Flexispeed Meteor II With Screwcutting

[thelocksmith]

This topic is about the newly acquired toy which led me to find this happy forum in the first place.

I'd been moping around the house  for far too long not doing anything very much, so to try to snap myself out of it, I decided that my (unused) master bedroom should be converted into a workshop.

After clearing out much of the junk (thank goodness for ebay) and installing some shelves to sit the rest on, I was now in a position to start filling it back up again with "useful stuff".

The central part of any workshop has to be a lathe of some description, and a bit or Googling set me thinking of acquiring a Cowells 90ME.

After a couple of disappointing bids on ebay, and even more disappointing chats with second-hand machinery dealers, I spotted a Flexispeed Meteor II advertised as being "like a Cowells" so I decided to bid on it.

Needless to say, I won it.

After a full day spent travelling to Salisbury and back with my brother, my little lathe was sat on my hallway floor ready for inspection.

My first impressions were a bit mixed - the lathe itself appears to have seen little use and has a nice trio of chucks, a faceplate and a few centres and other tools with it.

It also seems to be in the usual condition for ebay purchases, with everything loose and the electrical wiring in a horrifically dangerous state.

Anyway, down to the details, which are best preceded by a few pictures.

[Jo]

Anyway, down to the details, which are best preceded by a few pictures.

Agreed 



Cowells are very nice  I only have one now (C2) my other's leaving was demanded by Mr Silky when he moved in with me 

Jo

[thelocksmith]

I'm having some trouble uploading the pictures, so here's a few details to be going on with.

A bit of research on the www.lathes.co.uk website suggests that a Flexispeed Meteor with screw cutting is a rare beast, possibly even a home modified item.

However, the changewheel safety cover carries a factory chart which makes it clear that this is indeed a factory option.

A total of ten changewheels  were included: 60T, 55T, 50T, 45T, 40T, 35T, 30T, 25T and 22T x2

[thelocksmith]

I keep getting the following error message when I try to upload pictures:-

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, root@localhost and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Any ideas ?

[Jo]

How big are your pictures? The forum has a size limit for individual pictures that I cannot remember the size of 

 I normally post pictures of 600 by 800 because they are more than adequate for looking at on the web and people who are trying to access our forum using their mobile phone don't have to wait half a day for them to load 

Jo

[thelocksmith]

Let's try this one

[thelocksmith]

Thanks Jo - just resized them as you suggested and that seems to have done the trick.

So, here's the covers (apparently a rarity in themselves):-

[thelocksmith]

The changewheels themselves seem to be a "standard" 32 DP, with suitable blanks being available off the shelf from HPC:-

[thelocksmith]

If any other Flexispeed owners are interested, I'll produce some dimensioned sketches of the quadrant and other bits ?

[thelocksmith]

Here's what appears to be the original switch, judging by the anaemic blue Hammerite paint on the housing

[thelocksmith]

....and also the original countershaft ?

[thelocksmith]

The backgear assembly, which seems to be the same as earlier machines

[thelocksmith]

The compound slide feed screws are a bit strange, to me anyway

I measured the pitch as being 24 TPI, which gives just under 0.042" per handwheel revolution

I thought I'd made a mistake, until I counted 42 divisions on the handwheel scales

Is this normal - I would have thought a pitch of 1mm or 25TPI would have been more sensible ?

[thelocksmith]

Hugh kindly sent me a copy of his manual, which has answered some questions and raised others, namely:-

- Flexispeed recommended a motor of at least 450W, which seems a bit beefy for a lathe of this size ?

- the importance of lubricating the headstock bearings and gib strips is stated, but what are the best lubricants to use ?

At the very least, I'm going to have to strip down the lathe completely, clean and re-adjust everything, which is probably no bad thing

I've just noticed that the taper slide gib strip is being pushed out as I wind the feedscrew......

[thelocksmith]

Here's the motor, just for completeness

A firm near me called Newton Tesla supplies three phase motor / inverter / control packages - does anyone have any experience of them ?

Their website: http://www.newton-tesla.co.uk/

[b.lindsey]

Looks like a nice little machine Andrew. A little TLC, a new motor and wiring and some fine tuning and it should be like new!! Nice find.

Bill

[sco]

I use a little Mitsubuishi inverter supplied by Newton on my Cowells - see http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,4964.75.html

Simon.

[Jo]

Simon has kindly provided a new loving home to my older Cowells "C1"   

Jo

[thelocksmith]

Which lubricants do you use on your Cowells Jo and Simon ?

Thanks,

Andy

[sco]

I use a hydraulic oil for the headstock bearings think its Shell Tellus scrounged off of the old man and Rocol slideway lubricant for everything else.

Simon.

[John Hill]

....and also the original countershaft ?

HI, I expect this is orginal as this picture...


...from Lathes.co.uk shows a similar lathe with what is described as "..simple countershaft unit made from propriety "Picador" parts.".

John

[catceefer]

I was given a Flexispeed for Christmas last year. It had no motor or pulleys, but now that I have it set up, I am thoroughly pleased with it. I have only just started using it to actually make things, but it seems to be a capable machine. Good luck with yours.

Mine is  slightly earleir version, I think, with the change wheels.

James.

[thelocksmith]

Hi James,

Thanks for your reply.

Do you have any photos of your machine to add to the post ?

Not done much with my Flexispeed as yet - I've promised myself I have to finish the wall clock I'm restoring first.

Kind regards,

Andy

[catceefer]

Andy,

A couple of pictures, as requested. In my last post, I said that it had change wheels:I meant that does not have them.

I have since made a pair of wick oil feeder for the headstock bearings.

Regards,

James.

[thelocksmith]

Hi James,

Thanks for posting the pictures - looks like a nice machine you have there.

As I said earlier in the thread, if you or anyone else is interested, I'll do some sketches of the changewheel quadrant and other bits.

Kind regards,

Andy

PS: does a clock count as a (very slow running) engine ? 

[catceefer]

Andy,

Thank you fo rthe offer. Details of the quadrant could be useful, although I should be more interested in seeing details of the dog clutch arrangement, if that is possible.

Regards,

James.

[thelocksmith]

Hello James,

The dog clutch is a quite a simple (crude ?) affair, consisting of a sliding collar with two slots and a flat bottomed groove for the selector.

The two slots engage with pins on the left hand shaft (input) and right hand shaft (output).

The cover plate is held on by two screws at the bottom and has a stud on which the selector lever pivots and a slot for the selector lever pin.

I've not quite figured out how the input shaft is held in position without any end float but doubtless that will become clear once I've stripped the lathe down.

The selector lever does not have any positive means of locking it either in or out of engagement.

Hopefully the attached pictures will clarify things.

Cheers,

Andy

[catceefer]

Andy,

Thank you for both the description and the photographs. These will be very useful as I do wish to fabricate a dog clutch at some stage, mainly so that I can rig up a cut-off when running it on autofeed.

I am not sure whether you have yours up and running yet, but mine came without a countershaft or motor. I used a new 1/6 hp motor and geared it to run at a maximum of about 500 rpm. I have done little with it yet, other than test cuts, but it seems to be adequately powerful, the belts slipping before the motor stalls.

I am currently making a new toolpost, an adjustable height design, as I find packing the tool to the correct height frustrating.

Did I read earlier that you plan to use it to build a clock?

Regards,

JAmes.

[thelocksmith]

Hi James,

Glad to be of help 

I know what you mean about shimming cutting tools - I find that annoying too - a Dickson type toolpost sounds like a good idea to me.

I'd like to make a clock from scratch one day, but for now, I'm just restoring a couple of 19th Century English wall clocks I've had for years.

Cheers,

Andy

[joncarruthers]

I recently sold a Meteor MkII, I had it for a few years and found it excellent for small jobs.
Just isn't room in the shed for more machines.
Before I sold it I scanned the handbook if you'd like a copy?


I superglued appropriate shims to each tool so they just swapped out, only have to do it once.

[thelocksmith]

Hi Jon,

Thank you for your reply to my post - I'm sorry for not responding earlier but I've only just seen it (05/12 !!)

Hugh was kind enough to send me a scan of his manual, but thank you for your kind offer.

Kind regards,

Andy