Myford ML10 (Malcolm Myford)

[Richard.]

Are the cross and compound nuts adjustable on these as stock?

No they aren't on mine.

 

[cumbriasteve]

It Lives!

I braved the zero rising to a hot and humid two degrees temp in the workshop this morning and wired the Dewhurst switch to the motor, disconnected the belts to the headstock and with crossed fingers hit the power, am pleased to say all went well and the motor is very quiet indeed.

Connected the belt back up to the headstock, filled the lube cups and went for a warm up and coffee while the wicks did their work and hopefully transferred enough oil to the bushes.

Fingers crossed and hit the power again and no problems at all, ran lovely and so much nicer than the geared Warco I had use of for a while, it only developed a slight belt noise after trying the speeds but have found out the motor support bracket has a shaft that will benefit from a small spacer to remove movement causing slight misalignment of the pulleys, will probably be my first true turning task.

Temptation was too much and although no setting up had been done at this point I found a bit of pipe and did a bit of freehand turning, once again all went well, even producing nice long swarfs.

I need to work out the gearing and get it fitted to have the option of auto feed.

Also still need to sort the top slide, the rest I have done and happy with, the adjusters are slackened right off and the two housing screws underneath are nipped up and it still feels tighter than I think it should be, more investigation required I think, need to read up and ensure I am going to take it apart without causing any damage....all very new to me.

Still a bit to do, place it in it's final location with some decent lighting, arrange a back and drip tray, convert the stand to more of a cupboard and probably some other minor tasks I have not yet thought of.

 

[Richard.]

Nice one Ste it's good to see it tuning a bit of swarf.
Your box of Alu should arrive any day now so you can have a right old session making a mess with that.
I'm no expert but I do have practically the same lathe so any questions just fire away and I'll do my best.
Regards gearing mine is metric so there is gonna be a difference but if you want to know what I've got mine on for feed speeds give us a shout and I'll let u know when I'm back home.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Cheers Richard, at the moment I have a pile of gears and some shafts and not ashamed to admit no idea what goes where, I will work it out eventually but any help to shortcut the task is never refused.

There is a chart for gears inside one of the casings but I suspect that is screw cutting related, before I could delve any further I gave up when I sensed hypothermia kicking in and retreated to the warmth

 

[Richard.]

On the head stock tucked away in the pulley recess there is an oil nipple on mine and it's almost impossible to get to without a fine end oil gun. Not sure if yours is the same but if you don't get oil in there it knocks during operation particularly when using the lower speeds with the back gearing.

 

[Richard.]

Cheers Richard, at the moment I have a pile of gears and some shafts and not ashamed to admit no idea what goes where, I will work it out eventually but any help to shortcut the task is never refused.

There is a chart for gears inside one of the casings but I suspect that is screw cutting related, before I could delve any further I gave up when I sensed hypothermia kicking in and retreated to the warmth

The ones behind the cover are for threads and won't help you for fine cutting feeds. I had the same issue and just played about with the numbers till I got a really nice feed speed for cutting. I'll send you my combination tomorrow.

 

[cumbriasteve]

On the head stock tucked away in the pulley recess there is an oil nipple on mine and it's almost impossible to get to without a fine end oil gun. Not sure if yours is the same but if you don't get oil in there it knocks during operation particularly when using the lower speeds with the back gearing.

I'll have a look tomorrow, was giving the back gear a serious 'frowning' at today, could see where it moved to, obviously engages with the head gearing and has an adjuster to ensure meshing is set right but that's as far as I got.

A quick read seems to relate to low speed torque...perhaps, not finished studying yet so may be talking rubbish

 

[Hood]

You are going to love the wee lathe, I am sure of that, they are the one tool I could not be without.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Yes, got it right.

There will be something to disengage at the same time as engaging back gear btw - just in case you hadn't spotted, if you engage back gear without disengaging the 'normal' drivetrain it'll lock solid and maybe strip teeth.

yeah I think I saw an allen screw in among the head gears... will have a better look tomorrow

 

[Richard.]

Yes you need a very short 5mm Allan key. Crack the nut loose and lift it up to disengage the lock out of the teeth on the main gear then connect your back gear by cracking off the nut and sliding it to mesh. Not too tight mind you want some play or it will bind and make a row.

 

[addjunkie]

My advicebuy or down load an instruction book. Or one of the many amateur lathe books covering myfords etc, worth every penny instructions....if you ead them ..

Or google images if you dont

 

[cumbriasteve]

My advicebuy or down load an instruction book. Or one of the many amateur lathe books covering myfords etc, worth every penny instructions....if you ead them ..

Or google images if you dont

I have a book that Tinbasherdan gave me for the M7, very handy to get the gist of it but yes the specific book for my model is on my shopping list.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@cumbriasteve I have a manual [ d/loaded in anticipation of Maurice's arrival ] giving notes on operation, installation & maintenance in PDF format. You're welcome to a copy if you think it'd be helpful - PM me your email address if you want it.

 

[cumbriasteve]

@cumbriasteve I have a manual [ d/loaded in anticipation of Maurice's arrival ] giving notes on operation, installation & maintenance in PDF format. You're welcome to a copy if you think it'd be helpful - PM me your email address if you want it.

Spot on..pm heading your way I was just browsing what's available but if you have one sorted that saves me eliminating a zillion dodgy downloads.

 

[Mr Fro]

Any chance of nabbing a copy of that manual please slim?

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Any chance of nabbing a copy of that manual please slim?

No problem if you PM me you email address - just remember it's for the ML7 and not newer models, although it does have info on the Tri-Leva which I wanted, as I'll be having one soon.

 

[Wedg1e]

yeah I think I saw an allen screw in among the head gears... will have a better look tomorrow

Some old lathes used a detent pin in the bull gear to lock it to the spindle; you pulled it out as you flipped the backgear in. Disengage backgear and leave the pin out, then wonder why the chuck's not spinning

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Some old lathes used a detent pin in the bull gear to lock it to the spindle; you pulled it out as you flipped the backgear in. Disengage backgear and leave the pin out, then wonder why the chuck's not spinning

That's how the super 7 works

 

[Wedg1e]

That's how the super 7 works

Oh well, in Myford terms that's positively the latest technology

 

[cumbriasteve]

There is two flat head screws which hold the lead screw nut in place on the top slide. If they are loose the nut moves in operation causing binding and exaggerated back lash. I know this cos my top slide was also tight feeling. A little nip on those solved it straight away.

Have spent a good bit of time on the slides today and got them all what I consider perfect except the top slide.

The two nuts identified by Richard were not loose but tightened up a little and made no difference, I then found if I loosened the two screws holding the hand wheel housing to the top slide everything moved nicely but of course the hand wheel had a bit of a wobble because the screws were loose, which is not what anyone wants.

Dismantled everything and cleaned all moving parts and threads, pleased to see no sign at all of use/wear but could see nothing untoward causing the problem, although I realise visual is just that and may not show all.

Set the slide to move by hand with only the lightest of resistance, so should be about right.

Reassembled and still too tight if both pairs of screws are tightened, yet fine if the hand wheel housing screws are backed off a fraction, I am now thinking the screw housing and the hand wheel housing are out of line by the tiniest amount.

I don't think the lead screw is bent or it would have varying tension as it rotated.

I plan to buy a £ shop feeler gauge and break it up to make some shims and see if I can figure where to pack the housings to correct the issue.

It's nothing serious and is more than usable as it is but will nag me every time if I don't get it right.