Late Myford lathes', and I suspect all Myford 7 series lathes, cross slides are not very stiff. They can tighten and even lock if items bolted to them are mis-postioned. I have found it wise to sandwich a 3/8" to 1/2" thick plate between the slide and such an item when possible to prevent this.

JA

I did not get the impression it was a Myford only thread so posts will stay unless Michael asks otherwise.

J

+1 for D1-3 & D1-4 fittings to be standard on Warco models 250 & up, I have changed the nuts & washers on my 250 V-F to flanged nuts, easier but still fiddly.

George.

"Flimsy little die-cast nuts, with no adjustment for wear".

This criticism also applies to the Super 7 but, in mitigation, they are cheap to manufacture and easy to replace. At the risk of uttering hearsay, other contemporary small lathes had their "nuts" cut direct in the slide.

On a general pooint, there is a clear distinction between weaknesses which can easily be remedied and those which have to be lived with. An obvious example of the former is the tailstock which has to be adjusted with a spanner. In the case of my Willson this was easily remedied with an adjustable handle.

Edited By ega on 18/02/2016 18:41:21

Does anyone know what the smallest available cam lock fitting is? Most standards seem to have a minimal size of around 3" which is too big for the tiny lathes like the sherlines.

Myford ML7/ML7R cross slides are flimsy, they distort and move about, the saddle on the narrow guide versions is also a weak point. All can be lived with if in good condition and cuts and feeds held within reasonable limits. Myfords were never meant to be a heavy duty lathe, they were produced for a particular sector of the market and with the range of accessories, did what they were meant to do very well indeed. A late long bed version with gearbox and power cross feed is quite nice, the big bore versions also, both bearing only a superficial resemblance to the original ML7. Ultimately, the weakest point of the Myford lathe was its cost.

Dave

I think any machine that comes with its own gear box and power crossfeed will set you back considerably. In some ways i'm not surprised as this is still considered quite a luxury accessory for most hobby machinists.

To be fair the quality of what you can get for your money is getting better by the year.

Michael W

You can buy an updated Dutch version, Niko.

**LINK**

All the lathes that I can fault with I have owned and used, and I was taught to use a lathe during my apprenticeship,the first was an EW 2 1/2 centre height, bought s/h when I was about 19 possibly one of the best small amateurs lathes, fault, the lead/feedscrew was in constant engagement with the nut on the saddle and was a right pain in the backside. later I could afford a new ML 7 as I wanted to build an Allchin, ML7 was £80 basic Super 7 was £120 basic , known design fault which I was prepared to live with was small spindle bore,the other which I did not realise was the top slide would not swing round easily for traditional method screwcutting,the tailstock barrel 2MTtaper bore is plain so cannot stop a drill or other tools from slipping so the bore gets scored. this also applies to S 7. Super 7 again spindle bore,too small, why they did not make a larger bore when the Super 7 was introduced I do not know it would have been easier then to have done it from the start and gone for 3/4 in clear. Colchester roundhead master,long bed Faults no clutch on the lathe I had, The proportions and dimensions of the slide ways of cross and top slides are too small,more suited to a 5 inch lathe,not an industrial 6 1/2. the tool post would visibly deflect when parting off ,or when taking heavy and course screwcutting, spoilt a good lathe and broke a lot of parting tools. Colchester student square head short bed with variable speed drive, Utter disaster, bought s/h in very good condition, the short bed was useless,the tailstock was always getting in the way,and the variable speed was a disaster for home use,no clutch, and when the lathe was stopped when in a high speed range the rotary converter could not take the load and the lathe stalled,comment from a well known tool dealer,variable speed Colchesters and phase converters are to be avoided,it was soon sold. Colchester Triumph superb machine no faults,except nowadays age causing problems as the chucks get heavier each year. Smart and Brown, late type plain precision lathe, superb machine,ideal for instrument turning, fault The superb precision large bore spindle taking 5c collets clear plus chucks was matched to a 1 MT taper silly little tailstock, the electrics (two speed motor) and starter were an absolute pig to get at in the 6mm plate welded base and they failed so I sold it ( at a profit) There you are that my experience since 1960

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Myfords. Well plenty of use will result in more wear on the edge of the bed rails than many modern prismatic beds as the contact area is small – smaller than people might think as the wear progresses. This seems to cause more upset with things like parting off and even finish than some other lathes that use a similar arrangement.

I've hardly seen any plain bearing ML7's with shims still under the bearing caps allowing more rescraping as they wear and they are often worn going on the ones I have seen. Ok if some one can use a bearing scraper and keep the spindle level with the bed. Several people have mentioned that these lathes can drill a bigger hole than an S7 if that's head stock bearings are set correctly. Many people seem to have problems once they play with these. The person I bought my ML7 from had overtightened the countershaft belt to try and mask the problem but it still becomes apparent with various depths of cut. It later went S7 so I do know about the bearings on these. Myford made some spindles especially for me as the one in it was worn which would have made rescraping the bearing cone tougher than need be. I would have probable requested a new cone actually but my Boxford turned up.

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Raglan. Nothing bad to say at all really. Moderate wear on the side of the rails didn't cause any problems at all. I suspect it's down to the width of the bed compared with Myford. It did produce some taper as a result but finish was still good. Mine made an odd noise. The machine tool dealers did point that out and asked if I was sure i wanted it. Lathe fever – turned out that one side of the variable speed pulley was cracked but I did manage to make another on it. However when I used the saddle rack feed to add a key way to the bore the feed gear broke right at the end of the work. Turned out that a couple of teeth had been snapped off in the past and repaired with dowels filed to shape. Some one made a new gear for me.

One shaft was supported oddly, just one bearing on one end. I decided to replace the bearing – dropped and cracked a pulley hence repairing it on the Peatol. I should have left it alone.

I did have the bed strips reground. I found some one who was prepared to clock up the unworn part of the inner edge of each one exactly and then regrind the outer edge. it will only be thou's. When I reassembled using the same location dowels it was perfect. They also reground the bits and pieces that fix to the saddle and run on the rails. I'd still have this lathe but for various reasons wanted to move into the house. Not possible with this one.

The headstock bearings would have been the next job. I'd imagine that they are a standard size but the people who did the rails offered to regrind them for me. They do take steps to remove the inaccuracy that may exist in their universal grinder and often did this job for others.

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Various old dogs intending to do them up. These have had spindles running in cast iron so need real bearings adding.

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Pultra – still sorting it out but I have seen the level of finish these can provide if all is ok. A major problem with them can be belts especially for under drive. They appear to have used one of the L series belts and that size isn't available any more. Mine is also kitted out for 10,000 rpm. I need to knock that back ideally some how. 5k would be plenty and allow the bearings to last a lot longer.

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ML10. well the one I have shows that they can be found in good order. I'd wonder about the ones where the spindle runs in cast iron though. It wont go where I need it to go so at some point will be sold. The main flaw on these is the width of the bed against the length of the saddle. It has to be like this the way they have done it but they can do decent work if the saddle is set up a touch stiff. Long ago I seriously considered a new Speed 10 from Reeves. Crowd of Myford 7 owners in muttering why can't they change the headstock bearings on theirs as easily as they can be changed on the Speed 10. Not that simple really comparing perfect with perfect but as it has turned out the Speed 10 would have probably copped with everything I have made since. There might be a couple of exceptions but nothing springs to mind.

John

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