I have several bad experiences parting off in my Colchester Student lathe. Having found an inverted rear mounted parting tool to be successful on my smaller Myford lathe I decided to make a similar tool post for the Colchester. In this video I complete the base and make a start on the column made from diameter 3in mild steel bar.

00:00 Introduction
00:12 Facing the 3in diameter bar
01:35 Parting off excess material in Myford lathe
03:51 Facing other end of bar
04:32 Drilling holes using rotary table on pillar drill
07:06 Tapping 3/8 UNF
08:37 Checking accuracy of bolt hole placement
11:15 Drilling clearance holes in base for 3/8 UNF bolts
12:10 Trial assembly
12:50 Machining counter bores in base
15:09 Marking out for 5/16 UNC hold down bolts
15:25 Drilling clearance holes showing how to pick up centre punch holes
18:17 Marking out scallops
20:05 Machining scallops
21:16 Machining corners of base
21:31 Marking our column for milling