Some time in the early seventies David became interested in model Stirling engines and it was as a result of an article that he wrote on his moving regenerator type in Model Engineer that I first wrote to him.
A long correspondence and friendship followed and when David returned to England from his retirement home in Malta I was able to visit him at his new home in Somerset. Naturally we gravitated to his newly-built workshop where I saw not only his collection of Stirling engines but also his Metalmaster, a machine that had fascinated me ever since reading about it in the Model Engineer back in the fifties.
Unfortunately it wasn't working as, during the journey back from Malta, the cross-slide feed-screw nut had been lost. However, within a couple of days I had made and posted a replacement to him and the next time I visited I was able to play with the machine.
Sadly, a few years later, poor David became a victim of Parkinson's Disease and, anxious that his machine should go to an appreciative owner, he offered it to me. A fair price was agreed and I became its proud owner.
Seen here with the machine are some of the accessories, including the boring head and topslide mentioned in the brochure, together with the vice designed to fit the cross-slide and a matching dividing head. The saddle fitted on the parallel auxiliary bed is my own addition and can be slid along by hand before locking in position. It was originally made to hold a fixed steady but, in addition, proves very useful for holding the lamp, the D.T.I. and the home-made tool height setter, a device similar to the old 'Unique' indicator, which can be swung out from under the saddle to sit on the tool tip.
There is little I can add to David's article re the versatility of the machine, it is certainly all that he claimed for it and can be converted to any of its functions within a couple of minutes. Its accuracy was all that he claimed for it although now, after nearly fifty years of 'amateur' use, is slightly impaired by wear at the headstock end of the bed. (In retrospect, David thought that since the tailstock was no obstacle, the saddle could have been made rather longer with some advantage) I can't really comment on the machine's rigidity since I normally use it for building small model Stirling engines and handle it like cut glass - nevertheless, recent jobs have included skimming the brake drums of my wife's Morris Minor and re-machining the base of an Indian cylinder barrel, requiring the full fourteen inch swing to accommodate the finning around the valve seats. Sumitomo tips are very satisfactory for all these straightforward turning and boring jobs.
David's geared-motor drive was becoming very noisy and has been replaced with a Sinclair C5 motor with infinitely-variable speed control since when parting off inch and a quarter steel has become a real pleasure - albeit a slow one!
Finally, I must agree with his remarks regarding the usefulness of the vertical feed - handling a conventional lathe now feels like working with one hand tied behind my back. And the sheer versatility of the machine has given me a new hobby - that of finding new jobs for it to do. Mitering picture frames took longer than expected though, due to the need for spotless cleanliness ……...