Inherited ML7 in need of some love – where to start?

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

Amused by the comments on painting! When doing a refurb, I always try to repaint to a high standard and do the cosmetics needed. Why? Well I am a very messy machinist and I tended to leave my machines in a swarf covered and filthy state.

Since I have adopted the pristine machine mantra. I find that I tidy up and clean, as I can't stand such a nice machine being filthy! So there is a good reason for keeping machines in a smart well painted state.

I hasten to add that any mechanical defects are taken care of and have a much higher priority than painting!

Andrew.

[Swarf, Mostly!Participant @swarfmostly]

Hi there, all,

I've just uploaded three scans of the Myford leaflet on the 1466 Countershaft Clutch – see my albums. As usual, the uploading process has rotated all three images to portrait. I apologise for the less than perfect quality of the images – they are photocopies of an A5 format document from the era before doublesided copying was available.

The modification data for the 'Guard Shield Plate' is shown on the second sheet. The instructional text is peculiar to this document: Myford Publication #714A, 'Supplement to ML7 Lathe Pictorial Parts List'. The parts list and exploded diagram content duplicates section P of the main ML7 User Manual.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

[Swarf, Mostly!Participant @swarfmostly]

Posted by Hopper on 14/05/2021 09:54:54:

The clutch visible in the posted pics back on page 1 of the thread looks to be mounted outboard of the original ML7 pulley rather than inboard like the later Super 7 type clutch. Maybe it was a Grandpa Special? Further pics would clarify.

Hopper,

I think the scans I just uploaded resolve your conjecture.

Edit:

Oops!!  Well, then again, maybe they don't!  After first posting this, I revisited the photos in page #1 of the thread.  The clutch actually fitted looks to be some 1466 parts and some original countershaft parts.  The remainder of #1466 could be lying within the belt guard on the floor.

Anyway, my uploads do show the 'official' Myford ML7 countershaft clutch, #1466 (not to be confused with either of the two versions of countershaft clutch for the Super 7) .

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 14/05/2021 11:11:27

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Andrew Tinsley on 14/05/2021 09:58:33:

…

When doing a refurb, I always try to repaint to a high standard and do the cosmetics needed. …

Since I have adopted the pristine machine mantra. I find that I tidy up and clean, as I can't stand such a nice machine being filthy! So there is a good reason for keeping machines in a smart well painted state.

…

Sounds like a recipe for making work to me! First time wasted preparing for and applying a decent paint job, presumably fretting about colour and suitability. Secondly, time-wasted keeping the machine clean for ever after, in order that the paint job can be admired.

Workshop psychology is quite interesting. We divide between those who delight in pristine conditions and those preferring to wallow in an untidy midden! It must say something about the way our brains work.

Though I claim anyone with a tidy workshop must be a neurotic fusspot I am, of course, a lazy Sod…

Dave

PS. Essential for shared workshops to be kept tidy. Although my chaos is helpful, your chaos is a dangerous abomination.

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

A friend who worked for Broadbent's told me there was a team whose only job was to apply filler (presumably cellulose) to the rough castings and sand it down ready for painting.

Your friend is correct. IIRC there were two painters when I worked there & they used polyester body filler on the castings (Isopon P38 type). After filling the castings were brush painted. Boxfords were the same, though they spray painted the parts.

This is a photo taken in the loading bay at Broadbents, probably Sping 1982. The older gent on the left was the foreman painter, I am the handsome one in the middle & the hairy chap on the other side was one of the fitters. The machine was a Hayes Digimill & I seem to think it was due to go on the stand at the Mach exhibition. The photo shoot was for the machine brochure & the photographer had a couple of shots left, so we got rounded up to finish the roll. I had wired the machine & Micheal Highley (fitter) had done the fitting on it. I had forgotton about this until it came to light in a drawer recently.

It wasn't unusual for the painters to follow a machine down the shop when it was going to be despatched, touching up the bits low down that they had not been able to get at.

Nigel B.

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Thanks for the photo, Nigel, very interesting. Sadly, my friend passed away a couple of years ago, or I would have shown it to him. He would have been at Broadbents in the 1960s, I think, or even late 50s so I would guess before your time.

Rob

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Hi Tom. If you need to see graphic work on the ML7 there are stacks of youtube video's of guys working on them. From mods to complete rebuilds.

Steve.

[Tom GraceParticipant @tomgrace60300]

Thanks everybody for the comments. I’ll have a look through your scans Swarf. Very much appreciate those – I don’t imagine they exist anywhere other than the bottom drawer of someone’s workbench!

As far as workshop psychology goes – I sit firmly in the organised chaos camp. You never know when you’ll need a broken screwdriver, a 6” long piece of pvc or three odd sized bolts – so they should always be stored at the back of your workbench close to hand!

[Tom GraceParticipant @tomgrace60300]

Having made a bit more progress on this project, I’m now in the process of replacing the quick action tailstock with the original hand wheel. I stripped the tailstock, cleaned it and reassembled it all – then found I don’t have the tailstock thrust plate.

In the midst of a lockdown, I’m considering making a temporary measure out of some 3mm aluminium plate I’ve found (that used to belong to a coffee machine). But I was wondering if someone could tell me what the original was made of.

Thanks

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

It certainly wouldn't be aluminium

[egaParticipant @ega]

mgnbuk:

That Digimill is exceedingly elegant – not a handle or knob to be seen.

[DiogenesIIParticipant @diogenesii]

Posted by roy entwistle on 30/08/2021 10:27:03:

It certainly wouldn't be aluminium

Yes – I mean no, it wouldn't – mine has a very faint fine hatched pattern, and investigation with a file makes me think it's gauge plate (ground flat stock) – it mic's up at 0.125" on the nose, and a depth gauge over the 'apex' suggests it's been cut from a 1" wide strip.

Looks like the original maker's part..

..still available from Myford  – their Ebay listing says "44mm external 25mm internal" or words to that effect..

Edited By DiogenesII on 30/08/2021 14:06:26

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

I wouldn't replace the lever feed tailstock with the handwheel type unless to prove how good the lever feed is.

Robert Butler

[egaParticipant @ega]

Posted by Robert Butler on 30/08/2021 16:51:59:

I wouldn't replace the lever feed tailstock with the handwheel type unless to prove how good the lever feed is.

Robert Butler

The only advantage over the lever feed that I can think of is that the hand wheel can be modified to display the depth of drill, etc penetration.

I have replaced the ball handle on mine with a more hand-friendly type.

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

The convenience and sensitivity of lever feed is far superior to the handwheel. Depending on the feed accuracy required, the tailstock barrel is usually calibrated and it is not a major task or expense to fit a DRO scale to the tailstock. The drill point tends to obscure the true depth as the full diameter does not extend to the point.

Robert Butler

Edited By Robert Butler on 30/08/2021 18:16:59

[egaParticipant @ega]

Valid comment about the drill point; where appropriate, I measure from the point where the tips of the flutes contact the work.

I have thought about the digital scale idea but have yet to see an implementation that I really liked.

I suppose the rack and pinion capstan feed gives the best of both worlds but I have never owned one of these.

[Author]

Posts