Flexispeed Meteor II With Screwcutting

[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.