Flexispeed Meteor II Lathe-In-A-Box

In the early 1960s my father was a PhD student at the London School of Economics and bought himself the Flexispeed lathe you see below. For a long time it was mounted on a large board about 750mm deep, with the motor at the very back. It was cumbersome and couldn't readily be stored anywhere without the risk of damaging the lathe. The components were also scattered about. I don't know how I got the inspiration but one day in the 1990s I decided to make a box for the lathe. With the help of my dad and using Turbocad for PC to check the geometry of everything I planned out and built what you see here. I think he deserves all the credit for the drive mechanism.

Perhaps inevitably I spent much longer conceiving, planning and building the box than I have ever spent using the lathe itself. (Not that it has done NO work but the largest job it was ever used for by me was as a jig to help turn down the flanges on about 40 wheel sets from HO gauge Victorian "GY" grain wagons for the Warrandyte Model Railway Club. In that case having a portable lathe was invaluable.)

By chance I mentioned the lathe to a friend at work recently and then sent him and someone else a short video. They were fascinated and delighted by it, even more so when they saw it first hand; so I thought it worth sharing with the world. And thus this site has come to be.

Tim J.

August 2013

Please feel free to add you COMMENTS AT THE BOTTOM.

For more background about the Flexispeed lathes in general there is an excellent website http://www.lathes.co.uk/flexy/ with plenty of interesting information.

PS. The very attentive may notice that it is impossible to put the drive belt on the lowest speed pulley. Why it is like this, I do not know. (See the comments: this may be because the wrong belt has ALWAYS been on it).

PPS. The vertical slide has a new lead screw and knob thanks to a friend. The original lead screw was bent, then lost, many years ago.

PPPS. In the late 1960s when my father was back in Britain working he bought a Myford M7; with that purchase they "threw-in" a Myford wood turning lathe. Those lathes have moved on long ago to find loving homes; however if not for this box I would have parted with this lathe as well. ;-D

In loving memory of SCJ.

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