grayson lathe rebuild

[John FieldingParticipant @johnfielding34086]

Hi Dave George 1,

I see you are making good progress. It's looking good!

The chuck end of the Grayson spindle is identical to the Myford ML7 and later series, seems Myford copied that when they bought Grayson. The thread and register collar should be fine as they were made of good steel in those days. On mine the front bearing portion had been badly chewed up and I had to resort to metal spraying and then regrinding to salvage the spindle.

So any chucks or other bits which fit the Myford range should also fit. The headstock bronze bushes on mine were easily removable and I did make new ones as the originals were pretty shot when I got it. IIRC there are minute dowel pins that hold the bush in place, but it is a long time ago when I last played with the old girl.

[dave george 1Participant @davegeorge1]

Thanks for the input john,i did find out that the thread on grayson spindle is the same as myford m7 spindle thread which is 1-1/8″ x 12tpi. Cos i bought a myford faceplate and it went onto grayson spindle with no probs

@ micheal taylor 8 where abouts are you

[Micky TParticipant @mickyt]

I'm in the Midlands. I had a sudden urge to get creative so decided to get a lathe. I've wanted one for a while and when I saw the Grayson on line I couldn't resist. I'll let you know how I get on with stripping the headstock. I know she's an old girl, probably older than my dad but she seems a good place to start.

Does any body know if I could use Myford gears to get the screw cutting set up as I only have what seems to be the minimum set up at the gear end.

[dave george 1Participant @davegeorge1]

Just a few miles from me up in lancashire,i have been watching a couple of grayson on a auction site maybe i was watching yours.
As for the gears i dont know as mine came with a set.. you could get in touch with tony from lathes.co maybe he could say

Now you got me thinking about myford gears and wondering

Edit… maybe one of the myford boys might be able to tell us

Edited By dave george 1 on 09/06/2016 16:53:27

[John FieldingParticipant @johnfielding34086]

Hi Dave George 1,

The Grayson change gears and the Myford ones are interchangeable, again seems Myford copied the Grayson design.

The only difference is the Myford ML7 ones have a keyway in the bore whereas the Grayson ones do not. They instead have one or sometimes two dowel holes in the boss. This takes a dowel pin to couple two gears together for compounding.  One both types the bore is 5/8-inch. They are are both 20DP and similar thickness, the Grayson ones being a tad thicker. Nominally 1mm thick against the 9.5mm for a ML7 but not an issue.

In the picture the Grayson gear is on the left and the Myford on the right.

 

Edited By John Fielding on 11/06/2016 16:26:32

[Micky TParticipant @mickyt]

That's great I should be able to purchase a selection of gears from the well known auction site. All I need to do is figure out a gear stud that's suitable for both myford and Grayson gears. Thanks for the info John

[John FieldingParticipant @johnfielding34086]

The Grayson gears are nominally 11mm thick, probably 7/16-inch, I see I typed 1mm in my earlier post. Finger trouble on a cold day!

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Michael Taylor 8 on 11/06/2016 22:22:24:

That's great I should be able to purchase a selection of gears from the well known auction site. All I need to do is figure out a gear stud that's suitable for both myford and Grayson gears. Thanks for the info John

MIight be easiest to convert those Grayson pin holes into keyways by slotting them in the lathe once you get it together. Easily done in the lathe using a boring bar with the toolbit ground to size and turned sideways, they use the carriage feed to to gradually open out the slot. Then you can use standard Myfrod gear studs.

[Micky TParticipant @mickyt]

Thanks Hopper I hadn't thought of that. I was considering putting pin hoes in the myford gears to lock them together but was wondering the feasibility of that.

[Keith LongParticipant @keithlong89920]

Even easier – if you have the correct drive for the Grayson gears – is to drill a hole in the Myford gears to accept the Grayson pins. From the lathes.co.uk website early Myford gears (ML1 &2 era) used pin drive rather than a key anyway.

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