In 2025, after some 61 years collecting information about Portass lathes, the writer was astonished to find yet one more previously-unknown type, the Model L. As with almost most other versions of Portass lathes, the lathe appears to have shared no parts with any other, all the castings being distinct to the model.
With a centre height of around 3 inches and taking perhaps 10 inches between centres, the Model L was of the simple, plain-turning type and so lacked both a slow-speed backgear and screwcutting. Further economy of production was the use of a plain-topped cross slide, the lack of T-slots prevented both the easy fitting of a swivelling top slide and the mounting of jobs for boring or milling.
The example shown below appears to have been in the hands of a more ambitious model engineer: the headstock pulley will almost certainly have been converted from flat-belt drive to V-belt; the micrometer dial fitted to the cross-feed screw is of a quality unknown on any Portass machine tool, and the tailstock spindle is fitted with a home-made length-of-travel indicator.
An examination of this "all-models" illustration on the Portass home page appears to show a Model L (the shape of the headstock and close-coupling of the bed feet are distinctive) fitted with a top slide--so this must have been an option..