Member postings for Bob Mc

Dear All....

Sorry about the delay in getting back to the forum but a few distractions kept me from getting on with it...however hopefully I can now resume where I left off.

As you can imagine the lathe is quite heavy and I think I mentioned previously that I used a wheeled motor cycle lifter fitted with stout planking in order to move the heavy lump around and for lifting the bed so that it lay parallel to the surface plate which enabled me to roll the lump over onto the blued plate to check for flatness.

As a first check I used a precision rule to see where the wear on the shears was worst, laying the rule along the whole length showed that a dip occurred on the front shear around 10 inches from the headstock, the total difference in thickness was about 5 thou, this would cause problems with the saddle movement along the bed.

I would have had the bed re-ground but the cost was rather steep, my idea was to manually scrape the bed taking off only the absolute minimum of metal and if I made a pigs ear of it I could at least have it ground. At this point I have to admit that my skill level in scraping is not fantastic and I make no apologies for those who are determined perfectionists.

The idea behind scraping is that not only does it produce a good flat surface but it also provides hollows where minute quantities of oil can collect; if you have never done any scraping it is a good idea to have a look at u-tube videos and practice first before going for it.

The Utube video by Stephan Gottswinter is quite good and there are a number of articles on scraping in the Forum, which are useful albeit some members think its not worth it, too difficult, and not as good as grinding, and needs quite a lot of time and patience.

I would say that there is some truth in this but it depends on how skilful you are and whether you are looking for perfection; my opinion is that even if there are some discrepancies in the bed accuracy with amateur scraping this will soon be evident when the saddle is moved along the bed, if there is no lateral or vertical displacement when put in any position along the bed with no tight spots, I really think you are on to a winner.

I will also mention the articles in ME by Graham Sadler which provide some interesting methods in this area of Myford restoration.

The width separating the bed shears also needs to checked and the inner surface of the far shear provides a good datum for checking this.

So some pics of the process...

Bed de-rusted.

Checking bed thicknes.

Some more pics to follow in next post.

Thanks again for your comments..much appreciated.

Phil asks a couple of pertinent questions and I can say that ..yes.. you do need another functioning lathe to tackle quite a few problems for the restoration and in my case there was a need to make a couple of special tools as well using my old working lathe.

Also ..yes.. I do have a need for the Myford when fully restored, even though my old Atlas works perfectly well for most purposes it does need quite a bit of operational familiarity to get the best out of it...and anyway it ain't a Myford!

Kwill asks about the original bed grinding and I believe he is right in saying that the feet were surfaced first and provided a reference for the bed grinding, and I gave this some thought before I decided to undertake what was a time consuming although satisfying process of scraping the bed since I certainly have not got the equipment to do a professional grind job and I used a method which I will expand on if I ever get round to doing the article.

There is also the concern of levelling the bed when bolting down to a surface, and...there will most likely be some twist that will arise from fitting the heavy pulley and motor sections so there will be a case for compensating for this as well even if the feet are perfectly aligned with the bed.

Thanks again for the comments which I hope I have answered without giving too much away...

rgds..Bob.

Thanks Jon, Phil,

your posts much appreciated.

When the lathe was delivered I really did think I was losing my marbles! it took a few weeks work to see some light at the end of the tunnel and there have been some tricky problems to overcome.

I will reconsider submitting an article to Neil so I had better not spill any more beans!

thanks again...Bob.

Hi All...

Have been restoring the lathe over the past few months and I was thinking of writing a series of articles for MEW but have now decided to just put the log on the forum.

For those who remember the picture below shows what it was like the day I got it delivered, I asked a certain editor what he thought of it, to which he replied that it looked like a badgers bottom..! Cheeky b****r

The whole point of having a restoration project as this is to do as much as I could using the tools and methods that I have at hand and as economically as possible, otherwise I might as well go an buy a new one, so I make no apologies if some of these methods are not exactly industry standards, however I have used these same methods to restore an older lathe which has been quite remarkably accurate and is now a joy to work with.

It has certainly been interesting and educating, and most enjoyable to bring something back to life.

The saddle & cross-slide looked particularly nasty..below, totally locked up with rust.

The clutch & pulleys being covered up were not so bad ..

The main thing with this big lump is that it is quite heavy, I used a wheeled hydraulic motorcycle lifter so that I could move it around, the plan is to completely dismantle and start off cleaning the bed up.

The bedways when cleaned up showed that there was ~ 5 thou" wear at the headstock end, there were other dings and dangs but I was pleased that it was not too bad and was something I could take on as a scraping project. I have a large-ish surface plate which I used to check flatness, the main problem being that without lifting gear I would not be able to put the plate on the bedways, the only way I could tackle this problem was to lift the bed up on the hydraulic lifter to the same height as the plate and gingerly roll in on the plate.

Hope this might be of interest to some of you good folks, I have quite a lot of pictures to upload as yet and I think you will be surprised at what it looks like now.

More to come. Bob.

Thanks Noel,

that's very handy to know as I have just refurbished an old Super 7, I am looking for an oil gun now with the right nipple connector but not sure which one... any ideas welcome

thanks .. Bob.

I used some stuff for deadening engine noise in a car, it was cheap and effective.

Bob

Thanks everyone for your interest in this..much appreciated.

ega asks how did I manage without a tailstock ?
At the time the only option I had was to go to a night school class and make one.

By the way I am not a mechanical engineer by trade so the school metalwork shop was invaluable for giving me a start, sadly they seem to have dissapeared now. A few years later I was lucky enough to find a tailstock but the task of making a square cut ram screw and barrel at the school was an interesting experience.

The renovation and modification of this lathe has been going on for quite some time, the bedways were worn but not damaged so I had to sort that out, the edges and underside had to be done as well, and the saddle needed similar treatment.

when all put back together I was overjoyed at the smoothness of movement with no noticeable play or sticking at any point along it, I made a new topslide as there was a chunk missing out of the T slot on the original and I fitted sewing machine balance wheel handles on the leadscrew, saddle and tailstock which give a feel of smoothness and extra control, much better than the original ones made of Mazak.

I have longed to get my hands on a Myford but the prices were getting beyond the limit of what my beloved will let me have without strangulation....!

Just one last comment about the Atlas, I was told that the lathe and many others like it were part of the 'Lease Lend' agreement with America during or after the war years but I don't know how true this is.

Thanks also to Steviegtr for offer....and with a bit of luck the lump will arrive by courier sometime this week, my first job now is to swab the decks and fit a worktop to a hydraulic motorcycle lifter so I can shift it about.

nb.. picture of my old Atlas at the moment, which, if all goes well will be retired.

I have to own up....I BOUGHT IT...!

When I looked at the original listing on SRS it confirmed br's post and said they were amazed when started up it ran quite well, inside the covers for gearing & headstock it looks quite good, the rest of it is seized up ... at present...but it won't be for long..!

I should think the rust is likely not at bad as it looks but as to whether there are any problems with the bed .. time will tell, I have been looking for something like this for quite some time as my own lathe which has served me very well and is a joy to use is an Atlas 10F, unfortunately they have had a bad press but I believe the Myfords were based on these lathes, when set up properly it does accurate work.

The work I have done on the Atlas has given me the confidence to have a go at this Myford and I have just about re-made the Atlas over the years I have had it... I bought it from an old Mill in Stockport some 30 years ago for the princely sum of £25, it had been used solely for repairing the overhead power belting pulleys and I was told the mechanic who operated it asked to buy it when the company shut down, he was refused and took the tailstock as a memento.

If there is any interest I will post a log of how I am doing with it, and will probably be asking for advice somewhere along the line.

....Bob.

This is a good one if you have not seen it before...the Resistor Cube problem ..

don't cheat...have a go at it first, the solution/s are lower on page.

link

**LINK**

Ladder box wall problem...

It can be done, I spent many a happy hour trying to solve this one some years ago, and although I didn't find a solution myself the problem can be solved, here is one solution.

**LINK**

Thanks all...

I should have been clearer that the belt is a solid vee belt but will have a look at the Fenner & Gates and see what they have got.

Hi All...

I recently converted my Dore Westbury mill by removing the gearbox parts and fitted an extra central stepped pulley in order to step up the down the drive ratios, on trying it out with new vee type belts I noticed a distinct 'bump' at a particular point caused by a larger cross section of the belt at that point.

I am sure others have had this problem and although there have been reccomendations for a particular company selling v belts I was wondering if there are some belts much better than others albeit more expensive which don't have this problem.

Any advice gladly recieved.

..Bob.

Oh that's it then, I'm definately going to get another one,

When clamping at the edge of the work is the only way of holding it there is a need to balance the clamping either side... I did make my own clamp originally .. pic below.. and is nowhere near as satisfactory as the proper job, however it was a quick fix to ... tap a tap..!

Yes.. I have one of those and would not be without it, in fact I am thinking of getting another.

As Robert says above, you need to make a nice thick washer so that the eye bolt does not slip into the web space and I defy anyone to fit that eye bolt one handed underneath the table without dropping it.

I made two thick washers which fit accross the web space, a top washer is needed for the same reason as the bottom one.. see below..

...Bob...

Peter, you mentioned you are looking for a milling machine, although it may seem obvious to more experienced model engineer types, milling can be done on the lathe itself although a fixture is needed to hold the work.

Initially when I was beginning to have an interest in machining I fabricated my own fixture which was just an L shaped welded steel bracket with screw holes for mounting the work, it worked quite well so long as the depth of cut was not excessive, which you will only find by experience depending on material.

I have got some extra parts for the Atlas lathe some of which might be interchangeable for the Halifax, let me know with a pm or you can put it on this forum posting for all to see.

Rgds...Bob.

Hi Peter,

The Halifax lathe is very similar to the Atlas 10" lathe, see lathes.co.uk website.. **LINK**

I have got the Atlas lathe which I have completely modified with an electronic gearbox, these lathes unless very well looked after will most definately need attention to the bedways which will most likely be worn on all sides causing the saddle to stck when positioned along the bed to the tailstock.

There have been quite a number of Atlas lathes on Ebay recently, these lathes have not had a good press which is a shame as they are quite capable of good work if set up correctly, some people claim as good as any Myford which is similar in build.

I was virtually given the lathe and at first I was perplexed to find that the bed was worn and I was not prepared to pay for a proper re-grind so decided to take the unorthodox method of doing it myself which will no doubt cause shock and horror to proper engineers...using a small-ish surface plate and emery paper, even worse shock and horror..!

I had to make a jig to grind the bedway edges and I have recently checked the wear on the bed surface with a larger surface plate and was pleased to find very little difference along the bed, however screwing down the bed supports can cause bedway distortion and needs to be checked whilst tightening down.

Another problem I found was that the oiler hole for the headstock was never designed to deliver oil to the bearings and was blocked by the outer ring of the bearing itself, how it survived I don't know.

Well it may not be the right way of doing but the results I get are pretty accurate, certainly accurate enough for model engineering.

Bob.

Thats a good idea Derek..

I am all for making tools or finding uses for old un-used items some of which being made in times gone by are engineered very well.

I recently made a fitting for the arm which holds the dti on my lathe, the fitting is an old microscope focussing rack and pinion which holds the dti, not very inventive you may say, however it really helps in placing the probe of the dti at the top of the work or in a position where there is limited space on the work or on small diameter stuff, and I wouldn't be without it now.

I think that there must be quite a number of model engineers who have cobbled things together using discarded parts in inventive and unusual ways and I think it would make quite an interesting item for the magazine.

Bob.

On the BBC News website political section, there is an item about the amount of sewage being discharged into the rivers and a graphical representation of the amounts.

It does not mention any discharges into the sea but that's where it will all end up eventually.

There were over 3 million hours worth of raw sewage discharged in 2020 into rivers with United Utilities having the majority of 726,450 hours worth of discharges the reason being overflow water during periods of prolonged heavy rain.

As far as I am concerned there should be no raw sewage dumped into rivers. I was surprised that an old pop singer of the 70's.?or was it 80's..? can't remember...didn't like his songs anyway.. ..Fergal Sharkey, who seems to be a 'clean up the waterways' figure head campaigner has voiced his opinion that it is a disgrace.

It seems to me that there has been no concerted effort to address the problem over many years which won't get any better if the infrastructure is left to carry on as normal...with the effect that eventually the rivers will become sewage ways. And here we are lecturing about climate change when every river in England is polluted.

Thanks to all who gave their information,

The overall situation then is that only in certain circumstances does actual raw sewage get dumped into rivers and the sea, I can understand that surface water may be contaminated and I would be surprised if the phosphate levels that Roger mentions are not classed as illegal.

What does surprise me is that there seems to be little in the way of surface water being checked for pollutants and that there does not appear to be any technology to make this automated rather than there being random tests.

What would be interesting is to see a map of where the sewage outflow pipes are so we can avoid those areas when visiting coastal areas or rivers.

From what I read of the ammendment, it was not just a case of stopping raw sewage but having the companies involved to pursue reducing the levels being dumped.

..Bob.

I am trying not to be political but I am asking this question since I am not fully conversant with the treament of sewage and perhaps a forum member could provide some information as to the reasoning behind a news item that an ammendment to reduce the amount or stop raw sewage being dumped into rivers & the sea has been defeated in Parliament.

Perhaps there is an engineering principle which cannot be achieved with the treatment of sewage at present.

..Bob.