Myford ML7

[minimutly]

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

View attachment 321716

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.

You could leave it on the end, turned around - assuming you're using the myford carriage and cross slide under it. From memory the tailstock could be lifted off? Don't be hard on me if I'm wrong there..
I sold mine - ebay auction for £500 and something iirc.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Seems to be a nice rig.


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


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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This site is a goldmine of info re many machines Click here

 

[25.4_mechanic]

19/32" ? A 3/4" drill passes through mine. Maybe it's been bored out at some point?

The number is from an old Myford instruction booklet, I'll have a look at the machine in a minute.
I am talking about the complete spindle passage, do you mean the hole in the jaw chuck possibly?

EDIT: I measure an inner diameter of 15.7mm on the change gear side of the spindle. c


Carsten

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[RobCox]

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?

To my shame, I've never bothered putting a level on my Harrison M300 and levelling it up. When I first installed it in my workshop I didn't have a level suitable for this anyway. Now I do (2, a Starrett and a Rabone, bought off ebay which I've fitted with new vials from Alibaba) I've still not got round to checking it. Generally it turns true anyway, except close to the spindle where the ways aren't so worn, so I just use it, rather than fretting about how accurately it's set up.

 

[25.4_mechanic]

Generally it turns true anyway, except close to the spindle where the ways aren't so worn, so I just use it, rather than fretting about how accurately it's set up.

Thank you very much.
With worn-in ways it is of course already difficult, close to the three-jaw chuck. Of course, it's always a question of what you want ....

You Brits are probably laughing your heads off at the German who is trying to achieve more precision than the machine can actually deliver, aren't you?


Carsten

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[prepman]

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

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The purpose of the spirit level is to check for twist. I used a test tube with white spirit on my Colchester. My youtube channel might be of interest on that. issue
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_GWiHSBoFtjgZq2KnmxGSQ Yes I'm Charlie Chan
A lot depends on what accuracy your after. I got the Colchester to with 1/2 thou over 1ft 300mm

 

[25.4_mechanic]

The purpose of the spirit level is to check for twist. I used a test tube with white spirit on my Colchester. My youtube channel might be of interest on that. issue
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_GWiHSBoFtjgZq2KnmxGSQ Yes I'm Charlie Chan
A lot depends on what accuracy your after. I got the Colchester to with 1/2 thou over 1ft 300mm

Really very impressive what you have achieved on your Colchester. Hats off!
The steering of the engine is also very smooth.

Yes, I also think that torsion was the real problem, hence my step to first ensure a base that does not warp under the forces that occur here.
The next step will be to level the machine on it and fix it in place.
As I see it now, I need a very precise spirit level to detect any twisting that the machine already has in it and to compensate for it with shims.
The answers so far seem to suggest that I am exaggerating by far ....

I don't really know now ...


Carsten

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[25.4_mechanic]

1/2 thou over 1ft 300mm

that is, if I haven't miscalculated, 0.04233mm per metre (in our country, the measure of construction inaccuracy is a fraction of a mm per metre), which is where I want to end up at least, i.e. at the limit of what the machine is capable of according to its design.

 

[prepman]

Really very impressive what you have achieved on your Colchester. Hats off!
The steering of the engine is also very smooth.

Yes, I also think that torsion was the real problem, hence my step to first ensure a base that does not warp under the forces that occur here.
The next step will be to level the machine on it and fix it in place.
As I see it now, I need a very precise spirit level to detect any twisting that the machine already has in it and to compensate for it with shims.
The answers so far seem to suggest that I am exaggerating by far ....

I don't really know now ...


Carsten

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Thankyou.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

You Brits are probably laughing your heads off at the German who is trying to achieve more precision than the machine can actually deliver, aren't you?

Not at all, getting things as 'right' as you can is to be applauded.

I confess to not having gone to the lengths you are, but I can produce results good enough for what I want - I'm not turning 'super critical' parts for anything. If I remember when the snow clears I'll take a pic of the adjustable legs I made for mine when I positioned it after the refurb I carried out.

Keep up the good work.

 

[prepman]

that is, if I haven't miscalculated, 0.04233mm per metre (in our country, the measure of construction inaccuracy is a fraction of a mm per metre), which is where I want to end up at least, i.e. at the limit of what the machine is capable of according to its design.

It is all open to interpretation (not language). If I produce 2 interconnecting components on the same machine, then the precise dimensions don't matter.
However if it is for someone else, who has the mating part, then it does. So it's all down to what you want to use it for?

 

[25.4_mechanic]

It is all open to interpretation (not language). If I produce 2 interconnecting components on the same machine, then the precise dimensions don't matter.
However if it is for someone else, who has the mating part, then it does. So it's all down to what you want to use it for?

Thank you for working this out so precisely, you are absolutely right.

In my case, on the one hand, it is indeed the case that I quickly build something to solve an acute problem.

On the other hand, for example, my best V-1000 Guzzi engine blew up years ago.
When I finally get around to it, I want to be able to make, change or improve simple parts.
Similarly, the whole fleet needs a part now and then, sometimes rough, sometimes fine.

So there are both relative and absolute measurements I want to try to achieve.

Thank you,

Carsten

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[25.4_mechanic]

Not at all, getting things as 'right' as you can is to be applauded.

Thank you, that helps a lot!

-

So, today we have made a lot of progress again.

We were held up a bit yesterday because I had defined the following demand:
I want
1) the machine to be connected conclusively and without any possibility of movement to the steel plate, the chip tray in between and later shimable,
at the same time I want
2) the machine to be separated acoustically from the base cabinet so that it does not rattle.

2) requires rubber, 1) forbids the use of rubber ...

My solution was to weld nuts and therefore threads into the underside of the steel plate yesterday.
Don't ask how that was with this heat gradient with my lousy MIG welder .......

I made a quick child's drawing of what I mean:

And so we then went through the individual steps:

More later,

Carsten

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[slim_boy_fat]

Mhhh, not sure about the rubber inserts/pads....

 

[25.4_mechanic]

Mhhh, not sure about the rubber inserts/pads....

Due to the threads in the thick steel plate, the rubbers no longer have anything to do with the machine.

 

[RichardM]

Does the cabinet vibrate and need the rubber or would it be silent if solidly mounted?

 

[25.4_mechanic]

Does the cabinet vibrate and need the rubber or would it be silent if solidly mounted?

An excellent point!

At the seller's, the machine was screwed into the cellar floor and the base cabinet rattled.
This must have been a problem there, too, so the machine was placed on rubber discs on the cabinet, making its fastening wobbly while not helping against the noise.

As of now, there will be no holes through the parquet, insulation and floor in the concrete underneath .... Let's see what the future brings.

Under these circumstances, I have gone the way of giving the machine more anchor ballast directly underneath.

Thank you for your consideration,

Carsten

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[RichardM]

Are you putting levelling feet under the cabinet?

Mighty Mount® Leveling Mounts | S&W Manufacturing

www.swmanufacturing.com

No drilling through the floor required. If the cabinet panels vibrate put a crease in them or weld a stiffener across.

 

[25.4_mechanic]

Are you putting levelling feet under the cabinet?

I thought about machine feet like the ones shown (thanks for the link ) and then discarded it:

The original "feet" on my base cabinet consist of two flat bars of 8.5x40mm.

If I understood the principle of machine feet correctly, the whole machine assembly rests on four nuts with washers over them. My concern was that this resting on four individual points - although of course well adjustable - would in the long run be too much for the rather modest flat bars and they would start to bend.

I therefore transferred the principle of the four adjustable bearing points to a level further up, the steel plate became the floor, the threaded rods became the adjustable machine feet ...

We made some brass and copper shims:

Then we started levelling the machine, using the spirit level on Junior's smartphone as a very rough guide - for now, until we get our hands on something better.

On the tailstock side we stopped with a less satisfactory intermediate result - my guess is that a (slight) distortion has come into the bed over years of incorrect assembly ...

This is the status at which we finished yesterday:

Have a successful day today,

Carsten

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[slim_boy_fat]

Looking good! Next comes a QCTP, steadies (fixed and travelling), different tooling.... it's never ending