Also did you go to Myford-lathes.com or Myford.co.uk, the second one is the actual company

Edited By JasonB on 28/04/2023 20:48:16

John B, somewhere here there's a thread that links to tables of change gears needed to make metric threads without using the "exact" gears. The resulting errors are minimal for all practical purposes, likely less than the error in the leadscrew itself. Also I think there's a spreadsheet to calculate them if the table doesn't cover what you need.

Or of course you could fit an "electronic leadscrew" in which case you'd never need to worry!

Myford collets of the type that close in an MT2 bore and have a groove that engages with the clamp/removal nut are hen's teeth. I do have a set that I bought incomplete years ago and managed to fill in the gaps before the "old" Myford went bust. As Martin said, better to get an ER type that will fit on the spindle nose. Myford used to sell one but no longer seem to and nor do RDG who now own the Myford brand. Arc sell collet chucks that will bold to a backplate and they also sell plain backplates which would need machining to fit the chuck. Better to do this than use an MT2 fitting collet chuck which will limit the length of stock you can fit and would need a drawbar.. If you can accept a drawbar (just a bit of studding will do) then you can also use MT2 finger collets in the spindle.

Myford collets were originally made by Crawfords

Roy

I think as most people are saying that 33/34 tooth gears should cover most of what you should need

You can get an awful lot of ER equipment for that sort of money, and it will be new.

However in terms of accuracy the Myford nose collets are better as they depend only on the accuracy of the nose taper and the collet itself whereas the ER systems rely on the accuracy of the nose adaptor and the collet. I use both systems but prefer Myford collets for turning clock arbor pivots.

Most of us have built our Myford collet collections on a if you see one grab it basis. Which is why they seem to be like hens teeth.

Regards Martin

Those two gears in the picture as posted by bernard tower was sold by John Stevenson years ago, perhaps some one else does so now. If you have a dividing head they can be easily made at home. There has been quite a discussion on "here" in the past about gears and Brian Wood's book on screw cutting. John

About 40 years ago I made a few 'Myford' collets because at the time I couldn't afford or justify the real thing. They were only of mild steel but they actually worked remarkably well and I still have them even though over the years I have mostly acquired the real thing. From memory I turned two 2MT tapers back to back between centres on a piece of BMS leaving parallel portions at the the rear of each taper, as per the real Myford collet which I was copying, and sufficient in the centre to accommodate the groove for the closing/removal nut and to part the two tapers. I then placed each taper in turn in the head-stock taper and bored out the rear parallel section, again as per the Myford item, before parting the two tapers. I then drilled and reamed the blanks in the lathe head-stock before removing them to make four slits with a slitting saw. To prevent the fingers being distorted whilst the slitting was being done I inserted a piece of material of the collet's size into the bore.

I recall having a conversation with the late Malcolm Townend in the Myford shop at Beeston and he told me then that Crawford were refusing to produce anymore collets for Myford for an economical price and that Myford had had some samples made in India that were undergoing quality checks. Whether these later Indian-made collets actually made it on to the British market I have no idea. Sadly, Mr. Townend died and Myford at Beeston ceased to exist. Perhaps someone knows more about these later collets.