The generic "Excel" label was used by the B. Elliott Machinery Group (Victoria, Cardiff, Progress, Invicta and others) to market lathes, millers, small jig borers, precision filing & sawing machines, tool & cutter and surface grinders & other machine tools from the 1930s until the 1960s; the Excel name indicated that the various products would be of better-than-average quality and usually directed towards a specialised segment of the market.  4.5" centre height by 12.5" between centres Model L3N, manufactured in Great Britain by an unknown company within the Elliott group. It was openly advertised as being of the "Boley & Leinen Type" and very closely followed that company' ideas for the design of a simple but very high-class bench lathe capable of the finest quality work. Although not a machine intended for amateur use numbers of the lathe were pressed into service by clockmakers and model engineers and was, at one time, surprisingly common on the second-hand market, a situation that probably indicated the government taking quantities of them during and possibly after World War 2. The writer was lucky enough to have several examples pass though his hands during the 1970s and can personally vouch for their longevity and high quality.
The 323/8-inch long bed and its mounting feet were cast as one with stiffening ribs adding to the rigidity of what was already a very heavy casting. The bed ways consisted of a front V and a rear flat both ground finished and carrying, as standard, just a hand T-rest that was supplied with both wide and narrows rests; available as an option (at what would have been considerable cost), was a very well constructed compound slide. This unit, with its all-ground finish on both working and cosmetic parts, was normally supplied with screw-feed on both cross and top slide but examples have been found of the L3N with all-lever feed slides and both a lever cross slide with a screw top slide - and a screw cross slide with a lever top. It is not known if the much greater variety of slides produced for the Leinen and Boley & Leinen versions were available for the Excel but the fact that components were  interchangeable between the makes would have helped the more impecunious enthusiast who could have looked to the second-hand market for parts. The standard toolpost was the usual triangular clamp but, as a rather thoughtful touch, fitted with a rotating strip that prevented the end of the levelling screw from marking the top slide surface. An American-style toolholder was also available but, instead of being fitted with a separate dished "wooble" washer (that allowed the curved "tool support" to rock the tool point up and down), formed the dish direct into the metal of the top slide.
Bed fittings were secured by long bolts though-bolts terminating in large hand-nuts with rather uncomfortable-to-grip flat wings; however, if the lathe fell down on this small but easily corrected point, the 2-inch diameter compound slide-rest micrometer dials made up for it: of the zeroing type, and with especially clear engraving and easy-to-grip knurled edge rings, they were exactly the same as those used on Leinen and Boley & Leinen lathes of the late 1930s and, it must be said, a complete departure from earlier tiny units (first used during the 1800s) with their distinctive "narrow twin-ring" knurled grips. As a further refinement the longitudinal fit of the dials on their feed screws (and hence any backlash), could be precisely adjusted by the manipulation of two miniature C rings. Both feeds screws were 10-tpi. and made from nickel-chrome steel, ran though adjustable phosphor-bronze nuts and were completely enclosed beneath the slides and so protected from swarf and dirt. The long-travel top slide top slide could be swivelled 45° each side of zero and carried a single triangular toolpost supported by a spring and with a knurled levelling screw.
Continued below: