I had the same slight dilemma, but bought one anyway; I would do so again under similar circumstances.
I also have a pre power x feed genuine S7 changewheel model.
Yes main spindle is on taper rollers and uses grease; as far as I can tell, the rest of the lubrication is as per genuine Myford S7.

For those not aware, the 720 is a 70’s/80’s copy of a Super7B with power cross feed.

Quality of parts isn’t up to Myford, and some of the shafts, such as where the belt adjustment fits, are mild steel so subject to wear; clearly they could be re-made.
I had an issue with the clutch, where it would spontaneously engage, so I needed to modify the cross shaft a bit, but again, no major issue.
The rack on mine was a bit short, so the saddle ran off the right hand end, but I replaced it with one from an ML7 so fine now.
Metric threads can be cut using the 21/33/34 gear dodge, but you will need to budget for a genuine Myford stub/drive gear, as the Warco one is a single piece twin gear, so you can’t change just the drive gear for the 33 tooth one. Other than that, it works fine.
It’s an imperial lathe with an 8tpi leadscrew, but the fittings are metric, so for 1/4″BSF think 6mm, 2BA 5mm etc.

Mine has a Newton Tesla 750 motor package, which I’d certainly recommend.

Some accessories certainly fit, I’m using Myford steadies and a taper turning attachment

If you’re anywhere near Buxton Derbyshire, drop in for a brew  and play with one.

Bill

I think that’s the one we have in the club workshop at Exeter Model Engineers. If you are near and want to see come along to a public running day (1st Sunday) or a a Tuesday evening training session when we start them again next year.

Hi Mick Bailey, I don’t know what the Myford one cost, but below is a scan of a Warco advert on the back of ME in September 1981, but in the second November issue, they were £1150 & £1225.

Regards Nick.

The size comparable WM250 is a veritable bargain at £2k (todays prices), the benefits of cnc I suppose.

More likely as a result of a change from Taiwan to PRC for manufacture + the new lathe is a lower spec than the 720.

A lot of the early ’80s machinery came from Taiwan  – guess they became too expensive at a time that the PRC started making hobby sized machinery cheaper.

One been hanging around on Ebay for a while now.

Nigel B.

Although popular with hobbyists and in small commercial workshops, Myfords were considered too lightly built (ie cheap) for rough educational and industrial hard-work.

Bolleux Dave !

(Insert “Smiley” ! )

You do seem to have rather a downer on Myfords & a tendancy to “big up” Boxfords. I wonder how much use you have had on examples of each to come to these conclusions ?

When working on site at engineering concerns throughout the UK I regularly saw Myfords in toolrooms & cannot recall an occasion where I saw a Boxford, so (admittedly ancedotally) industrial users didn’t seem to share your opinion when it came to getting their corporate check books out..

Nigel B.

I’ve always been intrigued by the Warco copies of the Myford lathe. I’ve never seen one in the flesh but many years ago I did see a Warco badged Myford ML10 type lathe on another dealers stand at Harrogate MES, so it appears they may have copied that too, although I’ve never seen another.

20 years ago I was at Warco’s showroom in Chiddingfold buying a new lathe and I asked Roger Warren about their 720 and 730 Myford copies. Mr Warren told me that at first Myford said they were not concerned with them selling the copies of the Super 7 lathe, but later Myford took action because of some of the design details used in the power crossfeed mechanism of the Warco lathe, seems odd but that is what I remember of our conversation, it was a long time ago.

Mr Warren went on to say that he arranged a meeting with Myford at their premises in Beeston Nottingham, but after travelling all the way there from Chiddingfold he arrived at the due time to find they had all just gone out. I seem to remember him saying the result was that Warco ended up paying some thousands of pounds in costs and had to destroy or dispose of all remaining stock of the 720 and 730 lathes. What a shame.

Bet he doesn’t: based on previous experience he’ll cherry-pick minor details, and ignore whatever unsettles his argument.

Wrong assement Dave – Nigel eventually stops responding  to your verbose opinionated assaults when it is apparant that he is flogging a dead horse. Falls into the “life is too short” bracket.

In this case, my comment was in reference to you specific comment “Myfords were considered too lightly built (ie cheap) for rough educational and industrial hard-work.” which is presented as a hard fact rather than a personal opinion. If this was such a widely held opinion of professional users at the time, cite your sources. Otherwise it is just your opinion.

So far as chequebooks matter, the original Myford failed in 2011 whilst Boxford are still making machine tools.

Well – sort of, but not the machine tools most on here would recognise.

Current Boxford seems to have stopped making the class of machine tool under discussion around 2011/2012. This is when they left the original Boy Lane facility to relocate to a new, purpose built smaller place in Elland. If you care to use Google Streetview to take a walk down Boy Lane, Wheatley towards the viaduct you see the current new housing estate built on the site. But the older images available (as you walk under the viaduct) show the old works as I remember it from working there still being present in April 2009, but the October 2012 image shows an excavator amid the rubble of the demolished buildings.

Boxford’s Youtube channel has a time lapse showing construction of the new Elland site around the end of 2011 + a walk-around the new faciltiy. No machiney shown of sufficient capacity to make the gear head lathes (AFAIK the older Southbend-derived models had gone well before that, but don’t have dates) – which ties up with a comment made taliking to Boxford staff on a stand at (IIRC) the first Doncaster exhibition. I introduced myself & discussed my time working there, which included assisting in the installation of the new bed grinder with induction hardening facility installed for prducing the new gear head lathes – I was told the grinder was not at the new site. Boxfords left the Elland site in 2020, relocating to a, errr.. “less prestigeous” site near Sowerby Bridge. There were suggestions that all the old spares were skipped at the time of the move, possibly confirmed by the latest Boxford website having lost the “legacy” spares tab that had searcheable parts lists for the older machines. The only reference to their past is in the “about” page & comprises one B&W picture of a liveried late ’60s / early ’70s Transit pick-up with an earlier lathe on the back. Their current focus appears to be small laser cutting and welding machines, though small (desk top) PC based machines are shown in the product line-up.

Am I happy to claim to be  a Boxford “fan boy” – had they not made a place available for me to finish my apprenticeship my subsequent working life would probably have been more difficult. But I have owned a Super7 for over 25 years & it replaced a Boxford CUD. Guess that makes me a Myford “fan boy” as well.

As long-winded a reply as one of yours, Dave ! I have no problem with opinions, but please don’t present your opions in a way than suggests they are established facts without citing the sources.

Peace.

Nigel B.