Member postings for ega

NJH:

You are running (correctly) on Myford time.

We had moved on to discuss the barrel locking lever.

Thanks, Robbo.

I forgot to mention that the top-mounted lever *would* foul my Radford QC tailstock tooling, a circumstance that goes some way to reconcile me to the age of my machine!

Reminds me of how cross my mother used to be if you used her dress-making scissors for paper.

Neil Lickfold:

I'm intrigued by your seemingly low-tech solution. Presumably, there is some spring and/or give in the timber for this to work?

The ring you mention seems not to be in your album now.

Robbo:

You mention the barrel locking lever (with which I am perfectly happy); do you happen to know why Myfords made the change to put the lever on top of the casting?

I had always assumed that it was felt that a vertical pad bolt would be less likely to deflect the barrel up or down and that any sideways deflection could be adjusted. More recently I saw the suggestion that the new position was intended to avoid conflict with the rear toolpost.

I think the explanation for the absence of any reference to the pin on the manual drawing is the simple one that it is part of the "assembly".

Thanks for these comments.

I aimed my post at both Super Seven and ML7 users because it seemed possible that the tailstock clamp arrangement on both machines was similar. As it happens, the illustration of Len Mason's ML7 on the front of his excellent little book clearly shows a drooping lever; what do ML7 owners say?

Robbo:

It seems clear from your post that the pin originated at Beeston. On mine, the pin had apparently not been inserted far enough and the head has been rather crudely filed down to clear the bore in the casting. Locking in the reverse direction seems counter-intuitive but might well give firmer clamping and less concern to the heavy drinker!

Neil Lickfold:

A Myford user friend in New Zealand came up with a rather refined modification of the clamp which was spring-loaded so as never to lose contact with the underside of the ways - effectively, a lockable slide. I agree about brass: gets everywhere, splinters can be hard to remove, grabs at the drill and can't be removed with a magnet!

I will keep an open mind for the time being about re-making the unit

Sandgrounder:

Thank you for your reply which suggests that my pin is indeed a modification.

I recall that someone suggested a modification to GHT's VDH to prevent the clamp lever collapsing.

I would be glad of further comments. My Harrison Graduate has a similar clamp arrangement and the lever is about half as long again.

And a rather better shot of the old guard which I have now found and photographed having added some millimetre dimensions:

The guard was simply fastened by two 3/16" capscrews to the motor base - see album photo.

Here's a photo of the NT motor with its black plastics fan cover as supplied:

Edited By ega on 15/05/2017 15:06:14

Andrew Johnston:

Thanks for the explanation. On reflection, it seems obvious that there would be little demand for an obsolete thread. I believe that the buttress thread has replaced the square for some purposes (I have a woodworking vice with a buttress thread).

Presumably, your application was a thread for a traction engine rather than a fly press. Looking into this a bit, I came across a statement that "the buttress thread combines some of the easy-working advantages of the square thread with the strength of the vee thread. ... All vee threads absorb a large amount of power."

Silly Old Duffer:

Congratulations on your success!

Adrian 2:

I have a Newton Tesla-supplied motor (Australian) on my Super Seven and manage very well without an additonal guard. I will try to post a photo later.

I did have a sheet metal guard with the previous Myford motor.

PS If you look in my Miscellaneous album the first photo shows my old shop-made guard. If it is of any use to you (and if I can find it) you would be welcome to it.

Edited By ega on 15/05/2017 14:05:37

I find I sometimes need to re-tighten the lever when drilling from the tailstock by bumping with the heel of the hand. This also struck a chord in the memory and with the help of Alex Cameron's ME index I was able to locate an article by Arnold Throp in ME 1983 3716 p520 which describes his modifications to the locking levers to address this apparent problem. It seems that AT was suffering from "Dupuytren's contracture" which "afflicts men who are heavy drinkers and men who use tools!"

As a first step I dismantled, cleaned, lubed and readjusted my tailstock which seems slightly better for this elementary attention. The eccentric is located laterally by a grubscrew protruding into a groove, a point which is not obvious from the illustration in the manual (to get at the grubscrew it is necessary to undo the adjusting screw on the lever side of the casting).

On my machine there is a pin in this groove which contacts the grubscrew when the lever is in the loose position and prevents the lever dropping beyond the horizontal. Again, this feature is not shown in the manual and I wonder whether it is a modification by a previous owner.

I am thinking of re-making the eccentric and lever and gave some thought to suitable material for the eccentric which has to resist bending in use. I have a large HT bolt which seems likely to be suitable.

Questions to Myford users:

Is the pin mentioned standard and do your levers drop?

Are you happy with the action of your levers and, if not, have you done anything about it?

As mentioned above, the situation was improved by a stripdown and I guess that in use swarf can interfere with the action of the clamp. Some time ago I fitted a front wiper to the tailstock base but it is obvious from the state of the clamp that debris has at some stage got into the interface between clamp and the underside of the bedways. There is also the point that the lever needs to be adjusted to the optimal position via the nut on the eye bolt.

Tom Senior 1939 catalogue calls them "Angle Pattern Stocks & Dies" but this name doesn't really address their two part construction.

They are shown alongside the more usual "Moorite" split circular dies.

It seems to me that the two part construction if well done would be superior in use to the split circular.

Edited By ega on 15/05/2017 11:22:36

GHT also confessed that at one stage his boring tool looked like Harry Lauder's walking stick!

One feature of the JAR/GHT/Hemingway ball turning tool is that the tool bit is very easy to shape and is capable of giving a good finish from the tool.

Neil Wyatt:

Is that a smiley on page 7 of MEW 255?

Only just glanced at my copy but Brett Meacle's article was inspirational (*and* he's a Myford fan).

[Shame one can't edit the title for redundant letter]

Edited By ega on 13/05/2017 17:18:11

Correction: King Klik

Andrew Johnston:

"Being square thread the taps shown previously were cut with a HSS toolbit"

I wonder why if acme inserts are available square thread inserts are not?

And, in hindsight, could you have got away with two or even one tap?

john carruthers:

Thanks for your response and for reminding me that I, too, have one of those useful torches.

There has been some discussion on another thread about amateur heat treatment of HSS and I was wondering how hot you went and what you did by way of quenching, tempering, etc?

So far as tempering silver steel and gauge plate is concerned, I have had some success using a deep fat fryer.

"a firm based in Todmorden"

Their brand name was King Klic

john carruthers:

Assuming it was an HSS drill shank, how did you harden it?