Member postings for Nige

I have been looking at options for a quick change type tool holder for my ML4 along the lines of the Chronos offerings. My query is about how much, if at all, the tool holder can overhang the limits of the compound slide it would be mounted on. I tried to make a simple drawing of my query which is in an obviously named album.

Though the main body of the tool post might be wholly supported by the compound slide it looks as if any tool holder that mounts to the post might overhang the compound slide 'footprint'. Is this normal and not something I should be worrying about ?

Thanks, Nige

Michael: Thank you for the info on the ML7, it makes sense that there would be some 'standardisation' of fasteners across the range of products.

ega: The BSI Standards reference is interesting. I know from my own experience, from just before we went metric with a vengeance, that we did indeed use Whitworth and BSF down to 1/4 inch and BA threads for anything smaller. However, we used to manufacture a LOT of iron work, Main Distribution Frame (MDF) extensions mostly, which had a seemingly huge number of BA threaded holes ! It seemed that sometimes the monotony of tapping holes was only relieved by the other monotonous task that came into the workshop, that of cutting and then arc welding hundreds of feet of mild steel to make overhead cable runway: ahh, the joys of a BT regional workshop

Nige

Thank you ega and Clive. I do have BA taps and dies so I could make a comparison as ega suggests. Not sure what small Whitworth taps and dies aI have but will check. I have ordered a set of Whitworth thread pitch gauges so that will help check Clive's suggestion. Thanks again

Nige

Can anybody help me with the thread size on the gib strip adjusters on the Myford ML4 please? Those on the compound slide and cross slide appear to be a smaller diameter than those for the half nut gib strip on the apron. I don't yet have thread pitch gauges for the 'imperial' threads so removing one to check doesn't yield me any useful data at the moment ! Imperial pitch gauges next on a growing shopping list !! Many thanks.

Nige

Neil. I love your 'f' reference. Tickled me considering the contents of another thread 😀 I'm new here but enjoying being here; keep up the good work 😀👍

Nigel

A copy of L.H. Sparey's book "The Amateur's Lathe" dropped through the letter box this afternoon and is proving an interesting read. It speaks directly to me as 'newcomer' looking to setup his first lathe and uses English as you don't see it written much these days; a delight to read I seem to be doing a lot of reading recently so its just as well I enjoy it When is the next MEW due through the letterbox

Nige

I have been gathering info on the Myford ML4 I inherited. It is becoming a 'project' which can't really start until we move house and current workshop gets packed up and unpacked into the 'new' one. I had broken the lathe down, taking off easily removable parts that I could carry alone. The headstock was removed from the bed so breaking up the gear train into two 'lumps' the headstock lump, mandrel and tumblr and the lathe bed lump, all the rest, banjo lead screw gear etc.

Did I say its at least 35 years since I used a lathe in anger and never had to change gears for screw cutting like you do with the ML4 let alone strip one down and put it back together.

The lathe came with a load of spare bits including some extra gears which I now know are to change screw cutting parameters. I have been doing some reading up on the ML4 thanks in part to Tony Griffiths publications and info from a link on another thread in one of our forums here. In all the reading I kept coming across the term DP20 with reference to the Myford gears so today I devoted a bit of time to finding out what the term DP meant. having read some slightly techy maths stuff like DP = number of teeth + 2 divided by OD I fetched the spare gears from the workshop, got out a couple of measuring sticks and started counting teeth, measuring outside diameters and proving the maths to myself.

At the end of an hour I had a better understanding of simple gears, DP and PCD. next on the study list is gera angle and other slightly more technical gear stuff

As it has been vernier calipers and micrometers that caused me to ask this question originally I finally got round to acquiring digital versions of both from eBay, (other outlets also exist A digital 0.01mm 150mm vernier and a digital 0.001mm 25mm micrometer. A joy to use and easy to read

Nige

Thanks again folks, more food for thought. I will have a word with my optician with regard to getting my prescription and getting Tesco to fulfil them

Nige

Thank you all for your input and ideas. Looks like the Optivisor is the business. I have quite a large astigmatic correction in my lenses so something that I can wear over the top of them is ideal, my glasses will take care of the astigmatism while the Optivisor should give me the xtra bit of magnification I need. Again, thank you everybody

Nige

Although I have varifocal glasses for normal wear I am having trouble reading and seeing small stuff like the scales on micrometers and verniers etc. Does anybody have any recommendations from personal experience of useable vision aids that are worn over glasses please.

Many thanks, Nige

Thank you Phil. I suspected that was the case but good to have confirmation. I had believed my Myford to be an ML2 but as it measures 3 1/2 inch it looks like it is an ML4. The copies of old Myford documentation have the ML2 as a 3 1/8 inch lathe while the ML4 is 3 1/2 inch. Still learning Thanks again

Nige

Trying to determine whether my Myford lathe is a 3 1/2 inch or 3 1/8 inch version but unsure what that dimension refers to. Looking for enlightenment please

Thanks in advance

Nige

That Title should read Myford ML2 Thread Dial Indicator but I cant edit it

Can anybody tell me if the Thread Dial Indicator from either of the Myford 7 series lathes will fit the ML2 please? Many thanks.

Edited By Nige on 27/05/2017 13:46:29

Edited By Nige on 27/05/2017 13:50:49

Thanks for your reply Neil

At this moment headstock is not on the lathe. i am assuming I need the headstock in reasonable alignment with the travel of the saddle before I try and turn anything OR, should I get headstock mounted as best I can then skim the bar and then finally align the headstock using the freshly skimmed bar? I can see some sense in doing it that way: Have I got that right please ?

i recently inherited a nice Myford ML2. To get it home I stripped of the 'heavy' bits including the headstock. I have been looking at techniques for testing parallelism of cut etc. (Isn't YouTube great) My cunning plan is to fit the headstock and tighten the three fixings, mount a piece of round stock in the three jaw chuck then run a DTI mounted on the cross slide up and down the round stock checking to see how far 'out' things are.

First question is: for a first approximation how long a piece of bar should I have sticking out of the chuck? Then how many thou per inch of bar should I aim for at this stage. I know that at some point down the line I will be doing test cuts so starting figures are what I think I need.

I realise the headstock alignment has to be checked in the vertical and horizontal planes.

Should I get the bed mounted in its final position first? I haven't decided how or on what it will finally be mounted yet. Lots of decisions and I'm not quite sure of the best order to do things. I would appreciate any advice please.

Thank you both for the welcome 😀 No Alan I wasn't aware of the Quainton MES though not surprised they exist considering the steam railway out there. They are very close to me but I'm not rushing to join a club or society just yet as we shall be moving to Peterborough in the not to distant future an,d from the little I have read here, there is an active MES group there😀

Hi good people. I am starting again in engineering having been out of it for 30 plus odd years. My return has been prompted by the inheritance of a Myford ML2 from my Brother in law, now deceased. I have an appreciation of turning and many other engineering practices but almost no relevant or current experience.

The ML2 appears to be in reasonable condition for its age and I am looking forward to the coming experiences of getting it in to good working order as a brilliant place to learn and practice lots of new skills and techniques.