'replaced with new' when I said 'thrown away'. Every machine shop and toolmakers I've been to (in the past 10 years or so, in Britain) have either no manual lathe or a 50-60 year old British lathe, and maybe the eponymous American vertical mill of similar age, for similar reasons. These companies aren't replacing their manual equipment because it doesn't break. I'm all for quality product but these lathes (and the Bridgeport mills) were just too damn good!
@@will5948 A toolmaker friend of mine told me that the availability of good quality iron ore is not there anymore to enable making good machinery at a competitive price. He also said that with the cost of lower quality machines being so low, if you cannot make enough profit out of using lower quality tools to cover the cost of replacing said tools by the time they wear out then you are not a good businessman and should not be running an engineering firm !
@@will5948 It's the same at my work. We have 2 new cnc machines (mill and lathe) and 2 old manuals that are Swedish made. Those machines are probably twice my age.
I had never used a metal lathe when I bought my first one in 1982 .It was a Colchester Student 6" , I wish now that I had kept it. So versatile and accurate.
Indeed, although I think that engineers and designers back then would've gone ro the moon and back to have the computers and the sophisticated machinery we have today!!
I started my apprenticeship in 1983 on a Colchester Student, the company down sized a few years ago and I had the chance to buy it. It's now in my shed at home beside my Myford Super 7
As the saying goes in the UK. Things aren't made like they used to be! I've worked/repaired Colchester lathes and they are incredible peices of engineering 👏
"Currently, the CNC machines we use are serving us thanks to these people. I am a lathe master and after seeing these people, I have a great respect for them and I understand that they are 10 light-years ahead of us. I also understand that to produce these machines, one needs to be successful in art, sports, science, justice, literature, and education. I wish I could be the apprentice of such people. Regards and love."
I've spent a few hours stood in front of the student and the triumph, brilliant machines even though I'm guessing their around 70 years old I know of a few still going strong.
djt 123, that's what I thought. I like it but I can imagine the engineers all jeering and laughing at management for making them do it. They may genuinely have taken that much pride in their work though and decided that the film was a good excuse to tart the place up like everyone having an annual deep clean when the insurance agent or bank manager pays a visit. It reminds me of those polished silver spades they give directors to put their foot on for the ground-breaking photo when they begin construction of a new building. These people are always like children in these situations. Everything is a reflection on them. Politicians are the same. Egomaniacs, all of them. Still, at least they give a damn about results that way so it works in it's own unfortunate way I suppose.
Thanks to upload this video. Proud to be British. Brilliant lathes along with Dean Smith and Grace which I have 2. I also have 2 Denham Turret lathes made in Halifax. 👏🏻👍
Bridgeport, Cravens, Herbert, Ward, Hardinge, DSG, Niles also. I have just retired after 49 years as a turner. The Herbert Pre-op gearchange system was a genius design. The tolerances were a bit far-fetched in the video.
@@colchestermts7620 My father sold hundreds of Colchester lathes in his time as manager of Selson's (600 Group) at Stanningley Leeds. The depot was so big it had its own railway yard that linked to the rail network. I was lucky enough to go on some of his visits to the Colchester Lathes factory, sometimes we'd stay over and go to Clacton-on-Sea. Happy times.
The first lathe I ever bought was a Clausing Colchester 15x50. It was the best lathe in the shop, everyone always wanted to use it and not the other eight lathes we had. I beast of a machine
I need to tell you a story. It will go on a bit, but stick with me.
My father was born in 1926, left school at age 14 and went into a machine shop. Started as an apprentice and was Works Manager by his early thirties, when I was born. He was treated disgracefully by the company when I was a toddler and my mother had to spend some time in hospital, so he told them where to stuff their job. He gained a teaching qualification, started in the early ‘60s as an Assistant Lecturer at a local Technical College, and worked his way up to Head of Department, in charge of dozens of staff, hundreds of students and five large teaching workshops.
With the decline of manufacturing in the UK, it was decided in the late ‘70s / early ‘80s that three of those workshops were to be closed down. He decided that it was time to upgrade his own garage workshop and prepare for early retirement.
Milling machines, shapers, grinders, etc. were to be sold by sealed bids, together with around two dozen Colchester Students. He picked out the best lathe, then swapped parts from other machines to build the best gearbox he could. Then he covered this machine with gunk and swarf, painted “SCRAP” on both ends in blue Hammerite, parked it in a corridor and threw a grubby old tarpaulin over it. It was completely overlooked by local businesses and other bidders, and my father bought it for just £15.
I should confess that, although I could read a micrometer before I could read a book, and could operate a lathe by age 12 (basic stuff like parallel and taper turning, drilling and tapping), I ended up with a career in the printing trade and a predominantly woodwork hobby shop.
He retired around 1984 and died in 2004. When my mother also passed in ‘13 and the house was sold, I moved the lathe and other machinery to my own workshop. Now I have also taken early retirement, with This Old Tony’s help I am getting back to using it.
How naughty of your dad to do what he did to get the best. Something I would do, particularly if the the company had treated me like some do. It's amazing to me that some companies don't realize what the most important resource is: US!
Good on your dad for doing what he did for those tools, and good on you for holding on to all of it.
ent well done to him, and you
@@michaelalpin6139 It would seem that, for the next couple of years before he finished, he ‘borrowed’ quite a bit of tooling over the weekends and somehow forgot to return it. From sets of twist drills to a spare Burnerd 4-jaw. Anyway, the whole college is gone now. Suffice to say, I will never need to buy any cutting tools. Ever.
@@dawhandle Sorry mate, thanks for reading my story but this was in the Midlands.
This brought a tear to my eye - I had a Colchester Triumph which I sold in 1980 - wish I had kept it now - but it reminded me of a time I was driving over the tops to Colne in Lancashire; just leaving Halifax - it was November, just before Guy Fawkes night in the late seventies, I noticed a tractor loading lumps of timber on to a massive bonfire - the lumps of timber were - machine tool patterns - there were scores of them, lined up ready to be burned. Halifax and environs was an important machine tool manufacturing centre for many years, and we just let it go. Lack of investment and shortsightedness gave it all away. Preferring the easy return on juggling money, we have sold or let die all our hard won heritage in manufacturing. It's not just down to Far Eastern costs - Germany and Switzerland have managed to retain and grow a well respected machine tool industry - the city of London has a lot to answer for - financial jiggery pokery and cronyism - bolstered by self serving, corrupt politicians. - I feel much better for that !
I'll second that! I worked at Myford Machine Tools in the 70's and 80's and much of this film seems very familiar. Not much changed between the 50's and the 80's, no investment to speak of. We sat on our laurels and let the world pass us by.
I live in Brisbane Australia nowadays but in the period before the '74 election of prize clown Gough Whitlam there were several machine tool companies here. We were so far from anywhere that many firms made lathes,mills etc etc .All began dissapearing under Whitlams incompetence ,to the point where only chicom equipment is available these days. When ever a technical college closes,there is/was a race to get a Colchester lathe . it was labor policy here to close down tech colledges so that the globalist policy of a "service economy" could take root. After all under the globalist agenda we are not supposed to do creative things in case someone gets offended. I myself first used a Colchestor Triumph in 1969 ,today i use a Romanian built ARAD lathe (!) from 1972 which is a useful machine but not a patch on the venerable Colchestors.
@@Mercmad We had the same policy in the U.K.- the manual skills such as metalwork and woodwork were made unfashionable in the late 80's - a customer of mine who ran a small tool business asked if I knew anything about lathes, as he had a been offered, from a teacher friend, two lathes from a school in Oldham - would I go over with him to have a look at them. On arrival at the school there were two pristine Boxford lathes with full tooling - I told him they were hardly used and asked how much they were asking for them - "Oh nothing - they just want them disconnected and removing" - I was speechless. Needless to say they were in the van and off site in two shakes - I think he donated £50 to school funds.This was happening countrywide in schools and technical colleges, and they wonder why we have a shortage of engineers.
@@jackdawes8264 It became uneconomic to manufacture - simple as - I owned a cutting tool business which, as the 80's ended, became harder and harder to run profitably. Interest rates were 15% above base, and China started dumping products at a third of our manufactured cost - I ended up having to loose 25 people - bury my pride, and source material from Taiwan
fraser hardmetal
Unfortunately nowadays a degree in women's or media studies wouldn't turn out many machine tools, just complete tools.
The engineering , materials and machining expertise in this video is awesome!!! This is what Britain used to be.
there was mechanical engineering once ! today you have addicts hanging out in large numbers ! Today your capitalism takes off your last pants))) And you are talking about development))) Nonsense
Pat Bournes. Patterns are the wooden shapes used to make the sand molds for casting steel components.
I must say. This actually brings tears to my eyes, knowing what this country was like before 1974. Down hill from then on.
Yes my friend,used to be Turner machinist 40 years ago, learnt my trade on Colchester,it was engineering marvel,where we are now????
@@radbabic3532Guess everything is cnc now, I love my 1934 south bend heavy 10. 2 1/4 bore is more than I ever needed. It feels more personal when you complete something with a manual machine, born in 69 I miss the 90s. Crazy how the world is today.
Thatcher and Tories 1979 said we can survive as service not manufacturing nation. Thatcher like Regan had dementia even in 1980.
Who do you blame for that? At about this time, Britain madly wanted into the European Common Market. Later, they couldn't wait to engage in stupid maneuvers like "Brexit".
Managed chaos
It is a sad indictment of the way this country has turned its back on engineering processes and manufacturing that once was the backbone of its wealth, which has been flogged off to the local scrapman or foreign consortiums. The disappearance and decline of school led creative base skills as part of the education carriculum and technical colleges in favour of turning them into academies - where one can now obtain an NVQ in Origami or Social Media Studies - exacerbates the overall situation. We now have a generation that don't know how to bang a nail in to a piece of wood - let alone what a lathe is. Splendid film. Absolute gem. 👍
Happened in the US too. Hopefully we can get back to where we were.
@@bigboreracing356
Whilst entirely supportive and acknowleging of the fact that there are many of a younger generation who have the mindset and ability, the message is really aimed at the lack of systems to support and foster those of that ability, where the creative base practical skills and engineering backgrounding have perhaps been lost with the fixation with IT skills. Whilst IT and data driven stuff has its place, one can't screw a nut on a bolt with a laptop. If I'm looking in the wrong places, then I'm sorry. Perhaps you can enlighten me to where the right places are. Thanks for your comment generated. Underneath, there perhaps lurks a commonality of interest.
My parents worked their - A long long time ago. Father was a timed served turner. Also worked at Paxman Diesels which was just up the road. Yep, kids of today have not got a clue when it comes to anything 'practical'. Even the so called 'College courses' in engineering only teach you to pass the exams and not the subject as it used to be.
@@petermartin3818 your not wrong in the things you say, in fact I’d argue your absolutely correct in terms of failures of systems.
But you have to also appreciate the prospectives from the younger generations within the metalworking industries. They are thrown into work with a fraction of the training that was previously deemed necessary, often exploited for cheap repetitive manual labour, co-workers refusing to teach them anything because they are scared of been replaced (pathetic thought I have always considered myself, if you rate yourself how are they going to replace you to begin with).
There’s a lot of issues in terms of recruitment, training and development within the manufacturing sectors but the issue is with how things are organised. Not the young workers themselves who often tolerate far more crap than workers perhaps might of tolerated during the golden years of British manufacturing.
People are learning but about CNCs its the next revolution na.. changing times are constant .. lathes replaced had working on metal cnc is replacing lathes it's only natural
My grandfather was a sales executive for this company after the ww2, he travelled to over 50 countries, I still have the old post cards...
The 60 people who did not like this video don't even know what a lathe is or what its for.. Great video!
My father worked for the company for 10 years .....he absolutely loved his job. This was back in the day when this country used to have manufacturing industry
Thatcher the dementor killed him
My dad is a mechanical egineer he's now 69 and i'm about to finish university in about a year. When he was learning to use the lathe in a tecnical school there was a bunch of brand new Colchester lathes, those used to work always keeping the motor runing, and the chuck started to spin when a cluch was engaged. Time later he started his own workshop which thankfully has never stoped for about 35 years and one of his first machines was big colchester lathe with a 15 hp motor , that thing is a beast. I've seen almost 300 kg parts being machined there, and I have that slow starting noise form the cluth engaging always in my brain. I have used it since I was 12 and that sound just feel powerful and humble
My grandfather was a tool maker and shop steward - alway went to work in a tie and waistcoat and his light brown overall- slick of brill creme and a a roll up - still have his mics and tables - a wonderful gentleman who would’ve loved this - probably as much as we loved him - thank you
My first job, foundry / lab technician at Metalclad, Swansea, Wales, UK. Part of the 600 Group of companies they cast all the lathe beds for Colchester Lathes. My job, included furnace and raw material melt control, chemical analysis of the previous days castings, mould sand analysis, in particular water / moisture content. Long time ago, but never forgotten.
Fantastic....what a great film, when Made in England meant something.
It means something today: "be wary"!
The still are made in UK but not in Colchester they are made up north.
@@1SweetPete Pv4
What an amazing video and piece of history. I've never seen complete machine tool manufacture such as this. The amount of hard work, literally blood, sweat and tears and precision that went into these machines is incredible. Not a Brit but it brings a tear to my eyes too.
When quality and service did mean something 👍👍🏴
Yeah, but not health and safety! Spray shop with no masks!
@@delcat8168 Health and safety are not concerned about you getting knifed on your way home from work.
when you've 7 billion ppl , quality and service are history ....GOOD OLD DAYS WITH GOOD AND HIGH QUALITY STUFF...btw when UK was UK for NATIONALS... FUCK DIVERSITY ...
@@delcat8168 same in the fettling shop
Del Cat what he means is back before people needed breast fed at work and worries about shite like that. Health and safety didn’t come into it when skilled sensible people were of abundance .
@17:30 "However it is in the spindle bearings that precision reaches its peak" . . . @19:00 "machine can measure 4 millionths of an inch, and in each bearing the dimensions do not differ by more than 10 millionths of an inch". That's wicked accuracy / tolerance / variation for the immediate post WWII period (1960's this film?) and I'm so impressed. Such quality of workmanship, such a focus on doing the best possible, not "good enough" - building up to a quality not down to a price. I want one!
I love the lady checking the rollers for surface defects and then piffs them into the container.
" Well, they were fine when I inspected them deary."
Except those rollers are so freaking hard you would be “hard” pressed 🤪 to dent one lol
@@Mad.Man.Marine
It shows a nonchalant attitude.
@@michaelslee4336 I would say it shows she knows the product and knows there is nothing bad that will happen by doing it or she wouldn’t have her job.
@@Mad.Man.Marine correct you can run a file over it and it won’t even leave a scratch never mind take material away.
I have a Colchester Student MKII, circa 1972, in my workshop. After watching this film I love and respect her even more now!
Just bought an old Colchester Student and am absolutely stoked with the machine! Aim to restore it over time.
Mr shed man , I now consider myself to be a very lucky person to have a 1918 Colchester master 6" originally belt driven from an overhead line shaft, a three step pully behind the chuck , This lathe I purchased from an advert in a brawed sheet paper 6 tyre kickers had looked at it an walked away from it i went to see it an bought it on the spot the whole machine was brown with rust as it had sat in a garage for many yrs. With the help of a late friend he and i set to made an angle iron frame 50x50 x 5mm 100mm off the floor to hold a very heavy,, large motor. Then out from that frame with more angle mounted a lay shaft and using an old timing belt from my car to drive that shaft, A three step pully on the end of the lay shaft then allowed me to drive the chuck using a 1" ratchet strap running over two fixed rollers an one adjustable roller mounted at bed height to allow me to tension the belt I made to drive the chuck. 6" swing ,, 3' between chuck an tailstock overall length 6' 6" a brut of a machine made when Britain was at the leading edge of industry, look where we are now an idiot at the helm and a Chinese virus pandemic running amock that brought us to near bankruptcy a year a go, and a whole year of listening to politicians LYING through their teeth an more U turns than a sat nav, at the next opportunity turn around , turn around , turn around ,
These old video's don't do justice.
This is absolutely amazing to watch these machines being built!
You've got to be kidding me - tolerance / variation of 0.00003" / 0.0007mm back then?? What wonderful quality equipment! Thanks for uploading, that's a pretty good transfer as well from old film stock. Magnificent!
I choked when I heard that. I would give anything to be able to buy one of those fresh off the line.
work of being one of the very first factories to adopt numerical control. ND was cnc before computers and it was invented by MIT for the U.S. Air force in 1951. Being a supplier to the ministry of defense no doubt enabled the export of nc tech to jolly old Colchester
@@joshschneider9766 To be fair we did give the USA its language, computers, the jet engine and supersonic flight. You’re welcome 😊
@@MatthewHolevinski Bought a square head Student 52 years ago, still using it. The only thing I`ve replaced is a three jaw chuck, the tailstock is just at a point where the tang on the drill fails to bite. Still has the original drive belts.
@@JohnJones-cp4wh rub it in ;)
As a retired Toolmaker the Colchester Triumph 2000 was always my favourite lathe . And if there was a J&S surface grinder along with a Bridgeport milling machine you were in toolmaking heaven !
You so correct on that. I bought a new student 2 years ago , not bad but it's a actually a Harrison M300 and made in Taiwane. Even so still good by todays standards but I would rather of had an original student or master as technically they still better.
@ChrisHallett83 I think I know what I bought Chris as it was purchased new from 600SA group.The modern student which I own 2014 model is in fact just a M300 .
So true, and some day I WILL have this lathe exactly, or Hemburg
Allready purchased Woodhouse Mitchell
396 Turret Milling Machine
Matematiks I take it you mean “ Hembrug “ As a young Toolmaker In The Netherlands I worked on a Hembrug AI lathe and that in my mind was the absolute ultimate in small lathes , very high quality/ precise and versatile!
This Old Tony has the warm and fuzzies looking at this...
This is how ThisOldTony was made.
The chaps at Colchester would be impressed to see how TOT upgraded his lathe to include a time travel mode.
TOT watches these using VPN and clears his browser history afterwards
@@akashkumar121213 ROFLMAO!
Don’t forget AvE
I wish ads were still like this, genuinely informative and interesting, shows the entire range of features and general scope of the product. Fantastic that this makes me nostalgic for an era I never existed in.
As an Apprentice and a Young Engineer in the Steel Industry I used Colchester Lathes, this takes me back to those days.
The very fine tolerances involved require a very crisp accent to describe.
That's what you call a calibrated English accent!
William Ferguson one and a half thou thanks
@@gmsyd09 he said 1/10 of an inch tolerance, but that is clearly incorrect, these devices are clearly accurate to 1/10000 of an inch or better as you said.
Edit. 30 millionth of an inch. Mind blown. 21:22
Dave ‘a tenth’ is shorthand for one tenth of one thousandth or .0001”.
Indubitably. I was imagining Jeeves, the comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse as a proper backdrop.
Funny job being a nurse. I trained in Colchester and as part of my training I visited Colchester Lathes. They were an example of top quality occupational health. They had done a fantastic job of making a work station accessible for a disabled employee. The town was proud of the factory to.
Fascinating. Please, tell - in what context the training brought you there?
@eiliannoyes5212 nurse training took me to many strange places. This one to be honest I can't remember who took us there but the environmental health took us to a supermarket, knackers yard, slaughterhouse, rat infestation and a gut scapers. They knew how to keep our interest. It was I believe part of the broad and all-around knowledge of all things relating to health thought to be needed as a nurse.
That machine grinding the ways of 3 machines at once- simply beautiful.
Oh wow! This is great.
I started my apprenticeship in 1976 at a company on the south coast of England where we made saddle gearboxes for Colchester lathes.
We also made the top slides and tail stocks.
It was an old fashioned indentured apprenticeship, where my father was required to attend the interview as well as me. He had to sign the apprenticeship papers as well as part of his commitment (they don’t do that nowadays).
And so began my four year apprenticeship.
We made everything, the saddle gearboxes for instance - from the iron castings (having been seasoned of course by storing outside in the open air for at least a year), initially plough ground 8 at a time on a large Snow grinder (same make as the one in the film), then through successive milling, drilling by radial drills (and some of the first NC machines), horizontal boring (including some multi boring heads), to produce the main machined casting. Through to the steel shafts and gears, turned on Wickman single spindle machines or copy lathes and cylindrically ground. Then there was the gear cutting shop where shaping and hobbing machines cut the gears and spline shafts which were in turn induction hardened (I ran the gear cutting, broaching, manual drilling and induction hardening shop at the age of 19 to 20). Then all was assembled and tested before being shipped to Colchester.
It was a good apprenticeship, 6 months in every department including inspection.
I qualified as a Toolmaker at 20 years of age in 1980, and am still in Engineering now, and currently in the process of setting up a new machine shop.
So glad I saw this video, many thanks for uploading😊
Monty Zumazoom Apprenticeships are still like that in Australia.
Jamo really? That’s interesting. Nothing like it in the UK now
@@montyzumazoom1337 Yeah, I'm in my final year of a 4 year apprenticeship in Boilermaking. Spending one week a month at trade school learning the theory. All trades are done like that still. There are people who do work in the trades without their trade papers but they are paid a lot less and find it hard to get work.
The trades here have lost their prestige in a way due to a big push of high school leavers going to uni, but with a flood of unemployed graduates it seems to be swinging back.
Jamo That’s good to hear, best wishes for the future in your chosen career👍
The reminiscences of former Colchester employees and lathe operators is fascinating and informative. Thank you all
i knew when i was 6 or 7 i was going to work with metals, my grandfather had a friend that had a hug machine shop. the smell of a machine shop takes me back to being a kid. so of course, i took every class i could. metal class, welding class, lathe classes. I'm 54 and still love the smell of a machine shop, i work in mine every day, it's my therapy
Great Video, 👍 I served my apprenticeship at Colchester Lathes from 86 to 91. Ended up in the design office after my apprenticeship, then left in 92 after the site was sold to Tesco & the business was moved up to the Harrisons plant. 😢
Really good memories of my time there. Worked with some great people too. Happy days ❤
Brings back memories from approximately 1979 when I started my Apprenticeship as an Electrical Fitter at State Electricity Commission Victoria (Australia). All of the 1st year apprentices had to go through the basic training at the apprentice training workshop for 12 months. Very valuable experience learning the use of basic hand tools, lathe's, milling machines, shaper. Mostly Colchester machines. Excellent, looking back now very valuable training.
It was marvellous to find this on RUclips...thanks for posting it.I did my apprenticeship on a Flat Top Colchester Student at the start of the 1980's at British Leyland/Pressed Steel Fisher...Back in the 1990's I bought a Round Top Colchester Master which came out of a College...I still have it and use it almost every day.
I learned my trade as Centre-Lathe Turner on a Colchester 2000 on 6 Bay in the North Shop at R.O.F Nottingham from 1971 to 1975 then spent the next 35 years working all kinds of manual Machines. I then got put on one of the new C.N.C Machining Centres which took all the Skill out of the job as all it entailed was loading the metal onto the Machine, press a button and change the throw away carbide turning tips when required. Thats what kids today think is a skilled job. Best little Centre Lathe ever made was the Colchester. Happy Days.
That's not completely true. I still think the best cnc machinist, then especially, could perform on conventional machines first. Feeling the work, stability, rigidity and tooling performance is something cnc programming doesn't learn. If you have experienced e.g. chatter in a conventional way and ways to avoid it it also applies on cnc machining.
Worked at M Tools in Halstead in Essex in 1972, we converted Colchester Lathes into CNC machines. Was great to see this film, reminds me of many happy hours on the Student and later Triumph.
That would probably have been with an Anilam Crusader control.
I’ve had my student around 15 years and still enjoy using it regularly. Would never be without it. Great video of what Great Britain was once capable of producing!
Indeed. Hot Stuff!
I learned on these at English Electric Vulcan Foundry back in 1964, turners where the kings of the works.
John
Colchester lathes were the first mass produced industrial lathes. Unlike most other industrial lathes spare parts could be fitted by the user rather than needing a skilled fitter from the manufacturer.
Excellent film, I had a Colchester Student, given to me from a factory that no longer wanted it, after 40+ years in service it was still as tight as a nut and I used it to build a half-size traction engine plus other stuff, beautiful machine, built to take use.
When you're proud of your work and the film crew is coming. everyone has new clothes and had to paint their machines gold.
I'm willing to bet that nothing today is built with this much precision, accuracy, or pride in your work.
Two and a half minutes in and they already blew my tiny CNC mind.
M99 :)
True craftsmanship like this will be something the future will lack and then they will strive to figure out how such perfection was achieved.
I work around the country on machine tools and I can honestly say that virtually every workshop still has a Colchester Lathe, along with a Bridgeport Miller and Jones & Shipman Grinder!
Just look at the machining processes! Everything is so clean and looks so well kept!
still the best lathes. I had the joy to learn on these machines, the power and accuracy are realy on a other level.
"The World Turns on Colchester Lathes".... What a wonderful strap line. If we were still allowed to be proud of our heritage, then this film would have made me very proud. I took my boys to HMS Belfast recently - she's got several Deane Smith & Grace lathes in her machine shop. Just beautiful bits of kit!
They are fantastic lathes. Any video of that your? Best regards
Thirty years ago I was working in a power plant that was being refurbished. I found the machine shop and was very impressed by how much the Colchester lathes could hog off at one time. The swarf coming off was almost red hot.
What a magnificent film. Made at a time when people took pride in their work, and when companies were making quality machines. Such amazing engineering.
Worked at Colchester lathe and did a 4 year apprenticeship in the 70s,Worked on most of the machines from snow grinders to laths.I was there the day they showed a grope of Chinese round the shop and saw the first lathe they made copying ours.Over 400 worked there at one time and we had one of the first cnc machine shops which then you programmed with tape and it cost £1000 for 1 k of bubble memory.Memory’s it was a good place to work and we were all very well paid for the time
I have watched this many times over the last few years and I will watch it many times in the future.
I did my apprenticeship on Colchester lathes amazing machines now I know why!
I had no idea that in Great Britain they have produced such gems. Amazing. A pleasure to watch.
We were the workshop of the world.
Brilliant film, very interesting manufacturing process and nice to see some early process automation and the lathes really stand up to time.
I wish I had a colchester in my little workshop.
The CHIPMASTER is still my favourite and many hours of using one gave me great pleasure.
I own 9 Lathes. Some rescue and in bad shape. 2 Myfords. And 3 Raglans among them.
Totally enjoyed this film.
David and Lily Reading.
Still gives me a thrill when you hear the lathe start up. Some of those machines to make parts of the lathes are awesome too.
Colchesters do have a remarkably distinctive sound.
Wow, that took me back. In 1964 I left school and went to technical college to study general engineering, and electrical technology, where they used Colchesters in the turning shop. I didn't follow up on the mechanical side and opted for electrical engineering, but still look back fondly on using the lathes etc. Thanks so much for posting.
I used to love running these lathes and especially big ward lathes.... oh those levers and handles and things that slide in and out and positive clunks when turning the turret.
What an amazing video. As a Colchester owner I am filled with respect for the incredible standards the company holds to. Great stuff👍👍
Precision engineering at its finest. We had some of these in school where i grew up. Loved the time on the lathes.
My school had a couple of metalwork workshops - possibly 3 lathes in one and 5 in the other. The 5 were a Student, a Raglan variomatic - both as 'proper' lathes, a small Boxford with a leadscrew (& likely changewheels in a box never opened) and 2 ultra-basic lathes - 3 speed, no leadscrew. I taught the metalwork teacher how to cut threads - on the Raglan - having done a bit on the Myford at home! I turned a screw and a brass nut while making a sash cramp for CSE metalwork. Got a 'commended work' for that - the teacher was well-impressed - and I would suspect he'd be as rare at giving 'commended work' awards as I was at receiving them !
This was one of the first lathes I ran when I was an apprentice in Canada. I did not know they were from the UK. It was a workhorse, I machined thousands of parts on it.
When I think of lathes, I think of how they made our society possible. These machines are amazing, and everyone should have an appreciation for the hard work, design, and care that went into these machines. These machines can last several decades and still function, or even be brought back up to functionality. It's astounding.
And this is why they are still the best lathes ever made! I have two elderly Colchesters in the workshop and they still easily capable of holding their own in a modern(ish) workshop. Quality never goes out of fashion. Can you just imagine this sort of attention to entail being put into new " far eastern" machines? Look past the shine and buy a good quality older machine, you won't regret it!
They are great machines, still makes me laugh when I tell people that I learned dimensions in both Imperial and Metric and have to stop myself ordering M10 set screws 2 inches long!
The only issue I can see here is that the Ford Thames vans they used were more likely to break down than the lathes ever were. Great video, thank you.
if you want a sheet of plywood, they come in metric thicknesses. then you ask for a sheet in metric dimensions, and the salesman says, " A four by eight foot sheet, sir ?"
Started my apprenticeship at Colchester Lathe mid 80's.
The whole factory has long been demolished and now has a Tesco supermarket in it's place.
Happy days playing cricket at lunchtimes 😅
Guessing they were based down at the Hythe? Paxmans has just closed too which is a shame.
The sort of jobs people were proud of regardless of how lowly the task each one took pride in what he was doing and got a living wage for doing it. How we threw this away!
CAPITALISM
@@wittepens1 World government.
@@bob733333 hey Bob, the global governance that you reference is actually global elites cutting costs by sending manufacturing overseas. It in no way reflects global governance, it's more global greed. Thatcher and Reagan era politics very much prioritised the stock and servic markets over manufacturing, opting to reduce overheads by extorting underpaid overseas workers. I'm not saying the boogie man doesn't exist, I'm just saying that you should check who is under the mask like a Scooby Doo cartoon.
The fact that eve the headstock castings were hand filled and wet sanded. Such worksmanship
Yes they took pride in producing the best product possible.
Absolutely brilliant video 👍🏼👍🏼
.... From a very proud owner of a Colchester 😎
What amazes me are the machines that make the machines. Just wonderful, and look at all the tricks & knowledge they had even way back then. Clever engineers & proud of their good work.
Well I don't mind saying, that this brought a tear to my eye to think of what we have had taken away from us
no one took it.
Methinks it was lost, along with the Empire ....
@@philpascoe2329 You beat me too it. Yeah we can't play the victim card here. We've let slip through our fingers all the things that were once great!
it was not taken from you, you gave it away.
Amazing.
I've just got myself a roundhead master, still need to get it running.
This is when great Britain was truly Great, now, it's just Britain.
How far we have fallen is staggering.
We need to get back to making quality machines such as this, made to endure and if needed repaired instead of thrown away and replaced. Better products, better work and skills, better for the environment.
Thing is, they never did get thrown away. Eventually everyone who needed a lathe had either a Colchester or Harrison and stopped buying lathes entirely.
@@will5948 by throw away, he means the chinese lathes that quit working when the burrs holding them together finally wear off. China is pure garbage. The colchesters, monarchs, moris. Meant to last compared to the scrap heap imported from china
@@mackk123 I meant 'replaced with new' when I said 'thrown away'. Every machine shop and toolmakers I've been to (in the past 10 years or so, in Britain) have either no manual lathe or a 50-60 year old British lathe, and maybe the eponymous American vertical mill of similar age, for similar reasons. These companies aren't replacing their manual equipment because it doesn't break. I'm all for quality product but these lathes (and the Bridgeport mills) were just too damn good!
@@will5948 A toolmaker friend of mine told me that the availability of good quality iron ore is not there anymore to enable making good machinery at a competitive price. He also said that with the cost of lower quality machines being so low, if you cannot make enough profit out of using lower quality tools to cover the cost of replacing said tools by the time they wear out then you are not a good businessman and should not be running an engineering firm !
@@will5948 It's the same at my work. We have 2 new cnc machines (mill and lathe) and 2 old manuals that are Swedish made. Those machines are probably twice my age.
Thank you again Mr. Cholmondley-Warner for another fine production.
As an apprentice we had a shop full of these. I still remember "the world turns on Colchester lathes"
That phrase is on my Colchester Clausing.
I had never used a metal lathe when I bought my first one in 1982 .It was a Colchester Student 6" , I wish now that I had kept it. So versatile and accurate.
The days when 'MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN' meant something. No corners cut here, a 100% determination the be the best in the world.
Some of these cuts are just insane. Man these guys where masters
Amazing. And to think, all these machines were designed with drafting tables and slide rules!
And to think that Imperial measures of the inch or 10,000th built these and put men on the moon. Amazing what a slide rule and a brain is capable of.
@@ericmattinen4728 And cars were designed on the drawing board.. They all look the same today!
Indeed, although I think that engineers and designers back then would've gone ro the moon and back to have the computers and the sophisticated machinery we have today!!
I started my apprenticeship in 1983 on a Colchester Student, the company down sized a few years ago and I had the chance to buy it. It's now in my shed at home beside my Myford Super 7
Ahh Colchester. Reminds me of my apprenticeship as a fitter back in the early to mid 90's ('93-'96). Good times. :)
I so remember Colchester lathes in machining school in the Canadian Navy. This was great.
As the saying goes in the UK. Things aren't made like they used to be! I've worked/repaired Colchester lathes and they are incredible peices of engineering 👏
Ran many a Colchester Bantam laithe in my time, best bit of kit ever made.
Great video
I learned my world of precision on one of these machines and yes they are top class.
Spent many happy hours hunched over Colchesters. So tempted to get one.
I've had my Master 6-1/2" for 20+ years, absolutely great machine, quality is excellent, modded it a few times and it's getting better.
That's a really nice lathe. I have a student mark and a triumph 2000. Very nice lathes as well
@@VærdAtSe Surely Triumph 2000 is a car !
"Currently, the CNC machines we use are serving us thanks to these people. I am a lathe master and after seeing these people, I have a great respect for them and I understand that they are 10 light-years ahead of us. I also understand that to produce these machines, one needs to be successful in art, sports, science, justice, literature, and education. I wish I could be the apprentice of such people. Regards and love."
The quality comes from the solid gold machines they're made with.
Fascinating you need 500 different Lathes to make a lathe............ this was a Great vid.............thank you for uploading
I've spent a few hours stood in front of the student and the triumph, brilliant machines even though I'm guessing their around 70 years old I know of a few still going strong.
Really beautiful color film, it definitely makes you a believer in Colchester lathes.
I have a Colchester Triumph round head in my workshop, it's rough but works ok, I'd love to restore it one day
During my apprenticeship back in 1975 onwards, I worked on a Triumph long bed and a Chipmaster. Fantastic machines.
Just love all the machinery and equipment in the production department being painted gold. Just for the film?
djt 123, that's what I thought. I like it but I can imagine the engineers all jeering and laughing at management for making them do it. They may genuinely have taken that much pride in their work though and decided that the film was a good excuse to tart the place up like everyone having an annual deep clean when the insurance agent or bank manager pays a visit. It reminds me of those polished silver spades they give directors to put their foot on for the ground-breaking photo when they begin construction of a new building. These people are always like children in these situations. Everything is a reflection on them. Politicians are the same. Egomaniacs, all of them. Still, at least they give a damn about results that way so it works in it's own unfortunate way I suppose.
I think it was put on by management as a reminder of the amount of money it had cost to produce them... But, Great investment! Made history!
Congratulations on the movie, I own an old colchester belt lathe from the 1920s I think, it still works.
Who needs industry when you can have call centres!
No, no, that's India you are thinking of.
@@akkudakkupl No. Indian call centres are much bigger...
who needs industry and call centres when you can have Instagramers!
What an absolutely excellent two reels of film.
Thanks to upload this video. Proud to be British. Brilliant lathes along with Dean Smith and Grace which I have 2. I also have 2 Denham Turret lathes made in Halifax. 👏🏻👍
We're still going, now based in Elland, West Yorkshire (shameless plug!) www.colchester.co.uk
Bridgeport, Cravens, Herbert, Ward, Hardinge, DSG, Niles also.
I have just retired after 49 years as a turner.
The Herbert Pre-op gearchange system was a genius design.
The tolerances were a bit far-fetched in the video.
@@colchestermts7620 My father sold hundreds of Colchester lathes in his time as manager of Selson's (600 Group) at Stanningley Leeds. The depot was so big it had its own railway yard that linked to the rail network. I was lucky enough to go on some of his visits to the Colchester Lathes factory, sometimes we'd stay over and go to Clacton-on-Sea. Happy times.
The first lathe I ever bought was a Clausing Colchester 15x50. It was the best lathe in the shop, everyone always wanted to use it and not the other eight lathes we had. I beast of a machine