It's difficult to tell without actually looking at it and looking for excessive play in bearings and leadscrews etc but a quick trawl of one that have been sold on ebay and elsewhere shows a range of £450 to £950.

Do you knew a Myford owner that you could take with you for a look, virus restrictions notwithstanding?

Brian

You can try Ebay, Facebook marketplace, Gumtree, used machinery dealers, lathes. UK & Myfords themselves, plenty of Myford's about but they aren't cheap.

Tony

Edited By Tony Pratt 1 on 03/02/2021 15:52:48

Pictures were in his album as well

Tony

Judging lathe and woman only by photo carries comparable risks.

There might be a beauty outside and rot inside.

Regardless of what is being said about hardly ever used lathes etc the truth is that nearly every ML7 currently on the market is going to be a reconstruction project, particularly if it is *precision* what you are looking for.

Dedicated modellers who care about their machines don't like to part with them easy and even if sold it is often done privately in inner circles, not on ebay.

So you should assume that you are buying set of castings with some mechanisms working well and other which don't. Fortunately it can all be rectified to pristine and often better than original condition, very much like I did with my own.

Make sure that you pay attention to detail and material specification while undertaking such project. 2 screws might look identical and yet behave entirely different once fitted.

By doing refurbishment by yourself you will also learn how lathe works and this is always a great asset.

ML7 is easy to understand and averagely intelligent person can work out many things by himself and it is a great fun. Certain aspects which are more specialistic are well explained on the net.

Martin

Headstock bearings can usually be adjusted or perhaps scraped in the worst scenario. But it is bed wear that can get expensive because you can't do that at home and hand-scraping is not a realistic undertaking for most beginnners.

On a Myford, check the front bed way about six inches from the left hand end with a straight edge and a feeler gauge on the top surface and the front surface. You can also measure the width of the front way with a 1 to 2" micrometer and compare the worn spot to the far right hand end of the bed past the wear zone. Any more than about 3 thou wear is cause for concern. If the lathe is pre-1972 you can get around it by doing the Wide Guide conversion, if it hasnt been done already. Othewise you are up for a very expensive regrind.