I got into this with a 4 jaw ZB 10 (I think ) a fairly basic machine and single phase. I then bought an as advertised ZB25,though it had ZB32 on it and only a couple of cams and the standard accesories were missing, this set the ball rolling Then I got hold of a ZB25 with an almost full set of cams(11,12,13,14,missing) and 2 sets of accesories, plus the point splitting attachment. The standard accesories are easy to make. Some machines use a special wheel with 2 grit sizes others use 2 separate wheels,the dish for point thinning, both my 25 and 32 have the left hand threaded flange for the dished wheel missing – one day I will get round to making one. Having bought 2 wheels that were way out of balance, I bought a Jones and Shipman balancer, this showed how far out they were. I complained to the supplier who sent me a 3rd wheel, this no better than the first 2. Only by making a load of extra weights could I set it up to my satisfaction, and it transformed the machine !
I have cams 1 – 10 and at £93 +vat each you can see why I bought the 3rd machine ! Having read the link re John Stevenson and cams Etc I found the fellow at Chesters not very helpful, more interested in telling me my machine was obsolete and that they sold new ones ! A CNC lathe or mill might make it easy to copy the cams !
Point splitting or 4 facet grinding is not usually done above about 1/2", above this size point thinning is more common to reduce the chisel edge width.
DC31K 3 flute taps in left hand yes, according to the book core drills NO. But strangely 4 flute can be done.
Rob, The book states 1/8" or 3mm but below about 5mm it becomes fiddely and for what those sizes cost at the show for a box of 10 not worth the time.
Mark, the big difference between the brierley and the Meteor will be the time taken to do the job and the fact that by changing the cam a different point can be generated, new they were very expensive but veratile.
Look forward to see you at the show ! Noel.