BAZMAK-Diary of a Myford ML7 lathe restoration

[goldstar31]

Colossal ! I checked with my son who is a boss in the mail freight business.

Anyone from Oz visiting Yorkshire again?

I do have a Masonic invite to Tasmania next Feb. This would involve a stop over in Oz( Proper) but I will be almost 90 then and family and friends say that I am too old and infirm.

I'm a wheelchair bloke now- partially blind, almost deaf, COPD and now awaiting results of an ECG.

Apart from them, I'm actually FINE- compared to a lot of other poorly people.

If you have someone who is visiting the UK and an address to send things, I could help.

Meantime my kindest regards as usual

Norm

 

[goldstar31]

Colossal ! I checked with my son in the mail freight business.

Anyone from Oz visiting Yorkshire again?

I do have a Masonic invite to Tasmania next Feb. This would involve a stop over in Oz( Proper) but I will be almost 90 then and family and friends say that I am too old and infirm.

I'm a wheelchair bloke now- partially blind, I’m ten miles from any parcels depot - by taxi. I only drive 100 miles year for food I live alone Not easy

Cheers

N

 

[bazmak]

Hi everybody,a Happy Xmas and prosperous new year to all.Still lurking and keeping tabs on everybody
but not making anything of interest at the moment.Still restoring Myford 7 series lathes and have 3 on the go
at the moment.One of them has an O ring at the chuck end of the spindle.First one i have seen on the 15 or so
lathes that have past thru my hands,can anybody shed any light on it.Regards barry

 

[goldstar31]

Greetings Barry and I hope that you have escaped the dreadful. fires that your countrymen are experiencing.
My cousin in Tumbarumba, NSW is OK- touch wood!
So this oil ring???? In my reply to friends Packrat and Skyline, I mentioned bearings and hydraulic oil.

As you know there is a world of difference between the ML7 and the Super7 and ML7-R. At one time it was impossible to replace ML7 bearings until someone found a cheap(er) alternative.. I confess to knowing NOTHING about this so I'd welcome further informed comment!
What I think( Me, me, me) is that either the front bearing is worn or easier still the Myfords ( well mine- literally pee oil from the front bearing. I buy High Bollock oil in 5 litre containers.
So I await informed comment too


Best Wishes


Norman

 

[bazmak]

Hi Norm,safe from the fires but the heat is getting to me. I had one ML7 for sale and made up my mind not to do anymore for a while
Then up pops 2 local bargains very cheap so i could not resist. No 1 had been sat in a farm shed for 20yrs and once i had chiseled
off the the dried grease cleaned up nice.The second had been stripped down and partly reassembled but the owner could not finish it
as he has health problems. It had received a proffesional spray paint job, all handles rechromed etc with a new boxed set of change
gears from a super 7. I stripped it down again as there were many small items missing nuts and bolts etc but nothing i couldnt make
so one was the most gunged up i had worked on and the other the cleanest.
The O ring to the front of the spindle looks original (Myford ?) i assume to stop oil leaks to the front but it only seals the the front
of the front brg what about the the other 3 places

 

[goldstar31]

I'm fascinated about lathes popping up! I sort of live in a rather posh area- houses at c £500, 000 and another area where the hose prices are £150, 000 and I doubt whether there is another workshop with a lathe in any of them apart from mine. Gardens, yes, sh11ty pigeons. and a load of credit card debts in both areas and no money whatever for my sort of hobby. Oh, Hell they all eat out and the amount of alcohol is alarming, gambling is rife but no hobbies.
I do a fair share of drinking and eating- my waist line has gone from 32 to 34 to 36 and I have a collection of clothes like morning suits and evening ones which are taking up too much space. I drink in either a gentleman's club or what could once be called a working men's one and the odd( very odd) bar in the Masonic temples but there aren't any hobbies to speak of. Most people are horrified to find a near 90 year old get off an electric scooter, up end a sit on lawn mower and 'tinker'.
The only sort of sane creature is my son who will happily strip and service or strip a Lotus down.
Nope- I live in what was a thriving mining, shipbuilding and heavy engineering area and apart from a handful of model railway folks covering the whole of Tyneside- Nothing.

Australia must be on another planet.
So Best wishes


Norman

 

[fcheslop]

Never seen the O ring mentioned on a ML7
Myford as in the original factory did offer an updated headstock spindle and bronze bearing kit.The spindle was hardened
I replaced the bearing on my last ML7 around 12 years ago and seem to remember paying about £200 for the kit.
Had a lot deeper pockets back then and time was worth more than the cost
I replaced the ML7 that had been bought from Osborns in Newcastle upon Tyne with a factory refurbed ML7R from the liquidation auction.
cheers

 

[bazmak]

Hi everybody,im still in the land of the living but nothing of interest to post.When i started this thread 2 yrs ago i bought a $650 chinese mini lathe Did the mods and a capstan turret and sold it on to buy my first myford then repeat.With the intension of building up to hopefully a green super 7 with gearbox. Well so far i am on no 17. Included in the tally are ML7s,Super 7s and an ML7R with and without gearboxes. I have made 7 Myford style stands and about 20 pairs of riser blocks.I have had most of the accessories except the taper turning attachment which i plan to make. I am awaiting delivery today of my final lathe so will reopen this thread.Apart from labour costs this lathe is a freebie

 

[bazmak]

Photo of similar

 

[goldstar31]

I'm now on a Super 7 with Gear box an power cross feed and it's on a stand with solid riser blocks--- and it's Green. It's got a split phase motor and 'A 'series link belting. Price? Don't ask.

I wish you well in your endeavours as ever.

My old oil gun from the past has finally given up and I bought a Swiss one at the extortionate price of £80.
Oh dear- very dear

Cheers

Norman at 90

 

[bazmak]

This lathe has a 3 phase motor so i may fit a vfd.To start with can the motor be wired for single phase

 

[JCSteam]

Hi,

Look forward to seeing this one turn out of the Bazmak shops. Does it have the tailstock rack or is this something you might be adding?

Jon

 

[RM-MN]

This lathe has a 3 phase motor so i may fit a vfd.To start with can the motor be wired for single phase

If you use a VFD you won't want the motor to be single phase. The 3 phase motor with output from the VFD will give you some speed control and will be driven from a single phase input. The only way you would want a single phase motor is if it was DC (oxymoron, single phase DC) with a variable speed controller.

 

[awake]

This lathe has a 3 phase motor so i may fit a vfd.To start with can the motor be wired for single phase

You can use a "static phase converter" if you don't mind losing some power. Basically this is just a starting capacitor an the means to switch it in and out for starting, plus some run capacitors to balance the legs. IIRC, you get about 2/3 of the rated power this way.

Personally, I would not buy a static phase converter - if I were to buy something, I'd get a VFD.

But building the equivalent to a basic static converter is pretty simple, and if you can source the capacitors from something like an HVAC graveyard, nearly free. And of course, once built, if you happen on a cheap or free 3-phase motor to use as a rotary phase converter, your "static converter" becomes simply the starter / control for that.

 

[BaronJ]

Hi everybody,a Happy Xmas and prosperous new year to all.Still lurking and keeping tabs on everybody
but not making anything of interest at the moment.Still restoring Myford 7 series lathes and have 3 on the go
at the moment.One of them has an O ring at the chuck end of the spindle.First one i have seen on the 15 or so
lathes that have past thru my hands,can anybody shed any light on it.Regards barry

Hi Barry,
Christmas ! You're a bit early for that one, about six months

The "O" ring trick, Its a dodge to stop you getting an oil spray line up your front. If you have seen pictures of my workshop there is an oil spray line all the way to the shelf on the back wall.

It doesn't work unless you clean the spindle behind the chuck regularly !

 

[goldstar31]

My new wall has a neat oil spray but Whether it is ISO32 or my favourite lard oil- or a mixture of both- is unknown

 

[bazmak]

Lathe has arrived and i have done a part strip down to give it a good cleanup
2003 model with very little work,excerlent paintwork with a few chips to remedy
Next job is to make a stand and fit before reassembling.Its a heavy beast
First impressions very good.It has a 3 phase motor so i can fit a vfd or a new single phase motor
I may go with the latter to start so as to get it running sooner

 

[goldstar31]

I ticked for th e Sauvignon Blanc. Jokes apart, it does look good. However what tooling have you got to go with it?


Cheers


Norman

 

[bazmak]

Quite a lot. 5" 3 jaw ,6" 4jaw ,9" faceplate, metric conversion kit , vertical slide with vise.
Fixed and travelling steadies. QCTpost etc.I havent looked at everything yet. Coverted one
since they first came out,at an engineering show.Didnt like the colour at the time but i do now
I plan to make an adaptor to take the chinese range of 4 jaw chucks as i have a few and the er32 collet chuck
Keep well Norm.Send a photo of your green super 7

 

[goldstar31]

Sounds great! I added a 'Chinese?' SC 4 jaw and have enjoyed it.
Photos?????? On that topic, I'm a complete *****. My son 'tweaked' at my picture box on my 90th mini bash but when I took some lathe etc piccies they were in video mode. Possibly he has now fixed it and I might possibly learn how to post them.
My eyesight is worse and although I can see OK at a distance, close up reading etc is hopeless.
Friday sees(???) me having another injection into my better eyeball.
I'm having to give up driving as the car insurance is horrendous-- £825 and before the lockdown I was only doing 300 miles.
Apart from that- and a crate of other things- I really fine for a 90 year old.

Meantime, my best wishes

Norm