ml4 half nut

[Jon CameronParticipant @joncameron26580]

Wayne it sounds like the bearings need looking at, mine is the same, the grub screw on the top of the casting been able to adjust the tightened and fit of the bearings.

(I'm just regurgitating what I have have been told with the issues with my lathe)

I have been cautioned that great care needs to be taken to make sure that they aren't over tightened, if you do, then you will take to your lathe with an angle grinder and/or hammer. As the headstock will go ping and you'll be left with a nice cracked headstock.

I will need to be doing the same to mine, but at present I daren't, I've bearly used the lathe so if I knack it I won't be a happy bunny.

So long as you don't have movement up/down or side to side more than one or two thou, you will be ok to use for now. Stick a bar into the three jaw, around 1" dia and about 12" long, lock it in place, and put a dial indicator on the side of the chuck, mounted to the bed. Rock the bar and see how much movement you get.

Edited By Jon Cameron on 24/09/2017 17:39:45

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Jon,

If you re-read Wayne's post you'll find that he's talking about the mating face between headstock and bed, not about the bearings.

George

[wayneParticipant @wayne]

Hi Jon

like Georgeineer says its the 2 mating faces headstock to bed that's got a tiny amount of rocking movement up/down . the original headstock was ok and made to fit from the factory .as ive found a simple headstock change from another machine is not always going to sit flush ? thanks anyway Jon any input is welcome mate thanks George .for pointing this out .

regards wayne

[Jon CameronParticipant @joncameron26580]

Not too sure on that one in afraid Brian, I'm still of the mindset that the spindle has been given a new nose thread, and the lathe is a ML4 due to the length of the bed, an ML1/3 has just sold on eBay which has a shorter bed than mine, just counted the screws in the rack.

Wayne your mod sounds a good idea and the method is good enough for me to fill and tap for a grub retaining screw.

[Jon CameronParticipant @joncameron26580]

Posted by Georgineer on 25/09/2017 09:27:17:

Jon,

If you re-read Wayne's post you'll find that he's talking about the mating face between headstock and bed, not about the bearings.

George

Ah sorry for the confusion on my part, though I've picked up a mod for my lathe so all's good.

If your headstock casting is rocking, first thing I'd check is to remove the headstock and place a straight edge ruler across the mating surface in as many planes and positions as possible, this will show where there is high spots which will most likely be the case of the rocking. Unless of course you find a little piece of metal has found it's way in there when it was assembled.

[wayneParticipant @wayne]

Hi Jon

if you check myford lathes manual you will see that nose thread was an option on ml 2/3/4 standard range ,so was tumble rev .

it was only the the ml4 superior model that had the bells n whistles to my knowledge that's how I see it on there advertisement page 20 of the pdf manual download

my opinion is that a lot of the old ml 1/2/3/4 nowadays have been mixed and matched ,like mine is now non of my numbers match any more ?

regards wayne

[Jon CameronParticipant @joncameron26580]

Hi Wayne,

Your probably right about the mixing and matching, however with my lathe everything I've found so far with a serial number seems to have matched. So it would appear that my lathe seems original so far.

Though I'm interested to know where you've found serial numbers? So far I have got the following, bed casting, bottom of saddle casting, gib strips, bottom of tail stock casting, though there seems to be a 92 stamped in the tail stock casting too, re numbering at the factory????? Top slide and mounting plate.

[wayneParticipant @wayne]

check gear end of spindle there should be a number there . all the numbers I found on mine matched when I first got it and was in a state it was not even good enough to use as a spare parts machine ,I have had to source parts and info from here , and rebuild from the bed up so mine is a real mongrel . Georgineer as helped 100% with parts ,and the info from guys here on set up as been priceless .

regards wayne

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

… Unless of course you find a little piece of metal has found it's way in there when it was assembled.

It could happen. That's why the Hubble space telescope needed glasses (though that was caused by a paint chip, not metal).

It's also worth checking for raised 'lips' round stud holes (cured by countersinking the matching holes) and anything else which stops the headstock from beedding down securely.

George

[wayneParticipant @wayne]

yes anything is possible and wouldn't surprise me the headstock will be off before the end of the day .im thinking of changing the flat pulley to a v pulley anyway so it will need re setting up after ,I have a picador 234 v pulley 1" bore but the gear is missing so I will look in to removing the old gear from the flat pulley ,Im thinking of sliding the v pulley on to the spindle then sliding the gear on to spindle to line it up and mark the pins drill pin location tap pins in and see how it goes ? plus make a spacer to take up the gap . I can set up rough on my old headstock and spindle before I dismantle my lathe ? any advise welcome .

regards wayne

[Jon CameronParticipant @joncameron26580]

Hi Wayne, I'd be greatful if you could take some pictures of the reassembly please, may help me in the future, the head stock will be coming apart in the future but for now I daren't touch it as it's working and I'm not sure on how to set up correctly again. I've got mine to turn concentric to 1 thou, over 3". For my needs that may be suffiecent.

Is there's a post somewhere that describes the set up of the tailstock, mine is out.

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Hello Jon,

The tailstock is a true beast to set up. I am not able to post material on this site anymore because of a strange compatibility problem, but I worked out a method some years ago which made the job a lot easier.

Send me an email please and I'll send you a copy. I've also had very recently to buy a new computer due to a hard drive failure on the old one which took with it all manner of records, including your email address.

Regards Brian

wood_y(at)btinternet(dot)com

[wayneParticipant @wayne]

Posted by Jon Cameron on 27/09/2017 15:27:12:

Hi Wayne, I'd be greatful if you could take some pictures of the reassembly please, may help me in the future, the head stock will be coming apart in the future but for now I daren't touch it as it's working and I'm not sure on how to set up correctly again. I've got mine to turn concentric to 1 thou, over 3". For my needs that may be suffiecent.

Is there's a post somewhere that describes the set up of the tailstock, mine is out.

Hi Jon

if you check my other post called . new to myford lathes .Andy as written a great post on set up of the ml4 and added pictures , also Georgineer added input a pictures , I will try and add picks of the headstock for you , I may already have some from my rebuild that's if I remembered to take them at the time because I forget due to getting so focused on what im doing

regards wayne

[Jon CameronParticipant @joncameron26580]

Thanks Wayne, I'll go find it.

Brian I'll send you an email over, thanks in advance.

Jon

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