Good luck with your purchase, and let us know how you get on with your new lathe. Make sure that it has the headstock bush and changegears. If the one you are looking at has the full 3 lever gearbox then and is in good nick then the price is determined by how much comes with it. Boxford still sell part but are pricely. These are very good machines which are under priced compared to other UK machines such as Harrisons and the smaller Colchesters.
Use our magazine locator links to find your nearest stockist! Sign up to our Newsletters Please click here. Sign up to our Special Offers Please click here. Sign up to Special Offers Please click here. Forum Rules. This website or its third-party tools process personal data e. To learn more, please refer to the cookie policy. In case of sale of your personal information, you may opt out by sending us an email via our Contact Us page.
To find out more about the categories of personal information collected and the purposes for which such information will be used, please refer to our privacy policy. You accept the use of cookies or other identifiers by closing or dismissing this notice, by scrolling this page, by clicking a link or button or by continuing to browse otherwise. Login to Your Account. A useful addition was a spindle lock, operated by a dished chrome-plated button on the face of the headstock; this greatly eased the removal and fitting of chucks and faceplates and obviated the need to use, and possibly damage, the backgears.
At the same time the opportunity was taken to reposition the various headstock oil nipples so they could be reached without having to open or remove any covers - a hole being drilled through the front face of the headstock on the sloping surface so that an oil can could be used to lubricate the spindle-to pulley bearing before engaging backgear.
To give a stronger assembly and quieter running, the pressure angle of the backgears, the tumble-reverse gears and the drive gear on the end of the headstock spindle was changed from The micrometer dials were satin-chrome plated and fitted with an improved friction "clutch" that did away with the need to lock the setting with an Allen key, while the degree-indexing marks to indicate top-slide swivel were moved to an angled surface in an effort to make them easier to read.
Unfortunately, the rather awkward not to say crude method of adjusting the position of the micrometer dial on the cross-slide screw, involving a grub screw through the handle into a dimple on the shaft, was not changed.
Captive nuts were fitted to the underside of the motor-mounting plate so that adjusting the belt tension on the primary-drive involved no more than slackening the clamping bolts and sliding the motor into the correct position; the countershaft spindle was increased in diameter, fitted with sealed-for-life deep-groove ball races and the motor-end cabinet door louvered to improve cooling.
To improve lubrication of the countershaft bearings - and avoid having to open the door to do this - the end of the countershaft was arranged to protrude through the left-hand face of the stand so that oil could be injected by the direct application of a pressure gun. To improve the appearance of the lathe some small but significant improvements were made to the fit and finish of various components including more precise mating of the headstock-to-changewheel guard and bed-to-screwcutting gearbox faces.
The appearance of the tailstock was also cleaned up and, as a final touch, a modified catch - though still largely useless and easily-opened - was fitted to the changewheel guard. For the first time Boxford offered as an option what they described as "chrome hardened" beds - though few such can have been made judging by their paucity on the used market.
The hard-bed option was also offered on other models including the VSL and even the ME10, though it has not been possible to confirm that the older rear-drive types which continued to be listed alongside the newer versions for some time could be similarly equipped.
Some confusion surrounds exactly when the final version of the Underdrive, the Mk. The official release date was May , but machines have been found that pre-date this, for example: AUD and AUD III, the latter with a bed casting dated - the year correctly corresponding to the Serial Number list.
These lathes were distinguished by a more modern-looking stand complete with a neat splash-back, a standard-fit low-voltage halogen light unit and a rather elegant grey and brown finish. However, the designation Mk. During October and November the colour scheme was changed, temporarily, to green - a shade that can be replicated by ordering "Reseda Green B. Standard RAL". After a production run of 40 years, the last of the "traditional" style Boxford lathes was listed as having left the factory during January with Serial Numbers finishing at around However, it is known that an ME10A, serial number , was purchased direct from the Company later that year - so obviously, although the official stock list had been closed, a number of machines were left over, or built up from parts.
If one counts manufacture of the "type" as beginning with the very first 9-inch South Bend, the Model 5 of late , that would give a production spanning a remarkable 55 years.
Should you have a later example, please do let the writer know The various models - specification details: Model VSL 4. Some changes were made to the drive styten and its controls in November, but the belts used remained the same. All versions of the VSL are very desirable - but, unfortunately especially the difficult to find.
Apart from a very rare, non-screwcutting, capstan-equipped export version with a "Harrison" label, the VSL was made only in Model AUD form with an under-drive stand, screwcutting gearbox and power cross feed.
While early versions were very similar mechanically to an ordinary AUD - the most significant change being the fitting of a mechanical variable-speed drive system - some effort had also been made to upgrade the machine and, instead of cast-iron used on all lesser models the VSL, from first to last, had backgears in induction-hardened steel together with larger locating holes in the front face of the spindle bull wheel and, to improve reliability, the tumble-reverse gears ran on needle roller bearings.
Later models were much improved by the fitting of a larger 1. Fitted with a wide "expanding-and-contracting" V-pulley mounted directly on its shaft the electric motor was mounted inside the left-hand side of the cabinet stand. Pulley movement was controlled by a cable and rod system driven from a handwheel on the front of the stand. The upper drive pulley, which reacted to the movement of the motor pulley by opening and closing automatically, was carried in bearing hangers from which a second conventional link-type V-belt took the drive up to the headstock spindle.
The speed range was typically 50 to rpm and, because the drive was infinitely variable, an electronic rev. If the tachometer is broken or missing, businesses specialising in vintage car and motorcycle restoration can often help with replacement or repair.
Quite why is not known perhaps there were a special-order batch for industrial use but some early 4. Nearly all VSL lathes were supplied, when new, with 3-phase motors - r.
Unfortunately, because the drive mechanism fitted to them has to be accurately aligned to work properly, the VSL is difficult to change to single-phase operation. In addition, because the coolant pump, light unit and safety-interlock transformers are also volt 3-phase though some may be on step-down transformers to run at V , rather than attempt to completely re-engineer the peripheral controls, it is much easier to leave everything in place and run the lathe from a phase converter or inverter.
If this is done it is worth bearing in mind that, while the main motor can be easily altered from "Star" volt to "Delta" volt working, many of these machines were fitted with both a push-button safety starter of the front panel and another "automatic" contactor unit at the rear. Coupling the inverter as is usually recommended by their makers directly to the motor and bypassing the built-in controls has been known to produce a far more effective conversion.
Fitted to a distinctly different stand, and with a 5-inch centre height, the final version of the VSL was known as the Model " VSL" and, unlike most Boxford lathes, the model type was clearly identified by a large badge on the headstock. At one time it was believed that all gearboxes on the L00 VSL lathes had the altered internal ratios but several examples have been found in the USA one being a VSL manufactured in with serial number V.
It is suspected that, while Boxford fitted a different gearbox to the earlier VSL models with the L00 spindle nose, this practice was discontinued and later editions of the manual not updated to reflect the change.
If you buy a gearbox-equipped lathe that appears not to generate the pitches shown on the screwcutting plate check the special manual produced by lathes. One less-commonly found accessory offered for the late-model VSL lathes was a full height cabinet on the right-hand face of the stand that held a set of C5 collets and the necessary draw bar. All the gears necessary to generate metric and other pitches are now available at a good saving on the factory price.
Model ME10 In November Boxford began to market 5" x 22" Model ME10, a less expensive lathe - though constructed from components identical to machines higher up in the range. Early ME10s had a normal, full-length countershaft and were little different to the run-of-the-mill rear-drive models - the aim, presumably, being to use up supplies of no-longer-needed parts as the successful under-drive models took centre stage.
Also available mounted on a special stand, the lathe was intended to run alongside the under-drive and rear-drive models and could be had in any of the three usual A gearbox and power feeds , B changewheels with power feeds and C changewheels and hand-cross feed specifications. Early versions of the ME10 used a standard rear-drive countershaft unit - the type that is rather long front to back - but most are found with a much more compact design that significantly reduced amount of room required to install it; indeed, as a consequence, fitted to its own cabinet, the ME10 took up only a little more depth than the under-drive versions.
Thus, the end result was an arrangement that made the lathe much more suitable for the home workshop - the market segment that Boxford must have been targeting. In order to achieve the reduction in back-to-front length a different design of countershaft was used and available in standard form without a clutch or, at a considerable extra cost, with. The assembly consisted of two brackets bolted to the back of the headstock with each carrying an inwards facing stud from which hung a casting that formed, at its rear, two bearing housings held on a hinged plate so that the belt tension could be relaxed to change speeds.
The lower part of the assembly consisted of a block of cast iron secured by a single clamp bolt to the bed V-way at the back of headstock; the block was bored through to take a bar, from which hung the slotted motor-support plate - this being supported at its lower end on a single shaft that incorporated a long compression spring - presumably to allow some "give" in the system.
The "swing head" that carried the 4-step "A-section" V-belt was tightened and relaxed by usual right-and-left-hand threaded hexagon block fitted with a rather short and so awkward-to-manipulate ball-ended handle the same fitting can be found on the original South Bend.
Lathes could be supplied with either eight or sixteen speeds, the difference being achieved by using either a single or double pulley arrangement of the motor-to-countershaft drive. The 2-step motor pulley was the same size as employed on other models but the matching pair on the countershaft were, due to the lack of room under the cover, forced to be rather smaller - the result being that bottom speed was raised to 60 and the top to r.
Interestingly the clutch the operating handle for which was splined and could be lifted out and replaced in any position desired was only ever offered on the ME10, no mention of it can be found in any literature relating to the other Boxford models. One difference on most of these lathes though it's not certain that all were so equipped was the use of quieter-running, Oilite-bushed, tumble-reverse gears in fibre.
The fibre gears can be fitted to all other models and have definite advantages if the lathe is to be used where noise might be a problem - though being weaker the gears are, of course, more likely to fail. This was first offered in and was, in essence, just a short bed 16" centres Model C but with a simplified 8-speed drive with the motor bolted direct to the countershaft upright instead of on a separate, adjustable horizontal motor platform.
With a single-pulley drive on motor and countershaft, and using backgear, the eight spindle speeds were: 38, 55, 87, , , , and r. Unfortunately the makers neglected to mention the fact that, in order to run on top speed, a more powerful and expensive motor was required.
To adjust the motor-to-countershaft belt tension meant repositioning the motor itself - however, once this had been done it was not normally necessary to make any further changes until the belt began to wear. Early examples of the CSB were different, and fitted with the novel, quick-action belt-tensioning device used on the lathes of the late s - probably another case of using up no-longer-needed spares. Other evidence of clearing storeroom shelves was the use, throughout the life of the model, of an early-pattern South Bend type saddle with its simple screw-in, rather than bolt-on, cross-feed screw support bracket.
Ambitious advertising in the model-engineering press of the day attempted to position the CSB as an alternative to the Myford ML7; unfortunately, the Boxford cost nearly twice as much and, while it did offer a range of advantages, there can have been few takers.
Shorn of screwcutting equipment and usually, but not always, backgear as well, this model was aimed at the school and college market and had - apart from its low price - little appeal for the model or experimental engineer.
Models T and TUD Training Lathes Both the T and TUD plain-turning training lathes were dimensionally identical to the more highly-specified models and used the same basic castings; however, they lacked any form of screwcutting, power feed and, more often than not, backgear.
The rear-drive system usually gave 4 speeds from around to r. Able to be ordered. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more.
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