Of box form, the headstock was in grey cast iron and internally ribbed for greater rigidity. It carried a case hardened, tempered and ground 13/8-inch bore (5-Morse taper) spindle that ran in a 2.9-inch diameter by 4.5-inch long adjustable front bronze bearing and a pair of ball races at the rear that were arranged to take end thrust

The hardened, tempered and ground 13/8-inch bore (5-Morse taper) spindle ran in a 2.9-inch diameter by 4.5-inch long adjustable front bronze bearing and a pair of ball races at the rear that were also arranged to take end thrust.

A model of mechanical simplicity, the apron carried twin clasp nuts to grip the leadscrew with the keyed power shaft passing through and driving a bevel gear that transmitted its motion to a set of spur gears. A single lever control on the face of the apron both selected and engaged the feeds and, because the mechanism did not become loaded under heavy cuts, it was possible to flick the drive in and out as required. 

Apart from an opening in the front to allow the use of a sliding tumbler selector the screwcutting and feeds gearbox was completely enclosed and lubricated by splash from an oil bath. Lubricant settled into troughs positioned directly above the various bearings from where it could be directed by drillings. To ensure that only clean oil drained down short pipes were fitted into each hole so allowing any dirt or swarf to settle undisturbed into the bottom of the trough. All shafts were made from case-hardened steel and ground and the special alloy steel gears heat treated. Changes of pitch and rates of power feed were made separately with the former altered by the juxtaposition of 4 levers in combination with the sliding selector and the latter by a rotary knob with 5 settings available without altering the gear train. The leadscrew was used only for screwcutting and the power feeds transmitted to the apron through a separate shaft protected by "ball-and-spring" overload clutch. The sliding rate ranging from approximately 0.002" through 0.004", 0.008", 1/64" to 1/32" per revolution of the spindle with the surfacing feed set at half those rates. Both feeds (but not screwcutting pitches) could be instantly changed without any need to stop the lathe. The gearbox was able to generate 34 metric threads from 0.2 to 7 mm pitch, 28 inch threads from 56 to 4 t.p.i., 13 Modulus threads from Mod 0.25 to 3.5 and 28 Diametric threads from 112 to 6 pitch.

Both top and cross slides were adjusted with taper gib strips, carried ball thrust bearings on their feed screws and had clearly engraved zeroing micrometer dials with narrow knurled grip rings. The handles were traditional "balanced-ball" type that, whilst handsome, might have been considered rather hard on the operator's hands on a machine of this size.

With a No. 3 Morse taper the tailstock was correctly sized to the machine but the use of a direct-bearing screw to lock the spindle was unusual for the time when nearly every other lathe of this size had a compression fitting that squeezed top and bottom. The spindle also lacked either a graduated collar or ruler engravings to assist the operator gauge drilling and boring depths.