For grinding, Slideway Services at Coventry, Brian Caddy, he has a very good reputation.

As regards hardening I think he can forget that. Hardening is done before grinding so they can take any warp and twist out of it, so he's already undersize.

As it's a Super 7 he could always try Jim Marshall over at Lathe-Parts who breaks Myfords.

He doesn't normally sell beds but scraps them as they are too expensive to ship. I know a couple of folk who have popped over and gotten a far better bed and a lot cheaper.

As regards hardening I think he can forget that. Hardening is done before grinding so they can take any warp and twist out of it, so he's already undersize.

That was what "Original Myford" told me when I inquired.

Any decent machine shop with a suitable surface grinder should be able to regrind a flat bed lathe – suitable meaning long enough travel to accomodate the length of the bed.

Nigel B

There's a Super 7 bed on eBay UK right now for 150 Pounds, supposedly in excellent condition.

Pretty obvious that hardening should be done before regrinding. But I don't understand the comment that "so he is already undersize".

Beds to be hardened were machined to have a bigger finish grinding allowance prior to hardening than soft beds, as hardening caused distortion that was subsequently ground out. Your soft bed was ground to finished size so, as it stands, it does not have the distortion allowance any more & so is "undersize" for hardening.

That was "Original Myford's" explanation to me.

Hopper – any machine shop in possesion of a surface grinder & cannot produce a reasonably flat surface with a reasonable finish should not be trading as such !

Nigel B

The unhardened standard bed lasted, what, 50 years or more? How old is your mate? Is that not long enough for him?

YOu can grind down as much as you like, within reason, but will have to do additional work to realign the half nuts with with leadscrew if too much is taken off the sides of the shears. Also, the carriage will need to ground to match the new bed. No point in running old on new. This should include machining down the area where the catch plates sit in order to compensate for reduced bed thickness.

If the bed has that much wear he will need to look too at the cross slide. It will probably need regrinding, along with the dovetails on the saddle in order to be up to scratch on par with a reground bed. Also look carefully at the headstock bearings and spindle. If bed is worn out, they probably are too. Or at least need major surgery with a scraper and possibly machining down the matching faces to get enough closure.

Also if the bed is that worn, the leadscrew and half nuts probably are in similar conditions. All up, he needs to have a real good look at every aspect of teh machine before sinking 500 – 700 Pounds into a bed regrind. There could easily be another 500 pounds to spend after that. Quite possibly more. (Back gear teeth intact? Tumbler gear worn out? Tailstock barrel worn? Countershaft and bushes clapped out? Motor ditto? Chuck worn out? etc etc) Gets to the point that it might be better to flip it or part it out and buy a low mileage cream puff that is ready to use.

Edited By Hopper on 10/02/2017 01:56:59

It’s astonishing the junk people buy because it says Myford on it.

LOL , tell me about it. I'd have to say the ML7 I bought at a garage sale recently is the single most abused and worn out lathe I have ever seen. But it will fix up OK.

Hopper,

Have you tried Machine tool automation at Mona vale in Sydney ?

Ian.

Presumeably the four thou on the top surface can be taken up by twisting the Myford's licorice bed into shape.

You will just end up with a twisted worn bed that way, rather than a straight worn bed. Only cure for a worn bed is to re-machine to take out the wear.

Nigel B