The Unimat. Leitz 35mm Summicron V4.

Meet the EMCO Unimat SL!  This is probably my most prized tool.  Back in Cape Town in 1976, I was able to use one of these fabulous machines in the studio of a man who was my silversmithing teacher.  In an hour I had fallen totally in love with this perfect clockmaker’s lathe, and dreamed of owning one.  And then, one day, some twenty years ago now, at the old building where I used to have my harpsichord workshop, a man walked in with one for sale.  Larry ran the machine shop of the university whose campus abutted our building.  His brother-in-law, an amateur watchmaker, had passed away, and Larry was selling off his tools for the estate.  I asked “how much?”, and a ridiculous figure of a few hundred dollars was mentioned. Asking no further questions, I headed straight to a bank to get the cash.  Half an hour later, the Unimat was mine, along with a Record bullnose plane and some other odds and ends.
The Unimat was made in Austria by EMCO Maier. Production on the earliest models began in 1953 and ran through 1977, at which time a different, more elaborate model, the Unimat 3 went into a production run lasting until 1990. 
I found some good information at  https://unimat.homestead.com/  EMCO used to make a comprehensive line of combination machines for the home hobbyist, but now their output is heavy-duty, high-precision industrial equipment.  They have discontinued any service support for their wonderful old machines.  The Unimat, over the last decades has acquired almost a cult following, with the demand for replacement parts and the many accessories being met by third-party production facilities.  Lathes and original parts can still be found online for eye-watering prices.
Back in the harpsichord days, I used to make action parts which require the extreme precision and reproducibility which the Unimat allows, and also the occasional turned or machined part.  Now, I am adapting a Record plow plane so that I can produce the molding profile I want for my Cape Dutch cabinets.  The lathe is set up here as a milling machine to make a tapered face using a bit called an End Mill which is mounted in the chuck. 

That’s the way of a craft: one thing leads to another, and then another, and one day, a finished piece appears.  There will be more to follow.

Try to avoid looking at the background clutter on the workbench; the Surgeon General has issued warnings about mental health hazards and  eye damage following prolonged exposure to such sights.  My Editor is constantly appalled at the chaos, and wonders aloud how anything of value could possibly be produced under these conditions...