Feeling a little restricted.

[WorkshopChris]

Back in the day many a Myford would of been the backbone of many small and precision tool-rooms. My dad was working as a toolmaker since leaving school at 15 and attending collage as part of his apprenticeship. Producing small tooling and jigs for the electronics industry they had a few ML7 and Super 7s along with the Myford cylindrical grinders and an ex war department monster lathe (converted from overhead line shaft drive). All in a production environment for small work highly accurate and reliable. Especially with the original Myford morse taper collect chucks.

 

[Bill Edwards]

By dial gauge do you mean DTI gauge. No I don't have one. I'm sorted with good verniers

I would expect you to find yourself wanting one at some point. When you put something in a chuck that isn't centred well enough with the three jaw you'll have to use the four jaw and dial gauge to set it spot on.
I bought a cheap (and I mean cheap, £17 ish) one with base off eBay and it's perfectly good for this kind of job, I can't fault it.

I do lots of fabrication work and Id say I get parts machined only a few times a year so it's not paying for itself any time soon but it's nice to know I don't need to depend on others. Every thing I've sent out would of easily been done on this lathe. One part needed threading inside and out mind so although the lathe could do it I'm not sure I could yet.

Have a play at threading. I expect the changewheels will have the number of teeth marked on them, there are calculators online which work out which wheels need to fit where to get the desired pitch and you will soon find threading isn't difficult.

As to the amount of work it'll get it may be a fair bit more than you expect. Now you've got it and once you've learnt how to enjoy all the features and do so in reasonable time you'll probably start to see alternative methods to do jobs that wouldn't ordinarily occur to you when it's then got to be farmed out to be done.

 

[Richard.]

As to the amount of work it'll get it may be a fair bit more than you expect.

Your not wrong there. I'll be using any excuse to use it.
The Mrs sun shade broke last summer and a made a sleave out of 2 pieces of Alu tube welded together, drilled it out down the sides and screwed it back together. It's a perfectly good repair BUT............ I think it could be done so much nicer turned from a lump of solid.
How sad is that. I'm actually wanting to fix it again just to do some turning.
Welding is boring in comparison lol.

 

[WorkshopChris]

Welding is boring in comparison lol.

Once you master and combine both the possibilities are almost endless.

 

[gaz1]

from looking that part bottom right the v shape thing looks in a way homemade item

ive been playing around with my gearbox and from what ive noticed if you use the left lever it works both ways for threading and will stay in gear

ive still got to get mine powered up with a motor and get some t nuts for it as mine has been made from some bolts so ive found

 

[Turbo]

That's a nice little lathe you've bought, you'll have hours of fun with it. When you're designing stuff now you will include something that needs machined so you can have a play.

The reason I wanted a lathe was because my local so called precision engineering firm took ages to make something, charged a fortune and the dimensions of what you got made bore no resemblance to the drawing you provided! I have several items of a meddings drill that they butchered and I'm still working out how to repair them.

I have a ML7, I really wanted a bigger lathe but like yours it came at a very cheap price, had a lot of accessories so I couldn't refuse it. I am finding some of it's limitations annoying, particularly the small spindle bore (5/8"). Unfortunately the one of the few extras that's missing is the fixed steady so I can't use that option on large dia stuff. Thread on my lathe is here.
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/bought-another-lathe-a-myford-ml7-tri-leva.55396/

Ideally I would sell the ML7 & trade up to a Round head Harrison or a colchester triumph but unfortunately they make crazy money over here.

 

[tinman123]

have a look round this place richard.
ive bought a few items off them and found the quality to be quite good, its not top of the range iscar ar sandvick but its good enough for what your at.
nice crowd to deal with too and their gear isnt overpriced.

http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/index.html

 

[addjunkie]

I quite often buy from both chronos and rdg tooling, both fine for non commercial use. Tipped or hss tooling, will do you fine.

Coolant is a usful addition though messy if turning hard materials, makes tools last longer too.

Nice small lathe you have aquired, id keep that when you buy bigger, for those small jobs just in case. Man needs more machine tools and welders.

Wont belong before you need to move to accomodate a bridgeport.

 

[Richard.]

That's a nice little lathe you've bought, you'll have hours of fun with it. When you're designing stuff now you will include something that needs machined so you can have a play.

The reason I wanted a lathe was because my local so called precision engineering firm took ages to make something, charged a fortune and the dimensions of what you got made bore no resemblance to the drawing you provided! I have several items of a meddings drill that they butchered and I'm still working out how to repair them.

I have a ML7, I really wanted a bigger lathe but like yours it came at a very cheap price, had a lot of accessories so I couldn't refuse it. I am finding some of it's limitations annoying, particularly the small spindle bore (5/8"). Unfortunately the one of the few extras that's missing is the fixed steady so I can't use that option on large dia stuff. Thread on my lathe is here.
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/bought-another-lathe-a-myford-ml7-tri-leva.55396/

Ideally I would sell the ML7 & trade up to a Round head Harrison or a colchester triumph but unfortunately they make crazy money over here.

That was a real steal you got.

 

[Richard.]

from looking that part bottom right the v shape thing looks in a way homemade item

ive been playing around with my gearbox and from what ive noticed if you use the left lever it works both ways for threading and will stay in gear

ive still got to get mine powered up with a motor and get some t nuts for it as mine has been made from some bolts so ive found

Gaz how many T nuts do you need

 

[Kram]

dial indicator - something like this www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311619916698 - small face, 0.0001" and 1/4" travel

This shop is good for inserts, www.jurassictools.com

 

[Kent]

The biggest risk to your safety besides dumb stuff like putting your finger in a hole or using emery cloth so it can snag / wrap or the flying chuck key - is the strobe effect shapes that are spinning can appear stationary ( like when a spoked wheel seems to run in reverse only get speeds just right and your work looks still)

A good bit of reading or instruction will keep
you safe

 

[addjunkie]

The biggest risk to your safety besides dumb stuff like putting your finger in a hole or using emery cloth so it can snag / wrap or the flying chuck key - is the strobe effect shapes that are spinning can appear stationary

A good bit of reading or instruction will keep
you safe

Follow rule number 1. Do not put your fingers, where youd not put your wifes wedding present.

And just when your on a roll swarf is building up, comming off in lovely pieces, still follow rule number 1 it is razor sharp.

 

[Kent]

Follow rule number 1. Do not put your fingers, where youd not put your wifes wedding present.

And just when your on a roll swarf is building up, comming off in lovely pieces, still follow
rule number 1 it is razor sharp.

Still you can still rate a machinist by counting thier fingers after a few years

 

[cocker]

Still you can still rate a machinist by counting thier fingers after a few years

I got out of the machine shop when I looked around one day ,
In the machine shop were about 250 machine operators , only half had all there sticky out bits intact !

Please put handles on ALL FILES that are going anywhere near the lathe .
I didn't , in the Palm of right hand out me wrist . Smarted a bit .

 

[Richard.]

I'm sure I'll do fine.
I have pretty much every tool needed and more for handling swarf.
I am well aware how sharp it is as I've been caught with it in the past through a thick guantlet.
Keys in chucks, protected eyes, loose clothing and hippy hair, ain't gonna be getting me hurt.

 

[gaz1]

Gaz how many T nuts do you need

it would be about 2 of them, its the part that swivels top slide for the tool on the myford
i think these are them

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-M...526768?hash=item4d44aacfb0:g:cE4AAOSw6btXRX1w

but they have to wait just getting going job wise

 

[Richard.]

Ah ok I have a few spare Myford T bolts not nuts.

 

[Wallace]

You definitely picked up a bargain there in good condition and as Pete says you won't be selling it any time soon. Half the fun on a small machine is the challenge of doing jobs that are far too big for it and I've been doing so on my Fathers old Raglan 5" for years, where there's a will there's a way. Back in 1983 my Father bored and screw cut a new oil gallery thread into the lower crankcase of my CBX550 after it needed welding due to a slight lack of talent by the teenager riding it! (Got both knees down that time.)

 

[Richard.]

I'll sell it when I either grow out of it with regard to the size of parts I want to turn or when I grow out of it with regard that I feel I'm experienced to want a proper machine.
The reason I'm set on a batam so much is overall dimensionally they don't take up much more room than this little fella yet they have a lot more potential with what can be done with it. I'll have one hopefully this year. I've bought this as it is perfect to learn on and its size covers my needs at the moment. It was very local, priced well and it fit in the car so ticks all the boxes at the mo. We will see how it fairs in a few months.
If I do sell it I think it would be best split up to get the most back on it. Lathe would probably make most of my investment back alone I'd guess. It's the less common later metric one which reading about it has most of the improvements done to them over the years.