Myford alternative

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Myford alternative

This topic has 33 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 1 August 2010 at 23:24 by John Stevenson 1.

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24 June 2010 at 09:45 #52881
Mark Millward 1
Participant
@markmillward1
Are there any alternative lathes to the ML7 that would take the same tooling and be as versatile. I am thinking second hand to keep the price down and not Chinese. A little bigger would be OK but as I am hoping to make some stainless bits for my old boat smaller would probably be a mistake. Cleaning and rebuilding would be Ok as I would then get to know it inside out.

Any sugestions greatly appreciated.

Mark
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24 June 2010 at 09:45 #5099
Mark Millward 1
Participant
@markmillward1
24 June 2010 at 11:43 #52886
AndyP
Participant
@andyp13730
I went through the same process and plumped for a Boxford AUD – very happy with the decision. More like a Super 7 with gearbox and power feeds but slightly bigger and much more substantial, and a lot cheaper. They are nearly all metric though if that is important to you.

Can’t comment on taking the same tooling since I don’t have a Myford but chucks etc are different, toolbits depend on your toolpost, I use mainly 1/2″ and 10mm, packing the latter, in a 4 way post.

Cheers, Andy
24 June 2010 at 14:23 #52889
Geoff Sheppard
Participant
@geoffsheppard46476
Mark

The Granville Senior was virtually identical to the ML7. The back-gear arrangement was different, but that was about all. All the genuine Myford accessories seemed to fit. Mine had a hardened bed and proved to be an excellent machine. If you can find one it will be getting a bit long in the tooth now, but you never know what’s been hidden away.

Hope this helps

Geoff
24 June 2010 at 16:24 #52891
Terryd
Participant
@terryd72465
Hi Mark,

Why not Chinese? I have a Boxford lathe, which is excellent, a Chinese Small lathe From Arc Eurotrade and a Chinese mill. I have had no issues with my Chinese equipment and find the machines to be good quality and accurate. I wouldn’t use them for production work but for my hobby work they fulfil everything I could ask of them.

Buying obscure machines which have been out of production for years is not always a good idea as spares can be very difficult to obtain and if they are available they will be at such a price as to make your eyes water and wish you had bought Myford.

I have been buying Chinese tools for over 30 years now and have found them to be good value, so far long lasting and of an acceptable quality. (I have been abusing Chinese screwdrivers for over 25 years and they have lasted longer than my Record, British made ones).

My machines will produce high quality accurate work, what more can one ask. By the way my small Chinese lathe will handle items up to 250 mm dia as opposed to my Boxford’s 225 mm but the bed is shorter. and can only handle up to 250mm length which is more than enough for most of my work. The Far eastern machines represent excellent value for money, easily available spares and tooling, combined with generally good quality.

Terry

Edited By Terryd on 24/06/2010 16:25:29

Edited By Terryd on 24/06/2010 16:28:55
24 June 2010 at 17:18 #52894
Bogstandard
Participant
@bogstandard
I have loads of things I could show you about turning almost any lathe into a Myford nosed one, as I use interchangeable tooling between my lathe and mill, but until this stupid website allows easy posting of URL’s then I am sorry, I cannot help, and I expect a few other people have the same problem as well.

They seem to have this site geared towards selling you stuff you don’t want, rather than helping people with their problems.

A very frustrated

Bogs
24 June 2010 at 17:43 #52895
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
Bogs PM me the link and I’ll get it up for you and I’ll PM you my e-mail if you cant send the link via PM

I suspect this is one of teh items you were going to post

I’m also happy with my far eastern lathe & mill

Jason

Edited By JasonB on 24/06/2010 17:44:13

Edited By JasonB on 24/06/2010 17:49:33
24 June 2010 at 18:39 #52897
Ian Abbott
Participant
@ianabbott31222
Keep on trying to make cheap lathes look like a Myford instead of actually buying a Myford and there’ll be no Myford to be like. Just like all the other stuff we no longer have, like hardware shops that aren’t B&Q.

Myford stuff isn’t expensive, it’s just not crap. Perhaps read through all the messages from people who bought equipment that doesn’t work.

Ian
24 June 2010 at 19:07 #52898
David Clark 13
Participant
@davidclark13
Hi There

There is a small chain in the editor.

Click this and you can insert as long a link as you require.

regards David
24 June 2010 at 20:10 #52904
Bogstandard
Participant
@bogstandard
Jason,

That was the one, plus I had a couple of others.

Ian,

If Myford came up with a decent sized lathe and not one that has been cobbled together for the last sixty years, and reduced their exhorbitant prices for even the tiniest of fittings, then maybe they would get more of a following.

Looking to the past isn’t the way to look forwards. If Myford want to go under like the rest of the others, just because they can’t come up with something new and at a REASONABLE price, well I am very sorry, that is their fault, not mine.

I am only using Myford threads because the tooling coming in from the far east uses it and I find it dead easy to reproduce on my lathe. Maybe I should have chosen Boxford/Atlas instead, then I wouldn’t be accused of trying to emulate such an out of date machine, even though the other two are out of date as well.

David,

Even typing this short post with
basically nothing in it was horrendous.

My main gripe is that my paste doesn’t work, even in your ‘add’ links at the top, even ctrl V doesn’t work.

Any other site and the post would be done in a couple of minutes, whereas on here it takes forever, and even then I can’t get it to do what I want.

This text editor is about the worst thing I have ever come across. Designed so that everything is difficult to do.

Bogs
24 June 2010 at 22:43 #52914
Terryd
Participant
@terryd72465
Posted by Ian Abbott on 24/06/2010 18:39:26:

Myford stuff isn’t expensive, it’s just not crap. Perhaps read through all the messages from people who bought equipment that doesn’t work.

Ian

The people who have problems with Chinese products are the ones who complain, you don’t see the thousands who are satisfied making moaning posts. The complainers are mostly expecting toolroom quality for hobby prices, then moan when they have to make adjustments.

If Myford are in danger of going the same way as much of British industry it is their own fault. They are relying on expensive out of date products which are marketed as ‘quality’ but are terribly wanting by today’s expectations, except for a small loyal following. The British motorbike industry laughed at the Japanese in the 60’s and continued to try to sell outdated inferior products, as did the car industry in the 70’s (and don”t blame the unions, it wasn’t them who designed the Morris 1000, the Marina or the Allegro etc).

Far Eastern products are generally much better than the gainsayers will admit. After all we thought the Japs would never be able to make such things as accurate measuring instruments, but try telling that to Mitutoyo!
25 June 2010 at 11:31 #52925
Mark Millward 1
Participant
@markmillward1
Thank you gentlemen for all your replies. They have given me lots of makes to look for. Not sure if personal messages are permitted on this site but if so perhaps Bogstandard could direct me to some of the projects he has on the net. Am I wrong to think the Myford would struggle on stainless, marine grade or 316 or A4 as we call it ? Lastly is there a lath out there that has an unusualy large spindle size ( diameter of rod that will pass through the back of a chuck) but is still ay the cheaper end of the market ?

Mark
25 June 2010 at 12:37 #52926
Stovepipe
Participant
@stovepipe
I think Myford have probably thought along lines of marketing a more modern machine (of the same quality as their existing ones), but would their small loyal client base allow them to ? Given so many model engineeers are conservative older types, “my Dad had a Myford that’s still going strong”, are these people the real blockage in the modernisation pipe ? If Myford were to try marketing such a machine, at a realistic marketable price, would this sell to those wanting “toolroom quality at market stall prices” ?

Dennis
25 June 2010 at 13:25 #52927
Terryd
Participant
@terryd72465
Ho Mark,

What diameter rod through the headstock are you thinking of? The Boxford 9″ can manage 5/8 bar, There is a slightly larger Boxford (10″) but I’m not sure of the spindle internal diameter, perhaps a lucky owner can tell us? Not sure either about the earlier Myfords but the latest Super 7 series has a 26mm bore so could manage up to 1″ diameter, but then again a new machine is around 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 grand.

Terry
25 June 2010 at 15:56 #52928
KWIL
Participant
@kwil
Mark, the Myford Super 7 will not struggle at all on the metals you want to use, just get your tooling correct and away you will go. If you want a strong large bore machine a Harrison M250/300 would be better than most at the prices you appear to want. M300 has a bore that will pass 1.5″
25 June 2010 at 16:21 #52929
Bogstandard
Participant
@bogstandard
Mark,

My far eastern machine only has a 38mm bore (1.5″) and costs a massive £3k. You can get the machine somewhat cheaper (around £2K) if you get the basic version without the DRO and all the fittings.

http://www.chesteruk.net/store/crusader_lathe.htm

Here are a few of the links I told you about, where I made interchangeable tooling between my lathe and mill.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=1993.0

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=2002.0

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=2249.0

One thing I was thinking about showing on here was a special threading toolholder, which if you had a reversing spindle on your lathe makes external threading as easy as pie, taking away all the fears that new modellers have with screwcutting. But because it would take me forever to rewrite it all to show on here, here is a link to the article.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=2323.0

BTW I managed to get the cut/paste sorted, it looks like this site doesn’t like working with Firefox and all it’s great features. I had to skin the features to the bone to get it to work.

Bogs

Edited By Bogstandard on 25/06/2010 16:26:03
25 June 2010 at 16:58 #52931
Billy Mills
Participant
@billymills
Mark,

The ‘Lathe buying advice’ on http://www.lathes.co.uk is very sound. The site is filled with useful information about mills, lathes and other machines and is an invaluable reference for old but excellent machines. There are also some great machining tips.

Kwil’s recomendation of a M250/300 is wise, I would add one of the more recent Colchesters. Once you get your hands on a Great British Lathe, smell the oil and metal, make the stuff that is too big for the imports and just enjoy every moment of it all then you will understand what machining should be. You can then look forward to an afterlife in which you have your very own-just run in – DS&G and an infinite personal metal storeroom.

Even if you don’t find the right machine straight away, get hold of something and enjoy your turning. You really need to find out what you need in a lathe by turning the stuff you want to make. Only then can you appreciate your real needs. Tools are personal.

regards,

Alan.
25 June 2010 at 17:44 #52932
Engine Builder
Participant
@enginebuilder
Don’t forget the Myford ML10. It will do much more than you think.

I will try and put a you tube link here, not quite sure how to do it,
25 June 2010 at 18:03 #52933
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
I though you would have posted the ball hopper cylinder being bored, thats pushing the myford to its limits. Though your large diameter attachment increases those limits

For anyone who has not seen the rest of Enginebuilders videos, got to you-tube and search for “Myfordboy”

Jason

Edited By JasonB on 25/06/2010 18:04:09

Edited By JasonB on 25/06/2010 18:26:08
25 June 2010 at 18:29 #52934
Engine Builder
Participant
@enginebuilder
As you wish Jason !

This one does show it off better I guess.

David
25 June 2010 at 22:09 #52936
Sub Mandrel
Participant
@submandrel
A Myford is like a BMW – very nice if you can get it, but if you just want to get from A-B there are plenty of alternatives, yet if you’re a bit skint you might be able to pick up an old one.

One thing I would question about Myfords is the spindle bore. The old ones are just MT2, which is very limiting on what can go through, the conneissuer(?) is MT4, which makes tooling expensive. The other issue is a kind of reverse snobbery.

So I have to admit, if I could afford a Myford, I would probably be hunting for a Boxford AUD in good condition. Bigger tougher and to a similar high standard.

Neil
25 June 2010 at 23:28 #52937
John Stevenson 1
Participant
@johnstevenson1
Posted by Ian Abbott on 24/06/2010 18:39:26:

Myford stuff isn’t expensive, it’s just not crap. Perhaps read through all the messages from people who bought equipment that doesn’t work.

Ian

Like £132 for a Keats angle plate ? Not exactly precision engineering is it?

John S.
30 July 2010 at 20:55 #53923
Mark Millward 1
Participant
@markmillward1
Thanks eveyone for the replies to my post. I have been doing a fair bit of reading and in none of the books do the authors talk about turning stainless. some of my stock is 2 5/8″ diameter.. I have ended up with a ML7 Tri leva but am now wondering if it will be up to the job. Any comments anyone ?.

Thanks in advance

Mark
30 July 2010 at 21:29 #53924
John Haine
Participant
@johnhaine32865
I’ve got an S7 and it turns stainless without sweat, even big stuff, just use carbide tool, keep the speed down and take sensible cuts.
31 July 2010 at 11:15 #53936
Bogstandard
Participant
@bogstandard
Mark,

You wil now find out the Myford shortcomings for yourself, despite the warnings from a lot of other people.

It is overhyped, overpriced and underspecced.

A basic design from the middle of the last century, cobbled together in an attempt to bring it up to date, and failing miserably. It should have been allowed to die gracefully years ago, but a gang of loyal followers seem to think it should be dug up and ressurected.

Bogs

Edited By Bogstandard on 31/07/2010 11:17:29
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