The English Centrix Micro looked, in some ways, rather like an improved and strengthened Adept lathe yet, at the same time, was built rather along the lines of the early Flexispeed models - though if there was ever any connection between the various companies is not known.
Both the headstock and countershaft spindles ran directly in their surrounding (cast-iron) metal - an excellent, low-cost solution providing the shafts were hardened - and were fitted with what looked like simple plastic thrust washers. The split headstock "bearings" could be closed down slightly on the shaft and, although the model illustrated below has survived in splendidly original condition, there must have been many examples consigned to the scrap bin when the owner's over enthusiasm with a spanner snapped the bearing caps. The oil holes in headstock and countershaft where simple drillings, with no form of cover to prevent the ingress of swarf or dirt.
The carriage (the saddle and apron were cast as one) was driven along the cantilever-form, gap bed by an "overhung" leadscrew held within a bearing at the tailstock end of the bed and acting through a "full" nut fastened to the apron. The leadscrew thread was an ordinary left-hand BSF thread that, although it provided a very fine feed, was not as effective as an Acme form at providing an easy motion under load, nor at resisting wear as well. Like the Adept and some other small lathes, the tool thrust on the saddle was taken out on the back of the bed against an adjustable gib strip - not the best engineering solution (the thrust should be against a solid face) but one that would have worked well enough considering the small forces involved. Happily, the slide rest was of the compound type and the handwheels, instead of having handles were fitted, Flexispeed-like, with large diameter, knurled-edge wheels. The cross slide carried T two slots which both allowed for the possible mounting of a vertical-milling slide and a repositioning of the top slide to assist with the machining of awkward jobs.
The tailstock was fitted with a proper eccentric bar and handwheel to lock it to the bed and carried a thread on the end of the barrel which matched that on the headstock; a simple split in the tailstock casting was closed down by an Allen screw to lock the barrel.
The countershaft was an unelaborate but effective unit bolted to the back of the lathe bed immediately beneath the headstock. Because the forces involved were so low, the belt tension was set not by a complicated, over-centre adjustable locking mechanism but simply by tightening the bolt which acted as the swing-head hinge pin - an idea also used on some models of Lorch L series lathes. Whilst the large countershaft pulley was just an unnecessarily-overlarge mass-produced M-section unit by Picador the 3-step was specially-made and took a narrow Z-section V belt. Spindle speeds with a 1425 rpm motor would have been (depending on the motor and countershaft pulley sizes) approximately 200, 400 and 800 rpm.