If you are a newbie, and not familiar with with machine tools, or engineering; the first advice about stripping the machine is

DON'T You could do more harm than good.

The next bit of advice is: Find a Model Engineering Club near you, and join.

This will let you meet folk with a lot of knowledge who can help you, face to face.

Where are you located?

At the risk of telling you what you already know (DO look at the Lathes UK website for more info )

The original colour was described, according to Lathes UK, as Vomit Green!

On all but the very early models, the Headstock is bolted to the bed, rather than being cast in.

Being a ML2 the centre height is 3 1/8 " The mandrel thread is 7/8 BSW (9 tpi ) The later ML3 and ML4 had 3 1/2 centre height like the later (1947 ) 7 Series machines. Later, the mandrel thread changed to 7/8 x 12 tpi and eventually to 1 1/8 x 12 tpi as used on the 7 Series.

The leadscrew pitch is 8 tpi

All threads will be Whit form, either BSW or BSF Gib strip screws may be BA threads

Headstock and Tailstock are both 1 MT.

It may be worth making, or getting someone to make for you, an adaptor from the 7/8 x 9tpi mandrel thread to a 1 1/8 x 12 tpi thread. This is the "standard" for later Myfords. In this way you will easily be able get any extra chucks / backplates which will fit,.

It is unlikely that there will be any seals for the plain bearings in the headstock.

Back gear is engaged by a lever on the far side of the headstock, behind the chuck. Do NOT forget to slacken / remove the grubscrew in the pulley when you do this, and to retighten it when back gear has bee disengaged.

Do NOT engage back gear when trying to remove chuck, even if it is tight. You will damage the gears!

If you have a complete set of changewheels, try to acquire a couple more 20T and another 60T. With three 20T and two 60T gears and the 65T you can set up a train to give a power fine feed of 0.0043"/rev.

Standard changewheels from the later 7 Series will fit, but they will need a hole to be drilled partially through, to take the 3/32" pins which connect gears to the driving collars and to compound gears. together.

PM me if you want to know what the set up is. For travel towards the chuck, you will need two compound idlers

I very much doubt if you could easily fit a QCTP to it. In any case, the total set up is likely to cost as much as you paid for the lathe!

Ditto for fitting a VFD. Both sound like a bit of an overkill for such and old and small machine. (It is nearly eighty years old, even if fully equipped and in reasonable condition )

You will already have found out that the Saddle traverse works in the opposite direct to what you would expect., clockwise rotation brings the saddle towards the chuck. The 80 graduations on the handwheels for the Cross and Top slides are not 0.001" each, because the leadscrews for these are 12 tpi! (0.0014" actually).

DEfinitely recommend a Tangential Turning Tool. At least two designs have been shown in npastb Issues of M E W for makingb at home, or you can buy from Eccentric Engineering. Lots of us swear by them. One tool will turn or face. Ideally, you should make a Centre Height Gauge. It will make tool setting so much easier,.

PM me if you want a picture of one, and how to arrive at the correct setting.

Do check that the centre in the Headstock and in the Tailstock coincide. If they don't the tailstock needs to be adjusted until they do. Otherwise you will have problems drilling, reaming, ot cuttingb threads with a Tap or Die.

On the subject of thread cutting with taps and Dies, it would be worth making a mandrel handle, so that you can rotate the Mandrel by hand. It makes threading up to a shoulder much easier, and can save a lot of hard work for the motor in certain circumstances,

That should be quite enough to confuse you for a while

Howard

1MT works fine if in good condition. Mine on the old Drummond M-type of similar vintage to your ML2 will drive a 1" drill bit. Can't ask for more than that. And 1MT chucks, centres and arbors are readily available.

I would not worry about quick change toolpost at this stage. As a beginner you are not going to be changing tools constantly and if you do, it takes but a few seconds to change on the traditional toolpost. For some reason it is a nice luxury that too many beginners see as overly important.

Ditto variable speed drive. Stick with the old belt and pulley until you learn to use the lathe and can evaluate whether it's worth putting major money into.

+1 on don't strip it down. Not a job for a beginner. Learn to use it first, and make adjustments and refinements as you go along. You can paint it without stripping it down. Maybe pull the tailstock off and and the topslide . The rest can be done with a brush and still look quite tidy.

And +1 on get yourself a copy of LH Sparey's "The Amateur's Lathe". One of the best beginner's books ever and aimed right at the vintage of lathe you have. And cheap to purchase from Bookdepository etc.

Have fun with your lathing!

Edited By Hopper on 21/02/2020 09:03:20

Another reason for not stripping down as first move is you won't know if a post-strip problem is due to the lathe or that bloke who put it back together! Also, using the lathe for a bit gives a benchmark against which improvements can be measured. You'll know if a change made things worse or better, which is helpful when judging what to do next.

You can start by giving the lathe a deep clean as long as nothing important is moved. Then, you'll know any faults that appear aren't due to crud or lack of oil! Next stage is to check the gibs are adjusted correctly: if saddle etc slide smoothly without binding or wobbling side to side. Mostly gibs are just an adjustment (which may take a few goes to get right), but if they can't be adjusted worth a look inside, where you might find a broken gib strip, bad wear or broken adjuster screw tips. Or just dirt.

After making sure there isn't anything truly horrible wrong with the machine like a badly worn bed, start with the simple stuff. There's plenty to do. Bearings and headstock alignment are best left until experience has built up and you know your own limits! But don't be afraid to strip it down when the time comes. Doing up old lathes properly is a hobby in itself! Bear in mind with old machines that someone else may already have been 'at it'. Trust nothing, the world is full of bodgers. The forum is excellent, especially if you put photos up. Don't be afraid to ask.

Enjoy.

Dave