Charles Taylor Capstan Lathe.

Hi. I've been bringing a small Charles Taylor capstan back to life. I'm not sure of the model number but it's a half inch capacity 2 1/2" throat dating from somewhere around the late thirties. There's quite a lot of sentiment attached to this machine - I spent a lot of my apprenticeship working on one almost identical. The one I worked on was a later model with integral motor (this has a lay shaft) but was otherwise much the same. Taylor were more famous for making metal spinning lathes but this capstan is a wonderful little work horse. The bearings are still sound and the turret is solid. It's a testament to the quality of Taylor machines - basic construction but high quality materials. Must give it a coat of paint sometime!

Charles Taylor half inch capstan right side

Click the image for a full size view.

I'm desperately short of collets. I have some as you can see in the photo but not many. I'm particularly short of hexagon and square collets. I have no hexagonal collets at all and only one 1/4" square collet which has been broken and fixed at some time and sadly isn't quite true. Whether there were ever any metric collets I don't know but if there were they'd be nice to have.

Charles Taylor Capstan Collet

Everything on the machine is imperial so things are kind of hard to get. The turret takes 5/8" shank tooling. If anyone has any tooling that will fit this turret it would be most welcome. Items such as tool holders,

Charles Taylor Capstan Tool holder

tapping heads, die heads, turning boxes, drill chucks, anything useful that will fit the 5/8" turret. If you're curious about the machine or have any parts you no longer have a use for, or have any questions please feel free to contact me using the link in the menu to the left or by emailing me. Engineers being as engineers are, incapable of throwing anything away, parts for this machine will be gathering dust under a bench somewhere. Lets see them put to use. I'm in the UK so it may not be practical if you have parts and you're outside the UK. I will of course cover any costs incurred. Thank you for reading this far.

Gordon.

	My Charles Taylor Capstan lathe.
Unashamed request for Charles Taylor capstan lathe parts.

My Charles Taylor Capstan lathe.