Posted by John Olsen on 11/03/2018 04:59:30:
As mentioned in the earlier thread, the top slide can go to 65 degrees to the lathe axis, although the calibrations only go to 45 degrees. You can scribe another mark to allow setting accurately beyond that. However…if you need to get to 71 it won't quite make it. You could probably win the extra by lengthening the curved slot by a bit, although this would weaken it a little and would of course also offend the flat earthers. Just as well they can' see my ML7, which although it has not had that particular mod, is not exactly factory standard. (the tailstock uses the rack out of a small Japanese car, and the 4 speed poly V belt drive is a big improvement over the original.)
Of course at extreme angles you will start to get fouling between the cross slide and top slide dials,but you should be able to get to 71 degrees .
Speaking of poly V belts, I would use them for most drives rather than mess around with ordinary V belts. The ML7 can certainly cope with the form tool to make poly V pulleys. The hardest bit is the awkward distance between the grooves.
John
As per offending flatearthers – well lets them be offended if there is no way around it. Have done few modifications myself and long time ago when I got machine all original badly damaged paint was stripped to bare casting and much better specialistic abrasion resistant epoxy paints were applied but now machine is in black and red. One flatearther told me that I have destroyed machine by doing so.
As per cutting pulleys for V-belt by using form tool in rear toolpost – in aluminium you will succeed, in steel no. Not for 13 mm belt at least. I have failed with 7 mm wide and 10 mm deep grove on 70mm diameter., rear toolpost or not. If your machine can do it, then I will need to look on my headstock bearing.
As per making topslide more useful – I will go for drilling & tapping 4 holes in crosslide (with care to avoid damage to t-slots). Possibly I will also make "long topslide", perhaps 1/8 inch "thinner" to get more space for tooling.
Martin