Thread: Colchester Chipmaster Tracer Attachment

Originally Posted by Piers037

After 18 months of house building we have finally moved in so it is now time to get back in to metal working

One of the first jobs was to pick up a hydraulic tracer attachment that I had organised to buy some time ago. The unit was originally on ebay with a starting price of $150 but I missed the end of the auction for some reason and it did not attract a bid so I was waiting for it to be relisted. After a while it had not been relisted so I contacted the seller who told me he had sold the unit. Months latter I was at a mates workshop worming party talking to a fellow Chipmaster owner and told the story of missing out on the auction and contacting the seller and he says "that was me I bought it, I don't really need it as I have another lathe with a tracer, but at that price it was to good to pass up". So I let him know if he ever wanted to sell it I would be interested. So months latter he is having a clean out and generously offered to sell me the unit for what he paid for it......$150 Thanks Gary.

Now I have got the unit home I need to work out how to mount it and operate it. From the pictures I have found on the web, the unit I have is quit different and does not seem to mount on a 45 deg angle to the ways. The unit also looks to be missing its on/off lever.

Does anyone else have a unit like this or any experience, photos or manuals that might help me work it out?

Cheers

Piers

Hi Piers.
good ending story
i'm also a Chipmaster owner so interested in how you going to use this unit.
all the best
Peter

Hi Piers,
there is a tracer unit on one of the lathes at the local school here (hopefully it hasn't gone yet) and as they have a heap of colchesters I will see if I can get some pics for you.

Phil

Hi Piers,
The school just happened to have an open day today so I popped in and tried to locate the lathe with the tracer attachment.
I found the lathe but sadly it is a Hwacheon but I took a pic anyway. At least you might be able to glean some ideas.

Phil
IMG_5752.JPG

Thanks very much for checking that out Phil.

Interestingly that unit also looks to be at right angles to the bed. All the other units I have seen are at an 45 deg angle.

With the hydraulic cylinder at right angles to the bed I am guessing that the tracer stylus must be cut at 45deg so that it does not "crash" when it reaches a square shoulder! Or I missing something about how these things work?

Peter, I will update this thread as i make progress. No shed time this weekend but hoping to get one night this week.

Cheers

Piers

After seeing Phill's photo it has all clicked in my head. We have a similar setup on one of the lathes at work but it is integrated into the cross slide. The stylus on ours is shaped to a point at about 30 degrees. this style of copy attachment I believe is designed for doing large radii, like flat pulley crowns and tapers. It wont machine a square shoulder like a copy attachment that mounts at 45 degrees will.

That makes sense snapatap as the only copy turning they do is a crank handle.

Phil

Hi Piers,
Not sure if this helps but it is out of the Colchester Triumph 2000 book.

Phil