Member postings for Lambton

"Lots of engineers reference books give tables of cutting speeds for various metals. You can turn over quickly - they don't apply to you and me."

Absolutely correct. Most of these tables were developed during WW2 when maximum production rates were vital to the war effort. The machines used were very rigidly made Ward and Herbert capstan lathes both of which had enormous headstock bearings and slideways etc. Just use the speeds and feeds that your particular machine and job are "happy with" and ignore these tables.

Steve,

Make a simple test with scrap materials with the same clearances etc as your crankshaft and try it. If it works please let us all know.

Kit,

First ensure that your tail stock is correctly aligned with the headstock.

Then try using spotting drills instead of centre drills for starting drills. Spotting drills are now standard practice in engineering and as they have no small diameter pilot they are much more robust than traditional centre drills. (However if you need a centre in the end of a piece of stock for turning between centres or for providing tail stock support you will still need to use a traditional centre drill).

I stopped using centre drills for drill starting a few years ago after trying spotting drills.

Kit,

Please get yourself a proper Myford hand book for your lathe as it will tell you exactly how to adjust the tailstock.

PDF copies can be downloaded free or Myford will sell you a copy.

Sarah,

A 3 jaw drill chuck will be OK for drilling applications but will not be any good for milling as the cutter will work loose. I also recommend that you get a chuck compatible with your draw bar rather than on with a tang.

If the run out on your ER 32 collet chuck really is excessive then Michael is probably correct - try it. Nothing very confusing about it!

Good luck.

Chris.

Try this link

**LINK**

Tom,

I am pleased that you have obtained a manual.

Last year I put new rear bearings in my Super 7, quite unnecessarily as it turned out, but in the going I carefully examined the front bearing and the spindle. The original scraping marks showed all around the front bearing bush and the spindle surface was like a mirror. The bush has a single oil groove that obviously is in the 6 o’clock position along the axis of the bush stopping just short of each end. There is no point in having more than one groove as it is only in the 6 o’clock position that it can function as an oil distribution “gallery”. Additional grooves would probably act as oil scrapers and so interfere with the oil film between the bush and the spindle. A single groove in this type of application is standard engineering practice.

The reason I elected to replace the two rear angular contact ball bearings was that after I bought a better oil gun and pumped oil into them they became noisy at speeds over about 800 rpm. This was a strange and not nice sound. After putting in the new SKF bearings and adjusting the headstock as per the Myford service instructions I got exactly the same noise after pumping oil into the new bearings. Careful examination of the old bearings showed they had no faults. After a little research on the net I found out that over lubrication of such bearings will make them noisy presumably due to the excess oil being churned up by the balls and their cages. I have now removed the oil nipple from the rear bearing and replaced it with a flip top oiler which I apply oil to dropwise, a few at a time from a normal oil can before starting work and occasionally during the work if necessary. By this method I can control the amount of oil going into the bearings which is not possible using the oil gun. All is now quiet.

On the subject of over oiling this should not be possible for the front bush if the spindle position is adjusted correctly i.e. with the minimum radial clearance as per Myford instructions. If you look at the illustration on page 19 (fig 27 ) of your manual you will see that the lubricator (7) is quite a bit below the bottom of the spindle so no oil can run into the bearing by gravity (a big problem with the previous ML7). Oil can only get to the spindle via the capillary action of the wick. So although the lubrication is a “total loss type” the loss will be absolutely minimal providing the bearing is adjusted properly.

The O rings incorporated in the raising blocks are to prevent coolant rather than lubricating oil running out of the drip tray into the cabinet.

It may be that some owners pump oil into the front bearing but this is not how the lubrication system was designed and is certainly not necessary – just keep the lubricator (item 7) topped up with grade 32 hydraulic oil (Esso Nuto H32 or similar).

Tom,

Kwil has given the necessary instructions. I strongly advise you to obtain a proper Super 7 handbook which tells you all about the maintenance and use of the machine. Well worth the investment.

John, Jason and Neil,

Many thanks for your detailed and lucid explanations which are much appreciated.

Diane,

I asked simply because I did not know the answer. Now I do I am perfectly happy.

What are the duties and powers of the various moderators for this forum?

I do not think the maker of the thread locking material is as important as getting the correct grade for the job in hand.

Nicholas,

I have not seen a chuck without slot identification marks. look into the actual slot , level with the scroll at the outer edge . One of the problems with some Far Eastern chucks is that slot numbering is not punched very deep making difficulty in reading. Have a good look however as there will be some marks.

Nicholas,

Self-centering chucks, whether 3 or 4 jaw, have to be assembled in a particular sequence.

First, as already suggested identify the numbered jaws and the numbered slots.

With the chuck on its back on the bench turn the scroll round, observing the number one slot until the outermost end of the scroll appears, then turn it back a little just enough to allow the No 1 jaw to enter the slot and push the jaw down as far as it will go (not very far) then turn the scroll so that it engages the first tooth of the jaw and starts to pull it inwards verifying correct engagement. Turn the scroll until it appears in the No 2 slot and repeat the above with the no 2 jaw and so on with the other two jaws.

This procedure ensures that all the jaws are synchronised with the scroll.

This should solve the problem.

Paul.

I suggest you try opening up the die a bit to produce a slightly shallower thread. This may help.

Otherwise talk the Keetan at Arc- he is very helpful.

Peter,

"It's painin' us!".

The lad was probably speaking in his local dialect. In the North East people often use "us" instead of "me, however he did at least make himself clear to you. I do not think there is anything wrong with local dialect being used in everyday speech but standard English should be used when writing.

I do not like to the modern persistent use of "like" by youngsters throughout their conversations.

If the chuck sticks due to friction rather like the way a railway locomotive wheel sticks to the steel track then all you need are some wet leaves..........

George,

Aye that's it.

I have received excellent service from DRO. I recently purchased a left hand digital calliper (although I am right handed) for use when measuring work held in the chuck. The calliper is excellent but takes a little bit of getting used to.

For my main calliper I now use a Starrett IP67 waterproof model and find it truly excellent. I have a couple of elderly Mitutoyo ones that have both eventually produced transient results mainly due to the design of the battery compartment which could be better. Both work better with silver batteries.

Neil have you "moderated" my recent post?

I absolutely agree with Brian. as a general rule, that customers should not have to correct manufacturing faults but in this instance I feel that the item as supplied would be quite OK with a parting tool made from a HSS blank or with a shop bought conventional tool. The problem is that Grotto is using an inserted tool where the insert cutting edge is well back from the bottom edge of its holder. See his second photo.

Grotto,

You can cut off the bottom tongue and fly cut the base as suggested. You will just have to manually align the tool holder at ninety degrees with the machine axis.

You could consider cutting a step in the inserted tool holder to lower it by the required 2mm. On reflection this would probably be the quickest and simplest answer.