Small Successes with Flexispeed

[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

I thought that an update would be courteous, as I have asked several questions on the subjects.

I have had a couple of small, but gratifying, successes with my Flexispeed.

Parting-off

I have never had any real success with this, so I tried using the tool upside-down behind the workpiece. I managed to part off a length of 8mm (approx) aluminium and a length of 1/2″ (ish) brass with relative ease. The tool needs thinning a little more and was not as sharp as it could be.

Centre Drilling

Ever since I have had the machine, the tailstock has been a little out of true, meaning that when drilling from the tailstock, the hole is a little off centre and the bit bends a little and go around off-centre. After advice received here, I managed to adjust the alignment and, along with a new chuck and stub drills, the machine now drills true.

Both are small things, but they should make using the machine much more pleasurable.

James.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Small steps >>> Giant leap

MichaelG.

[Michael Gilligan]

On Michael Gilligan Said:

Small steps >>> Giant leap

MichaelG.

Certainly very satisfying.

James

[Trevor Drabble 1Participant @trevordrabble1]

James ,My first lathe was a Flexispeed and I found that once a few wear problems had been carefully sorted out it more than repaid the time and effort in doing so  . For me , a couple of the most useful accessories I made was firstly a basic 12 division plate for attaching to the rear of the spindle so to allow 2 ; 3 ; 4 ; 6 and 12 divisions and the second was from Bob Fletchers free plan  for a filing rest described by Neil Wyatt in these pages on  09/02/18 . There is also a video of it on YouTube by @ Preston 58 entitled The Poor Man’s Milling Machine.

Returning briefly to the division plate , there is a 36/40/48 hole plate , item no. 376522431702 , for sale on E-Bay for the princely sum of £4.59 , which would obviously be more convenient than making one .

The machine went on to do a lot of very useful work as well as providing hours of enjoyment ,  experiences I hope you will also encounter. I only sold it to part finance  a larger lathe as my needs changed.

[Trevor Drabble 1]

On Trevor Drabble 1 Said:

[…]

Returning briefly to the division plate , there is a 36/40/48 hole plate , item no. 376522431702 , for sale on E-Bay for the princely sum of £4.59 , which would obviously be more convenient than making one .

[…]

A good find, Trevor !

although I was surprised by the lack of dimensional information

Fortunately, this [which appears to be the same design] states the sizes:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176624985904

MichaelG.

.

Slightly concerned by the 1mm thickness, but it still looks useful.

[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

Thank you for the details of the dividing plate. Whilst I have no immediate use or need for one, I have had occasions in the past when I have wanted to drill evenly spaced holes. At the price shown, I have ordered one for the day when I shall want one again.

James.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Running an inverted parting off behind the workpiece has advantages, the swarf benifits from gravity and most rear parting is directly from the cross slide. If you can lock the carriage whils’t parting that will also help.

[James A]

On 13 February 2026 at 17:48 James A Said:

Centre Drilling

Ever since I have had the machine, the tailstock has been a little out of true, meaning that when drilling from the tailstock, the hole is a little off centre and the bit bends a little and go around off-centre. After advice received here, I managed to adjust the alignment and, along with a new chuck and stub drills, the machine now drills true.

I read this with interest James as I too have some similar problems drilling with my Flexispeed – although not due to tailstock alignment but more to do with the repeatability of chuck insertion into the tailstock, and stability once fitted.

Curious how you went about a replacement chuck – especially the short MT0 arbour challenge?

Andy

[Andy_H]

On Andy_H Said:

On 13 February 2026 at 17:48

I read this with interest James as I too have some similar problems drilling with my Flexispeed – although not due to tailstock alignment but more to do with the repeatability of chuck insertion into the tailstock, and stability once fitted.

Curious how you went about a replacement chuck – especially the short MT0 arbour challenge?

Andy

I only replaced the tailstock drilling chuck, not the arbour on which it fits. The arbour came with the lathe and does sound like yours as the taper is a poor fit and the whole thing can spin when drilling. I am still looking to to how to overcome this. Someone else posted recently about trying to adapt a commercial 0 Morse taper arbour, so with luck, they will post an update soon.

James.

[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

I had some more successes with the Flexispeed today.

Ages ago, I attached a dial indicator so that I could accurately measure the depth of cut. Today, I finally got around to fitting on so that I could measure the last 1cm of the length of cut.

I also, finally, tested a milling spindle that I constructed. As anticipated, the motor’s power is a bit low, but it successfully milled some steel, brass and aluminium. It was slow going, but worked. The finish is a bit rough as support for the metal was marginal at best.

 

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

If you make a simple dividing plate, 24 rather than 12 holes gives you the option of 8 spaces (45º) too:

2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

The bull gear on the Atlas 12 x 24 has 60 holes in its right side and there is a locking pin set in the headstock. I used it for scribing lines at 90 degrees in the od of a 150mm disc the other day.

60 holes is very versatile if you can get hold of something with that number: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30 and 60

180, 120, 90, 72, 60, 36, 30, 24, 18, 12 and 6 degrees.

The best metal to practice milling with is aluminium, less likely to spoil cutters than steel, if you make a mistake.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Does your milling slide have a lock on it?

[Diogenes]

On Diogenes Said:

Does your milling slide have a lock on it?

It has three gib screws on the side that you cannot see in the pictures. In time, I shall replace the middle one with a longer screw with a little lever on it to use as a slide lock. I have done this with the slides on the lathe and they work well.

James

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Your two milling samples are of the worst quality metal you can get. Real work will be much better finished.

Perhaps take a look at the leverage on the cross slide in your design, the motor will amplify any cutting vibration.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Neat milling-spindle design.

How did you hold your milling samples?

In the tool-post, as the illustrations of the milling-spindle imply?

If so I suggest making a milling-table that fits the cross-slide in place of the tool-holder, with either Tee-slots or a matrix of tapped holes, and provided with suitable clamps.

It would be much more rigid, and give more headroom under the cutter – the corollary being deeper engagement of the spndle body and vertical-slide for lower-profile work, making that area more rigid.

(The obvious disadvantage of using holes, offset to some extent by arranging some sort of covers, is they and their threads trapping swarf.)

 

To secure the milling-table to the cross-slide, if I am right that the central channel is a broad Tee-slot, I’d use at least three generously-length T-nuts whose upstands fit the channel snugly, and take socket-head screws counterbored into the table. Ensure the screws cannot pass through the T-nuts and act on the base of the T-slot, as that would be a recipe for disaster by breaking the slot’s flanges.

[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

Dave:

The steel was awful quality, although the brass is a bit better. They both happened to be to hand. As you say, all being well, the quality should be better with decent metal.

Nigel:

Yes: I did hold the metal in the tool post, simply for expediency of testing. It is also why I used the metal that I did: it fitted. The overhang on both pieces was extreme and I am surprised that it cut even half as well as it did.

Thank you for the suggestions on ways to hold work in future. These are useful and I shall look into them. I shall also look out for a small vice.

James.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

The little Chinese indexing plate has arrived … it looks nicely made and very useful.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/376528675382

MichaelG.

.

P.S. ignore the rotary table in the background of that listing … this plate is more suited to direct use on the headstock spindle.

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