The Myford has landed! PICTURES!!

[lazylathe]

Hi All,

A very busy weekend going to pick up the ML7 and load it and then set it up again in the basement. For such a small machine it sure weighs a lot!!!

After going over it carefully there were a few spots of surface rust that were easily removed with some 0000 steel wool.
The slides show no signs of wear and you can still clearly see the tooling marks from the factory!
It came with a lot of tooling too! The usual suspects:
3 and 4 jaw chucks - 3 jaw is a Skinner chuck and the 4 jaw is unmarked.
The 3 jaw needs to be replaced or reground as it is way out of center.
Any ides on how to reset the center without a grinding attachment??
The Skinner chuck jaws are mounted on reverse and the direction cannot be changed, so i think i will also need to buy a regular 3 jaw chuck.
Lots of HSS and carbide cutters along with a used and one brand new Kennametal carbide cutters and about 20 spare cutters still in the box!
It also has an original Myford cutter!
A pile of morse taper drill bits too.
Also found a collet chuck with 3 collets. Not sure of the make, will post some pics soon.
There a re a few other items that i am not sure what they are, will post pics of them too and see if they can be figured out!
One of the nicest items that came with the lathe was full documentation! All the books, manuals and advertising from1960 is still with the lathe!


The only thing i think i want to change is the motor. It came with an old G.E 1/4hp laundry motor. Works well and is very quiet but does not have a lot of speed or power.
I can change it out for 1/2hp motor from work. Should that be sufficient to run the lathe? I will get more specs on the motor later.

Apart from that it is as smooth as butter! All controls work perfectly and smoothly.
Very happy with the purchase of this lathe.
Just have to wait for the oil to arrive and give it a good oiling with the right stuff!

Any comments, tips or help greatly appreciated!

Andrew

Also has change gears and some spare tumbler gears. The tumblers are brand new still!

 

[dsquire]

Andrew

Congratulations on the arrival of the lathe. Hope that you get it set up and working without too many hassles. Will be looking forward to some pictures when you have time and have it set up. :bow: :bow:

Cheers

Don

 

[NickG]

Andrew,

an ML7 was my first lathe, my grandfather gave it to me. Think it had a 3/4 hp on as original (can't quite remember but will be able to check as still have the motor). I changed it to 1/4 as it was noisy but as you say it wasn't quite enough. I think 1/2 hp would be sufficient.

I sold it as it was giving me a poor finish. Turns out the jib was missing off the rear of the carriage! I didn't know much about anything in those days, I was young and daft . . wish I'd kept it now, esp seeing the price of them. I would have had to get it reground etc but it would have made a good lathe.

Nick

 

[MachineTom]

A nice small lathe for sure. The chucks should have extra jaws kicking around in the boxes, if the PO kept all the stuff together. A 4 jaw independent chuck you just reverse the jaws to use them, the 3 jaws are seperate pieces. When you say the chuck is way out, define way out, .020 or .125 if the later it would be that a jaw is not installed correctly.

More info = better answers.

 

[agmachado]

Hello Andrew,

Congratulations for your new lathe !!!

But... th_wwp

Take care,

Alexandre

 

[lazylathe]

I will try and take some pictures soon!

Work has been extremely busy and is interupting my hobby time!!

Have taken a few pictures but they are still on the camera....

Andrew

 

[lazylathe]

Still busy cleaning and setting up....
Takes a long time when you only have a few hours a week to work on the project! :'(

Anyway, i have the 1/2 HP motor now but need to get the bigger pulley for it to work correctly.
So far i have only found them in the U.K., so will have to order one.

Will have to look into a new 3 jaw chuck too. The Skinner one that came with the lathe is of the old Knuckle Buster type. It is also set up for outside work only. There was not an extra set of jaws in the box... And the jaws do not close 100%, two of them do while the other one is about .1mm away.

Spent a bit of time cleaning the accessories with a surface rust remover and managed to get them shiny again! They almost look like new again.

Stripped and cleaned the drip oilers. They were full of a very thick dark oil. They guy i bought it from said he set them up for the slowest possible drip, which turned out to be one drop every year or so!! After they were cleaned and reassembled i let them run for a bit and the lathe hummed away quietly to itself!

Still need to put some time into aligning the haed and tailstock but otherwise it should be ready to make some chipe fairly soon!

So then i spent a bit of time looking for spares and comparing prices. Pretty expensive and nearly all of it imported. Thinking of ways to combat this i put up a WANTED add for any Myford ML7 spares in my area and vicinity.
Not putting too much hope in any replies i forgot about it and did not check it for a while.
Last night i did check and there is a guy that wants to sell his fathers lathe. Says it is complete but the top slide needs some work. Not too sure what this means...
He will be sending pictures today sometime of the lathe and all the accessories.
The best part is that he is selling it for 1/5th of the price i paid for my Myford!!!
So i should hopefully have a complete spare unit just incase!!!

Will let you know how it goes!

Andrew

 

[deverett]

A very busy weekend going to pick up the ML7 and load it and then set it up again in the basement. For such a small machine it sure weighs a lot!!!
...
Any comments, tips or help greatly appreciated!

A very good place for advice is the Myford Yahoo group
[email protected]

Dave
The Emerald Isle

 

[RManley]

I dont think I could ever sell my ML7. It does everything I have ever asked it to do and then some! So long as everything is correctly adjusted you will have no problem parting off 2" steel bar or even 5" cast iron brake drums off a billet! My myford may look tatty but its in mechanical top shape and has performed for the last 3 owners.

If you have a clutch you are very lucky, if not you should be able to get one off ebay but be prepared to pay for it.

A few modifications i have made to mine which i think are worth doing:-
A light swarf tray to cover the front of the bed ways keeps all the crud off the slides. The ml7 has a single tapped hole in the front of the saddle for the steady and this is how I attach my cover. Its easily removable but only comes off in extreme circumstances.

A saddle stop is a must. The block of metal is attached to the machined strip below the belt cover where the optional gearbox should be using its bolt holes. It is simply a clamp mechanism, a hole with a saw cut and a screw. The clamp itself is a cap head screw which is locked in position by another cap head screw on its head. This allows complete adjustment of where the handle stops. The bar is 1/4" diameter and is stiff enough for anything. I have never had the stop slip and it gets used whenever the motor is turned on.

Another worth while mod is a simple one. Change the saddle lock bolt for a nice ball handle - the number of times I spent ages looking for the spanner I could've made a complete engine.

Oh regarding chucks off centre - nose must be spotless! There must be no swarf in the thread - no matter how small and no marks on the flat face of the nose. An old toothbrush works wonders

 

[lazylathe]

HI ALL!
HERE ARE SOME PICTURES!!!!
Finally...
The great unveiling!

In all it's glory!

Headstock close up

Cross slide close up

Tailstock

Change gears

Threading chart

And the last one to show the condition of the bed

And now for some of the included accessories!
Box of cutters and drill bits and a few reamers!

Group shot of chucks and extra gears etc

Original Myford cutter and rocker post

The chucks including the nasty Knuckle buster!!

Close up of Skinner chuck. Unfortunately only has outside jaws...

Anyone have any idea what these are?? They all have M34 on them.

And a pen i am working on for a friends father on the wood lathe.
Any Detroit Tigers fans??

No clutch at the moment, have not been able to locate one yet!
Still has original tool post holder, soon to be changed for a Myford QCTP.
Original paint is still on lathe and will be kept

I will post more in the show of your lathe post!

Let me know what you think!

Andrew

 

[Metal Butcher]

Hi Andrew, The lathe looks mighty fine!

I remember you asking what any one thought it was worth when you were trying to decide whether to buy it or not. Now that your the new owner, I would like to ask: what do you think its worth?

Was I correct when I said it would be worth more than you paid if you bought it? :big:

-MB

 

[lazylathe]

Hi MB,

Since i am still learning all of it's functions and have yet to make anything on the lathe, it's value is still in the grey area...
It was definitely worth what i paid for it and i am sure it will pay for itself in the hours of fun and learning it will provide me!
And it will never leave my basement unless it is with me!!!! :big: So that says something!!!! ;D

I have so much to learn about cutters and sharpening them and what angle they should be in the tool post in relation to the work.
I am still reading about setting up the lathe correctly, some of the threads here are way above my head and i spend a lot of time googling stuff!!
Still also learning how to use my micrometer... :-\
Many books to read and pictures to study!!
But it is all fun and exciting!!

I forgot to mention that it also has all the original manuals and fliers from the 60's, which are pretty cool to have!

I am still on the hunt for a good condition 6" Atlas lathe! It will go well with my other Atlas tools!!

Andrew

 

[user 284]

Andrew,
You stole that lathe at the price mentioned in one of your previous posts. GREAT score. I'm going to recommend a book to you. "The Model Engineers Workshop Manual" by George H. Thomas ISBN 1-85761-000-8 This book has a lot of accesories for Myford lathes. But more importantly it has a huge ammount of information about machining in general. I probably own at least 100 books about machining and without a doubt it's the very best. I can even say that without owning a Myford. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone no matter what brand of lathe they own. I'll personaly guarantee you won't be disapointed with it. If/when you buy it then I'd be interested in your thoughts after reading it.

Pete

 

[lazylathe]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the reply and the info!
I think the lathe was a steal too!! Great looking bit of equipment!

Will look into the book right now!
I already have:
The home shop machinist's handbook by Doug Briney
Tabletop machining by Joe Martin
Myford series 7 lathe manual by Ian Bradley
And a few older books that i have downloaded.

I will let you know what i think when i have finished reading it!!

Andrew

 

[user 284]

Andrew,

Your more than welcome. LOL, I'm still jealous of your new lathe. I'd be willing to bet a lot, That after you read that book you'll be recommending it to everyone too. George H. Thomas also wrote another book that should interest you too. "Workshop Techniques" ISBN 1-85761-106-3 This deals mainly with building and using the Universal Pillar Tool and Making and using the Versatile Dividing Head. Both items to be built on a Myford. You may never build either of these but all the machining methods used would teach you a huge ammount. In my opinion Mr. Thomas was a rare individual who not only knew his subject, But could write about it so it could be easily understood. He gives not only the how to do it, but the why it should be done this way.

Pete

 

[lazylathe]

Just recieved my machinists level, finally!
A nice Starrett one to boot!

Spent some time last night leveling the lathe off.
Just need to make some thin shims to finish off the leveling.

I was thinking soda can stips should do the trick, since i don't have any shims at hand.
Is there anything else i can use for this??

Also have the new 3 jaw chuck, QCTP and a few other goodies!
Should be good to do something soon!!!


Andrew

PS: made a few bits for the Atlas restoration that turned out well!
Must say the size increase from the Sherline to the Myford is a HUGE step up!!
Still getting used to it's size and power...

 

[arnoldb]

Nice Andrew

Soda can strips will work. Some aluminium foil stolen from the kitchen also works and is much thinner, so it's easy to get just the right thickness.

Regards, Arnold

 

[lazylathe]

Thanks Arnold!

I was hoping someone would mention tin foil.
Kind of had the idea it may flatten out a bit over time because it was so thin.

Will sneak some downstairs tonight and finish off the levelling.

can't wait to come home in 3 weeks!!
I need some SUNSHINE!!!!

Andrew