Interesting to compare with modern Chinese factories like this.
Replaced the speed variator with an inverter, modified the cross slide and added a new lever locking top slide, plus the capstan feed tailstockīeautiful machines ,alas I will never get to own one.Īlan lovely machine, have you just cleaned it or haven't you used it yet, pristine condition. I have rebuilt this old lathe and I think it now runs nearly as good as it ever did. Here is a photo of my Chipmaster, still going well.
I think the whole factory was very proud of the machines they produced. I visited the factory as an apprentice in about 1957, so this video reminds me of that visit. All good things come to an end, the important thing is to move on.
The big problem isn't politics, Health and Safety, mismanagement or Brussels, it's that Coal and Iron Ore both have to be imported because the local natural resources are exhausted. It's a bad mistake to confuse busy activity with success.Īs I write it looks as if British Steel has reached the end of the road. Manufacturing has mostly moved up market aerospace rather than nails, and pharmaceuticals rather than fertiliser. Machine centres are the most popular machine tools like this example. Rather than packing giant factories with people, industry now operates from small anonymous units in business parks. But last time I checked, British Industry was making slightly more profit than it did in the glorious 1950's. So has making cheap items like tin trays, steel buckets, penknives, and mops. It's also true that manufacturing is much less obvious, the chimneys, slag heaps, marshalling yards, furnaces, factories and mills have mostly gone. It's true manufacturing is no longer the main way Great Britain makes a living. There's a feeling on the forum that British Industry has gone to the dogs. Not much demand for 1955-style capstan lathes today! First Cam & hydraulic, then Numeric Control, then CNC, and now CAD/CAM and Robots. Even capstan lathes were 'old-hat' when the film made, and - although they too still have a role - they were progressively elbowed aside by various automatics.
At the same period Dean Smith & Grace were famously the Rolls Royce of lathe makers I wonder if they made a similar film showing what has to be done to make a better lathe than a Colchester? Whatever it is, it's expensive!Īlthough manual lathes still have an important role, they haven't been mainstream in manufacturing production for at least 50 years. The film clearly showed the attention to detail that made Colchester successful. Several chaps tarting up the headstock with filler and wet and dry was the most glaring example. At the same time they were still using labour intensive methods. Interesting that the film emphasised that the lathe was 'inexpensive' and it highlighted a number of go-faster high accuracy production methods (no scraping). Pretty sure it was added to help the colour photography along and to direct our eyes to the important bits.
Some of the close-ups show the gold paint was sprayed a little carelessly. I liked the roll-up fag the moulder had tucked behind his ear! Thames Service van shown has a pre-63 number plate format and was also launched in the same year, but we clearly don't know how old it was when the film was shot. Today's Student and M300 are badge engineered clones of each other.Īs John says, a new M300/Student (long bed) is around £20k all in. Colchester, Harrison and Clausing are all part of the 600 group and all their new lathes seem to sport the Colchester livery and logo. If a new Myford is 5,000 quid, what price a shiny new Colchester?ĭon't know about that Colchester but a new Harrison M300 which is about the same spec will cost around £15,000 (+VAT) which if you say it quickly doesn't sound too bad. I think they must have painted all the machinery in gold just for the film - it looks too perfect otherwise. Did they paint them up specially for the film or was every machine in the factory that colour?Įverything from casting through to the Talyrond inspectionĬan you imagine what it must have cost, to provision that facility !?! What interests me is all the gold-coloured machines they use to make the lathes. Paraffin ignited in that manner would be rather smoky. Would it have been kerosene? He says 'spirit carrier', so much more likely alcohol-based. Best part though is cleaning those casting mould boxes by spraying kerosene with a blow gun, then casually lighting a piece of paper from the (very) nearby blowtorch and flashing it all off.