Myford ML7

[25.4_mechanic]

Mine was on Myford raising blocks and I bolted the base to a sheet of plywood as I am 6' 3"

I found the original Myford stand with the drip tray rigid enough though shimmed the lathe to level it.

Fancy machine, nice setup.

The left-hand switch, does it reverse the direction of rotation?
What does the switch on the front of the base cabinet do?
How strong is the material of the original chip tray?
Which quick-change tool holder do you use?

Thanks!


My switch on the front does
left fast <-> left slow <-> 0 <-> right slow <-> right fast.



When I see it like that, I start to wonder if I didn't have the tray made too big for the machine ... it was already finished today:

The base area is 1250x570mm, 2mm sheet metal, a rim of 30mm at the front and sides, 100mm at the back,
I wanted all parts of the machine well inside above the tray. Perhaps this requires blocks between machine and tray ...

To solve yesterday's quiz question: The steel plate is 30x319x819mm and weighs 61.5kg.

Machine, drip tray and steel plate are to be bolted together - I'm thinking of putting the rubber pads (from load restraint) between the top of the base cabinet and the plate - but I haven't got the trick out yet without having to lift the machine, tray and plate at the same time, which we can't manage.

Carsten

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[Rannsachair]

The left-hand switch, does it reverse the direction of rotation?
What does the switch on the front of the base cabinet do?
How strong is the material of the original chip tray?
Which quick-change tool holder do you use?

Yes the Dewhurst switch reverses the motor direction.

The switch on the cabinet is unused.

My drip tray is 16 gauge ( .064" or 1.6mm thick)

My QC toolpost was from ARC Eurotrade Model 000 https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Cata...ol-Posts/Model-000-Quick-Change-Tool-Post-Set

 

[slim_boy_fat]

This more what looks like

Those riser blocks don't look like mine which are lower.

 

[25.4_mechanic]

if your getting vibration the motor may not be resiliently mounted

hmmm, that's an idea, let's see: The motor is attached to the original plate with four screws and the plate is stuck with two short rods in the corresponding receptacle - so I no longer have the continuous rod of the earlier models. All seems rigid.

Since the motor is currently separated from the machine anyway, I took a closer look at it: I don't feel any play in the shaft (then it would probably be too late); in both directions of rotation at slow speed I don't feel any vibrations, at the higher speed you can feel very slight vibrations on the housing, in one direction of rotation a bit more than in the other, but far from it wanting to "wander" or "bounce" ...

When I have the new assembly together, I will observe it again. I don't know anything about the belts, for example, whether they have been tensioned in one position for years ...

Thank you,

Carsten

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[25.4_mechanic]

Yes the Dewhurst switch reverses the motor direction.

The switch on the cabinet is unused.

My drip tray is 16 gauge ( .064" or 1.6mm thick)

My QC toolpost was from ARC Eurotrade Model 000

Thank you very much for the comprehensive answer.

I think I am right in assuming that this Dewhurst is not Christopher John ("Jack") Dewhurst (1920-2006), British gynecologist ...
It seems much more likely to be the GoTo manufacturer of switch solutions in UK engineering - I hadn't heard the name before.

So with the tray at least I didn't stay too flimsy.
Question: In what way is oil prevented from running from the tray down the screw holes into the base cabinet?

I got a lot of 12, 15 and 20mm turning steels with the machine, I'd like to keep using them.
What I've found so far makes it seem like we're already in the world of much larger machines then, no?

Suggestions?
What to make of the accessories that appear to have been made in India?

Have a wunderful day everybody,

Carsten

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[JMS1972]

hmmm, that's an idea, let's see: The motor is attached to the original plate with four screws and the plate is stuck with two short rods in the corresponding receptacle - so I no longer have the continuous rod of the earlier models. All seems rigid.

Since the motor is currently separated from the machine anyway, I took a closer look at it: I don't feel any play in the shaft (then it would probably be too late); in both directions of rotation at slow speed I don't feel any vibrations, at the higher speed you can feel very slight vibrations on the housing, in one direction of rotation a bit more than in the other, but far from it wanting to "wander" or "bounce" ...

When I have the new assembly together, I will observe it again. I don't know anything about the belts, for example, whether they have been tensioned in one position for years ...

Thank you,

Carsten

--

RDG tools in the UK sell Link belting to replace Headstock belts - saves removing the spindle. I put it one on my S7 didn't seem to make much difference with vibration to be honest, but the belt was worn out anyway so needed changing.

 

[northwest]

It doesn't sound unreasonable that new owners would have three phase disconnected, there's probably three times the standing charge on a three phase meter, there might be an inflated rate on an imbalanced load on a three phase supply compared to single phase too.

He is in Germany, 3phase is quite common in domestic installations.

 

[minimutly]

I kept the running really, really short and couldn't change anything at the visit/collection either.

Sure, "keep it greasey so it'll go down easy" (FZ).



Is that so? I thought with the lever flipped, the nozzle needle would be lifted and the way for the oil would be clear .... ?!?

View attachment 318648

Or have I installed a different type of oiler?

Should I even try to take the oiler apart?




Once you interfere with the internal affairs of another country, you are on a slippery slope ... Who said that?

Yes, when milling starts to make up a strong part of the activities, it would be consistent to buy a milling machine ... Hey, I just bought a lathe that I could afford, if I could afford a milling machine in addition, I probably wouldn't have picked that particular lathe?!??

I get it, take the machine for the job that is most suitable - But not exactly the motto for the Unimog driver either, is it?

Carsten

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My Myford had an Amolco milling attachment, which I bought very cheap. They are overpriced in my opinion, but for small stuff it could be your answer. i used it to drill out the threads on one of my Yamaha vmax carbs. Worked well.

 

[25.4_mechanic]

My Myford had an Amolco milling attachment, which I bought very cheap. They are overpriced in my opinion, but for small stuff it could be your answer. i used it to drill out the threads on one of my Yamaha vmax carbs. Worked well.

Thanks for your tip.
I searched for it right away and got a hit on ebay.uk - I thought to myself "Gosh, not even that expensive", only then did I see that it was an auction and there were still days to go ... so it will be expensive after all, too bad.

Nice evening everybody

Carsten

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[25.4_mechanic]

Hello to all

I must correct myself:

I had bought and paid for the steel plate as 30x300x800mm, just looking at it was enough for me to be sure that it was not smaller - the square was indeed 319x819mm.

My big son, with whom I am doing many things together on this project, didn't agree with my calculated weight after handling the monster several times, so he re-measured the only measurement I hadn't checked.

Result: the steeel plate is even 35mm and therefore weighs a proud 71.78kg.
No wonder we have to torture ourselves like this.


Carsten

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[slim_boy_fat]

Thanks for your tip.
I searched for it right away and got a hit on ebay.uk - I thought to myself "Gosh, not even that expensive", only then did I see that it was an auction and there were still days to go ... so it will be expensive after all, too bad.

Nice evening everybody

Carsten

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I have an Amolco and was watching this one purely to see if it would sell [mine is on a better table imho]

and got a BIN offer of £590 - declined it and I see his price hasn't been dropped....yet .

It's a heavy thing without the table and I wouldn't fancy fitting it the Myford often.

 

[25.4_mechanic]

I have an Amolco

Seems to be a nice rig.

got a BIN offer

Forgive my cluelessness, but what is a "BIN offer"?

It's a heavy thing without the table and I wouldn't fancy fitting it the Myford often.

If I understand it correctly, that won't be necessary, the unit is completely self-sufficient, isn't it?


Have a great day all

Carsten

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[RobCox]

Forgive my cluelessness, but what is a "BIN offer"?

Buy it now.

 

[25.4_mechanic]

Buy it now.

Thank you!

General question: With what precision do you set up your lathes?
Do I need a machine spirit level with 0.02mm/m precision and calibration protocol or is one with e.g. 0.35mm/m from a renowned mid-range manufacturer but at a fraction of the price sufficient?

Thank you in advance for any input!

Carsten

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[JMS1972]

Thank you!

General question: With what precision do you set up your lathes?
Do I need a machine spirit level with 0.02mm/m precision and calibration protocol or is one with e.g. 0.35mm/m from a renowned mid-range manufacturer but at a fraction of the price sufficient?

Thank you in advance for any input!

Carsten

--

You don't need a spirit level at all. You can adjust your lathe with a piece of decent cutting steel and ideally a micrometer or Vernier. This has the bonus of leaving you with a useful tool for a lathe operator rather than a precision level that will just be an ornament....

There was a recent thread on doing this.

New to me - Colchester Triumph

Re the headstock running hot - 42 degrees is hotter than I would expect for the playing you’ve done. Maybe the preload on the bearing is too much? How does it feel when you spin it out of gear? Does is stop dead, or roll a little? Maybe worth slackening it off a touch? Mine gets warm after a...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

[prepman]

To the best of my knowledge, Myford never made a true metric machine (i.e. one with topslide, cross-slide and leadscrew in metric). I think the one you show has a standard 8tpi leadscrew - look at the right hand screwcutting chart for 8tpi - it uses 20-anything-20 for a 1:1 ratio.

On the metric chart, it uses 21t for the metric translation gear (it appears in all the threads). This is 1/3 of the commonly-used 63t so the maths should work out.

What it does mean is that if you are cutting metric threads, you will need to keep the half nuts engaged and reverse the machine. Having a three-phase motor makes that easy. Having a screw-on chuck means you need to exercise caution.

Standard Myford change wheels were in multiples of five teeth, from 20 up to either 75 or 80. As they are hugely popular over here, there is a vast amount of information, including handbooks, available online for them. Start at lathes.co.uk Look on vintagemachinery.org Look on the passion-usinages forum. Look on the internet archive for 'Screwcutting in the lathe' by Martin Cleeve.

Random observations: it has no clutch. The spindle bore is tiny on a Myford. It appears to be a model in between an ML7 and a Super 7 - Super 7 halfnut lever, ML7 tailstock, Super 7 dials on slides, ML7 to-slide.

I've had my old ML7 for about 30yrs. Bought for £50 it was used for stirring paint. Everything was 'shot' and no leadscrew.
Got a motor off a scrapped pedestal drill and made a reversing PB interlock relays instead of the naff handle. The cross-slide front edge had been rubbed away with swarf so much so that the topslide was on a gradient. Repaired that with plastic metal and it's still good. Got 2nd hand leadscrew from a company in Buxton for £5 or such. Rebushed everything. Scraped the bearings to true it up. Fit a standard V belt. Not worth the cost of the silly link belt. Ther's only 4 screws on the bearing carriers and slide out the idle shaft 10 minute job. There is a tin of Myford paint on the shelf which has been there for 10yrs or so. Maybe one day I'll paint it.
As you say the bore is small 3/4". The chuck screws on, so not ideal to load it in reverse. Metric threading? There is a kit that you can get, but I always used approximation, as only short threads for nuts etc. Not having a clutch or 3ph motor was not an issue, but the change gears are tedious if it's a one off thread.
I eventually lashed out and bought quick change box for £500 off eBay. 10 times what I paid for the lathe.
To get to the point of this rambling. The amount of items I've turned outfrom of this little machine is amazing. Not small components either. The limiting factor is only taking small cuts. It's paid for itself over and over. Always used the back gear for screw cutting at slow speed as then it's not so fraught.
But now I have my Colchester Student MK1. Ironically it won't do 1.75mm pitch even though its imp/metric and you still have to keep the split nut engaged for metric.

 

[25.4_mechanic]

You don't need a spirit level at all. You can adjust your lathe with a piece of decent cutting steel and ideally a micrometer or Vernier. This has the bonus of leaving you with a useful tool for a lathe operator rather than a precision level that will just be an ornament....

Thank you for pointing this out.

A not entirely dissimilar procedure is described in the Myford set-up guide and so I also noticed that I need to do something about my set-up.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but at the moment, with this completely unknown specimen of the ML7, can't such conical deviations have many causes?

At the moment I am under the impression that I first need to precisely align the machine on its new solid base with shims using a machine spirit level before I then go to the moving parts and then check their precision using the method you described. No?

Thank you very much.

Carsten

--

 

[25.4_mechanic]

I've had my old ML7 for about 30yrs. Bought for £50 it was used for stirring paint. Everything was 'shot' and no leadscrew.
Got a motor off a scrapped pedestal drill and made a reversing PB interlock relays instead of the naff handle. The cross-slide front edge had been rubbed away with swarf so much so that the topslide was on a gradient. Repaired that with plastic metal and it's still good. Got 2nd hand leadscrew from a company in Buxton for £5 or such. Rebushed everything. Scraped the bearings to true it up. Fit a standard V belt. Not worth the cost of the silly link belt. Ther's only 4 screws on the bearing carriers and slide out the idle shaft 10 minute job. There is a tin of Myford paint on the shelf which has been there for 10yrs or so. Maybe one day I'll paint it.
As you say the bore is small 3/4". The chuck screws on, so not ideal to load it in reverse. Metric threading? There is a kit that you can get, but I always used approximation, as only short threads for nuts etc. Not having a clutch or 3ph motor was not an issue, but the change gears are tedious if it's a one off thread.
I eventually lashed out and bought quick change box for £500 off eBay. 10 times what I paid for the lathe.
To get to the point of this rambling. The amount of items I've turned outfrom of this little machine is amazing. Not small components either. The limiting factor is only taking small cuts. It's paid for itself over and over. Always used the back gear for screw cutting at slow speed as then it's not so fraught.
But now I have my Colchester Student MK1. Ironically it won't do 1.75mm pitch even though its imp/metric and you still have to keep the split nut engaged for metric.

Thank you so much for your report and the encouragement it gave me!

Could you share some of your tricks to get over the limitations of the tiny 19/32" spindle opening?
Working slowly and feeding carefully are understood.

Thanks in advance,

Carsten

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[25.4_mechanic]

There was a recent thread on doing this.

By the way, thanks for the link, I am still in the process of reading and - worse - understanding.

Carsten

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[prepman]

Thank you so much for your report and the encouragement it gave me!

Could you share some of your tricks to get over the limitations of the tiny 19/32" spindle opening?
Working slowly and feeding carefully are understood.

Thanks in advance,

Carsten

--

19/32" ? I rechecked the long drill and cleaned the rust off it and it's 5/8" NOT 3/4" as I thought. Well I never!
As you can see from the photos it's had a very hard life.
Push buttons and suds pump button.