On the Editor's Bench

摘要

A boat anchor was suggested, but with a weight of only a few kilos, rapidly discounted. The thread arose because a beginner had acquired one of these venerable lathes and asked about the wisdom of restoring and using it. What a debate this sparked off. The original Adept, introduced around 1930, was as small and simple a lathe as you can imagine - repositioning the saddle was done by clamping it in a different position on the lathe bed. The Super Adept at least had a leadscrew and a proper saddle, but still shares a 15/8 inch centre height and an overall length of about 12 inches. Finish was crude, but it was 'cheap as chips' and there was a useful range of 'fit in your palm' accessories at equally modest prices. Huge numbers were sold and they provided an entry point into the hobby that even an apprentice could afford. Remarkable things were achieved with these lathes, even in their basic form, and some users modified them to make them into true precision lathes. But the Adept and Super Adept barely changed, even into the 1960s, and were eventually outshone and outsold by more modern lathes.