Member postings for Grotto

I'm also planning to have a crack at making some.

I bought some from AR which are great. Topped up with a few more from RDG or Chronos, but there was a fair amount of variability between them, some perfect, others not so. The AR ones are much harder steel which is good unless you want to mill a bit off them so you can use 12mm shank tools.

Videos make it look so easy, but from experience it never turns out that way (for me).

Hi George

I'll post some photos when I pick it up next week.

The rear tool post height is too high (unless for some weird reason my ML7 chuck is too low). Chronos did offer to refund/replace if I returned it, but postage (from NZ) was too expensive for me to bother. My first project when I get the mill is to take a tad off the bottom of the tool post to correct this.

I've been using a HSS blade in it which I've ground to be the correct height when fitted. It works surprisingly well given my lack of experience/skill at tool grinding.

Thanks guys

Sudden change of plans.

Having decided to buy the RF-35, I saw a Bridgeport clone for sale, and ended up buying that instead.

Quite a bit more expensive, but it comes with a load of tooling and accessories.

Hopefully I'll never need to upgrade.

No doubt I'll have a bunch of questions once it's installed & running.

Thanks, I've found loads of RF mill drills, but not a RF-35.

It's a round column, but looks more like a RF-45.

The screw for the power feed head looks like it would keep head concentric when moved up or down.

I've been looking for a millimg machine for a couple of years. I was hoping to get a Bridgeport or similar, but the ones I can afford all seem to be extremely well used.

I've seen a Rong Fu RF-35 round column mill/drill which looks like it hasn't been abused, and has a verical power feed which appears to stop head rotating when it's adfjusted up/down (although I don't think the stuff I use it for will neccessitate this).

When I google RF-35 I only seem to get results for Radial Drills.

I wondered if anyoner had come across one of these, and if so are they any good?

Thanks

Thanks for that,

I've ordered some bearings, and when they arrive will have a go at modifying cross slide & vertical slide.

Probably be back with a few questions!

Checked the housing on my vertical nslide and it's a different size, so I guess that's not an option...

I haven't got a mill, so mod will have to be done on the lathe (as shown on Arc Euro site). It doesn't look too difficult.

I'm also not sure I have the required experience or skill to make a new on from scratch, even if I had a mill, maybe one day...

I may keep an eye out for a housing online, as I'm nervous If it goes wrong I'll end up in a worse position, as getting a replacement down here would be difficult & expensive

Will also check if the housing on my vertical slide is interchangeable.

Thanks for the advice

I was wondering if anyone had fitted the arc euro Myford ML7 Cross Slide Leadscrew Thrust Bearing Modification?

I've got a reasonable amount of back lash and as thought this may help, but wondered if anyone had tried it?

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/projects/MYF001/myford-cstb-mod.html

I've used cork floor tile (4mm thick) which I had leftover, and some billiard table felt which someone was going to chuck out.

I used some thin leather once, but something in it reacted with the spanners causing them to rust and stick to the leather.

I'm not blaming/dogging the seller, but the whole unit came as a package specific for the ML7.

I reckon this would be a good solution, but I'm not confident I'd get the angle/width exact enough. Maybe if I had more experience

Both ends give the same height unfortunately

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

The parting tool, inserts, and toolpost were a package deal, so I don't think that changing the parting tool will fix the issue.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a supplier here in NZ to get the item from, otherwise it would be easy to fix.

I'll ask around and see if I can find someone local with a mill who can have a crack at it. I've been meaning to go along to the Model Engineering club for ages, so this is a good incentive.

Supplier has offered a refund or exchange, but wants the toolpost back to see if it's out of spec., so can't really complain too much about service.

It works very well despite being 2mm high, which surprised me, as 2mm off centre on the front tool post would not work at all.

The bottom of the toolpost isn't flat, so I can't face off 2mm in the 4 jaw.

I can't file the parting tool as it fits tightly in the slot in the toolpost.

I may be able to use a flycutter, will have to make one and have a try on some scrap first. I'm a bit nervous about taking some of the ridge which fits snugly in the slot on the cross slide.

Thanks,

I don't have access to a mill and don't fell confident about doing it on the lathe, so will have to get an engineering shop to do it.

If the issue is with the toolpost it will be easier/cheaper to get a replacement.

Hi All

I recently purchased a rear toolpost to solve my issues with parting off.

It arrived from the UK, and works very well, but the tip of the parting insert sits about 2mm above centre, so work is not completely parted (it leaves around 4mm nipple).

I've contacted the supplier and they've offered a refund or replacement, but I'll have to post it back, which is reasonably expensive and slow.

Can someone let me know what the distance from top of cross slide to centre should be on an ML7 - I'm trying to work out if the issue is with my lathe or the toolpost. I've measured the distance from top of cross slide to parting tip and it's about 2.1".

If the issue is the toolpost I'll get a replacement, if the issue is my lathe, I'll see if I can get a couple of mm milled off the base of the toolpost.

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

Based on the positive comments from users of the kit-q-cut I'm planning on ordering one of those.

I'll look at getting a rear tool post for parting larger diameter rods which I do occasionally.

As an aside, I tightened/adjusted the jib screws on my lathe yesterday, and it seems to be parting better with my current tool, so I reckon that was part of the problem.

Thanks for the advice.

I don't have a long top slide, just the standard one. Would this mean I would have to remove the rear tool post when it's not in use?

I did think about the Hemmingway kit, but don't have a mill, and I'm not 100% confident I'd make a good job of it.

I'm tossing up if I should get the Kit-q-cut, or a rear toolpost with replaceable tips.

thanksThe old thread I read talked about rear toolpost for parting, but a few people reckoned if you had a decent parting tool you didn't need to go down that road.

I've never used a rear toolpost and don't know anything about them, other Han you use them for parting.

Are they used for anything else?

Are they a hassle to set up (do you leave them on, or have to remove them when not in use)?

If I'm going down that road, what's a good model to get?