New toy: Setting up Colchester Student lathe

[m_c]

Regarding the oils, one official cross reference I found was Texaco Rando HD (only reason I remember that, is that's what we used to use at work before switching suppliers).
What Rando HD is, is a pretty standard hydraulic oil with some basic additives, for use in most normal hydraulic systems.

The slideway lube you linked to will most likely have tack additives, so it sticks better, and I personally wouldn't be putting it in a gearbox.

Try some of your local agricultural merchants/dealers, as they normally stock hydraulic oil, although 68 is not a very common oil (32, 46 and 100 are all far more common)

[Jonathan]

Try some of your local agricultural merchants/dealers, as they normally stock hydraulic oil, although 68 is not a very common oil (32, 46 and 100 are all far more common)

I'll have to ask my dad nicely to take me then

I dismantled the 3 jaw chuck - there wasn't that much swarf inside. It made no difference to the runout though I didn't really expect it to. I did it so I can try and machine the jaws. The problem is if I machine the jaws it is surely only going to be accurate at the diameter I machine it?

I've been looking at getting a new 200mm chuck - wow what a lot of money! I'll need one of these backplates:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RDGTOOLS-200MM...item5195a7ca4c

I've googled and apparently this chuck is reasonable quality - it's also the cheapest I found:

http://www.tilgear.info/products/272...mm___on_offer/

I don't know how long that is on offer for?

Either that or a new Pratt chuck is £229.