Hello Stan,

It is rather hard to be sure with sideways and upside down pictures to work on, but it is either an ML1 or ML2 or it could be the later ML4 The ML 3 was a capstan lathe I believe, it isn't that model..

Does it have tumbler reverse? If so that makes it more likely to be an ML4 Other clues can be had from the spindle nose and chuck mounting thread.

ML 4 is almost certainly 1.125 inch x 12 tpi and with a #2 Morse taper centre. The earlier 1's and 2's were more probably 5/8 inch and 9 tpi combined with a centre taper hole of 1 Morse taper but yours may have been upgraded so that form of identity isn't really reliable.

I hope that helps

Brian

George has summed it up pretty well.

The peculiarities of the M types were :

1) The Saddle handle moved the Saddle in the opposite direction to that expected, ie Anti Clockwise moved the saddle AWAY from the Headstock

2) The Cross Slide and Top Slide Leadscrews were 8 tpi and the dials carried graduations (80 from memory ) which were not exact thous.

3) Changewheels were driven by Driving Collars, secured to the Mandrel or Leadscrew by 1/4" BSF grubscrews, The collars, and compound gears were connected by 3/32" pins in holes drilled half way into the gears.

4) For cutting Right Hand Threads, or for a feed towards the Headstock, two sets of intermediate gears are required.

Howard

Georgineer,

Thank you for the correction and the much more helpful identity list you posted. I think the earlier ML1 and 2 models had 7/8 inch x 9tpi nose threads.

Regards

Brian

They used the same thread, but the register was 1 1/8" diameter (same as the thread), not the 1 1/4" used on the ML7. So ML7 chucks and other accessories fit, but are not located by the register. I had one like this. I have never heard of the 1 1/4" register being an original fitment on the ML4.

George

To save confusion, albeit at risk of my sounding like an overly pedantic twit,  please note that ML1 – 7 are not "M Types"

The M-Type was a completely different lathe, made initially by Drummond and taken over by Myford during the war because it was considered a superior machine (for war purposes) to the ML1-4 models made by Myford.

After the war with the advent of the cheaper ML7 Myford, followed by the Super 7 etc, these became known as 7 Series lathes by some. But never as M series or M types. The M-type died an honorable death circa 1948 or shortly after when the lower-cost ML7 flooded the market.

If you search lathes.co.uk for "M Type" the whole intriguing saga is chronicled in detail.

Back to the OP's lathe and it looks like a good 'un from the pics. Has some serious upgrades such as the overhead v-belt countershaft, a clutch and what looks like some kind of indexing disc by the heashdstock pulleys. And is that a 127 tooth gear on the leadscrew for metric thread cutting? Either that or a very fine feed rate. Nice.

Edited By Hopper on 15/10/2019 08:09:20