Member postings for Michael O'Connor

I have added four photos to an album. “Myford Super 7 PLUS Countershaft”

The counter shaft is 7/8” diameter. Upon closer inspection, it appears that the countershaft casting is counter-bored for oil seals. I can see some numbers but can’t make them out.

The spacer and retaining circlip present on my 1994 Super 7 is not used to retain the shaft on this Super 7 PLUS.

The oil seals are a nice addition.

Hoping someone here has taken one of these apart and can offer some advice on how the shaft is retained.

It was after business hours when I emailed James from Myford on Friday. When he replies, I will share what I learned .

Thanks for the reply.

Will take some photos later of the countershaft casting.

**LINK**

This thread was the only reference that I have found that relates the Big Bore Myford Countershaft. It was about an intermittent noise, not changing the spindle belt or disassembling the countershaft

Regards,

Mike

Hello,

I have a recently acquired Myford Super 7 PLUS (Nottingham) which has the large spindle bore and Poly-Vee Primary Drive, but still has the Vee Belt Spindle and Countershaft Pulleys. The lathe has never been used and has sat for decades (?). Sad story attached to it. As a result, many of the black oxided shafts and handles have developed surface rust and need cleaning and re-blue/ blackening. Fortunately, the ways and slides were lubricated, looked after and there are no issues there. He forgot to protect the shafts and handles or they were not looked after as carefully as the bare steel and cast iron elements.

So I was about to disassemble the countershaft when I realized that the countershaft bracket is different than my small bore Super 7, as I believe it has ball bearings instead of bronze bushes supporting the countershaft. It also doesn’t have a circlip on the left side as the original design does that allows the shaft to be easily removed. I have had several Super 7’s over the years and am completely familiar with the procedure outlined in the manual to disassemble and assemble the countershaft.

I searched this topic and found one result here that I think was from 2011 which received no response. No luck searching on the Internet either. Sorry for no link now. I am afraid that I will lose what I’ve written if I leave this page. Will reference this in the next post.

When I bought the lathe, I ordered some accessories from Myford Halifax. I asked James Bracewell if they had a manual or updated parts list for the Super 7 PLUS or Connoisseur Lathes. He told me that Myford hadn’t gotten around to it and they haven’t either yet. I received everything that came new with the Myford Super 7 PLUS from the original owner. This included the same manuals that I have for my 1994 small-bore Super 7.

Am hoping that someone here can offer some advice on the countershaft disassembly.

Regards,

Mike

Tallahassee, Florida

P.S James Bracewell from the current Myford has been an absolute star when it comes to my orders and questions. Fast response. Fast shipping. Great customer service.

Hi Paul,

I have two big dogs, a Rottweiler and a Labrador Retreiver who spend a lot of time with me. The Rotty, Gretyl is my constant companion. I try to clean up as I go. It isn’t easy, but it is much easier than pulling chips out of their paws. I just finished cleaning up my shop before I took the photos. It isn’t always this clean. You can see boxes that are still not unpacked two years after our last move behind my lathe. Keeping after it is necessary as we live in Florida so when the wife gets home from work, the first thing she loses is her shoes. I fully intend to someday build some model engines, but I have a weakness for old machinery and have spent the past 30 years restoring, making replacement parts and accessories for them as a pastime. Started with a South Bend 10K (which is similar to a Boxford), in bushel baskets, rebuilt it and sold it for much more than I bought it for. Did that a few dozen times and I have the shop now I always dreamed of. Lot of work, but sure did learn a bunch on the journey.

Model engines soon. Have a few more tooling projects first. To me, it doesn’t matter what I am working on as long as I am building something in the shop.

The Myford S7 is not the most efficient lathe I have in my shop in terms of metal removal, but it holds a special place for me. When I was young and broke, I read ME and through inter-library loan was able to read articles by George Thomas, J.A. Radford and many others who inspired me from the back issues I requested from the Detroit Public Library who has an extensive collection of ME. I lived in Western NY State and they would actually copy and mail me any articles I requested, Over the years, I worked as a machinist, toolmaker and finally a vocational instructor. Always wanted a Myford S7 and to equip it with GHT tooling. Saved for years. Bought one new from our US importer Blue Ridge Machinery in 1994. When it arrived, opened the crate only to find that Customs officials had opened the crate and removed the wood from across the lathe’s ways that secured it in the crate. However, when they put it back together they didn’t place the rust preventative paper under the piece of hardwood securing the lathe in the crate. The sea air and wood sitting directly on the ways for several years in a warehouse in West Virginia were not kind to this Myford lathe’s ways. When I removed the two pieces of wood, the area under the hardwood looked like the road salt rotten frame rails of my 1966 Ford F-250 pickup after two decades of NY winters. No kidding, the ways were pitted so badly that even if I reground the bed, it would’ve completely removed the induction hardened surface. I worked as a toolmaker for a coordinate measuring machine builder at the time and had access to a very large, perfect Okamoto grinder that would’ve easily handled the bed regrinding. Blueridge had me send it back and couldn’t offer a replacement because it was the last of their stock bought a few years prior. A replacement would be another 6 month wait and another $1500. Instead, they offered me an Emco Super 11 lathe with the same accessories I ordered for the Myford for the $6800 I paid. Took the deal as it was a great deal. Love the Super 11. Took another ten years, but finally did find a S7. I enjoy using it for small parts. It makes great parts and is a pleasure to use.

The S7 I have now is actually the fourth one I have owned and by coincidence, the same year as the first Myford that I ‘almost’ owned, well did own for about a week. Each one an improvement. The current one and my last was purchased a few years ago from a retiring clockmaker. It was hardly used and had many original accessories with it, most unused in the original boxes. Even has the original paperwork. Truly, the find of a lifetime for me. I think the clockmaker got the last good one from Blueridge Machinery in 1994. It just took a while to find its way home. We were in the process of moving from Nashville to Florida at the time, had just sold the Myford I had and my wife thought I was nuts. Don’t these deals always come along at the worst possible time?

I suppose this works for an introduction. I really like this forum. Many knowledgeable people here. Will try to post progress on projects. As I have mentioned, am new to this. Going to give it a try. No clubs or groups nearby. We live in a college town in Northern Florida. No industry nearby. Strange for me here. In Western NY where I grew up, if I needed a piece of metal, I had several suppliers within a ten minute drive. You could go to the scrap yard and sift through drops and machine shop bar ends to find what you may need and pay scrap prices or bring a dozen doughnuts for the crew. Need a cutting tool? Same thing, several sources minutes away. Different world here.

Working on a tailstock way wiper for this Myford which will also have a stop to protect the x-axis scale from the tailstock base running into it. Will start taking work in progress photos and post progress on some of my projects.

Regards, Mike

Hi Chris,

I looked up the article in MEW before I posted and the author was Barry Harrison. KWIL has answered some questions for me in the past, and I thought he had photos of this very installation in his album. If I have made a mistake, I sincerely apologize. Just want to thank everyone involved.

Sorry for the double post. I will wait longer next time. I am new at this forum stuff. Please bear with me.

Thanks!

Regards, Mike

While trying to navigate this forum and figuring out how to post in order to ask a question today, I realized that I owe Barry Harrison aka ‘KWIL’, I believe, a long overdue thank you for his article in MEW December 2002/ January 2003 and his posts here on installing a Newall DRO on a Myford S7 lathe.

What was unique about his installation concept is the ability to retain full use of the rear bed mounted taper attachment. I have actually completed this on two different S7 lathes I have owned over the years. Long story, sold the first one due to a cross country move. Big mistake. Just made more work in the end. Recently completed the second one. Here are some photos. Happy to answer any questions.

Edit: Thanks Barry Harrison for the concept in his MEW article and thanks to Ken Wilson (KWIL) for the photos in his album of a very similar installation and for answering my questions during my first installation, especially for pointing me to the article on the front mounted ‘MYFORD SADDLE LOCK’ by Don Ainley. Not sure what issue, but think it was in ME. Thanks Chris Tice for setting me straight.

Myford S7 Serial #SK164898 (1994?)

Rear view of the encoder mounting and installed taper attachment.

Back of lathe view showing chip guards, DRO cable protection and display/light mounting.

Required extensions for taper attachment. Z axis scale and taper attachment are mounted to a steel plate which is attached via the original T/A mounting tapped holes. T/A is installed lower than original mounting necessitating the distance be made up with new extensions.

Installation requires moving the carriage lock to the front of the lathe. Sorry for the rotated photos. Can’t seem to fix this.

Edited By Michael O'Connor on 08/02/2019 23:59:55

Hi Baz,

Yes, that is a Bison 4” Diameter 5C collet chuck. Bison even sells a 1-1/8”-12 BSW backplate for it.

**LINK**

I purchased mine from New England Brass & Tool. (USA)

This is a standard Bison item.

4” Bison 5C Collet Chuck (Plain Back) #7-862-0401 $495

Fully Machined Threaded Adapter 4” No.7-922-046 $95

Very happy with mine. The 4” diameter is the perfect size for the Myford lathe. Not available in a Set-Tru type.

Thank you Ifoggy, Baz, Tony, Saxalby and John for your replies. Much appreciated!

In the past, I had a Vertex BS-0 that had an 1-1/2”-8 UN spindle, which is what they sell in North America. That one had a No.7 B&S spindle taper. The Brown & Sharpe spindle taper was traditionally used in the past for dividing heads. I have a much larger Ellis D/H that I use on my Bridgeport milling machine. It is 1950’s vintage and has a No.9 B&S taper in the spindle nose. I think Vertex and others originally used the B&S taper in their B&S D/H copies but recently changed to Morse taper because of the difficulty in sourcing B&S tooling these days and the Morse taper tooling is so much more common. Try to find an ER collet chuck with a B&S taper. Maybe they actually listened to their customers feedback. Makes more sense anyway.

Totally aware of the threaded chuck unscrewing potential problem. Wouldn’t use this D/H for heavy milling. Mostly second operation work like drilling, milling flats and gear cutting. With the limited thread engagement, only light duty work would be attempted. Mainly wanted a smaller D/H to use on a smaller Rockwell horizontal milling machine I have. The table is only 6”x 24” and my Ellis D/H is a bit too big for it especially if there a setup that requires a foot stock (tailstock).

Thanks again for the replies!

Edited By Michael O'Connor on 08/02/2019 21:31:40

Hello Mark,

I had a similar problem with the QCGB of my Myford S7. The sealing washers on the QCGB drain plug and the cover for the lower mounting screw on my lathe were neoprene. I noticed the part number and description in the Myford manual called out Dowty washers. After finding out what they were and sourcing them from the UK (I am in the USA) I replaced them. However, it still leaked. I put a pan under the gear box and was fairly confident the leak was coming from there because I had to constantly top it off. Kind of hard to isolate an oil leak on the Myford because of the total loss oil system. Also was second guessing myself on wether I installed the o-rings properly between the QCGB and the bed on assembly when I originally moved the lathe.

​​This is the pan I used.

When the Dowty washers arrived, I drained the QCGB and by chance looked at the sealing surface of the drain plug with a mirror and flashlight. Found a low spot that appeared to be galling from the spot facing when it was machined.

I removed the QCGB, cleaned it with mineral spirits to remove all traces of oil, especially in the threads for the drain plug. Packed the threads with cotton balls and carefully draw filed the spotface flat. Carefully removed the packing in the threads and cleaned everything again.

Reassembled everything again with new Dowty washers. After several months of monitoring, am pleased to report that the QCGB is no longer leaking.

Hope this may help someone else who is frustrated by their Myford QCGB leaking.

Kind regards,

Mike

Hello,

I just purchased a Vertex BS-0 Dividing Head with the 1-1/8”-12 BSW Myford spindle nose from Rotagrip. Wanted the capability to transfer the chucks and other spindle tooling from my Myford S7 to a dividing head directly. Because I live in the USA and returning this would be very expensive, I emailed and spoke with Rotagrip directly to make sure this model would have a Myford spindle nose. They assured me it does indeed.

Upon inspection, it does have the correct thread and a spot on 1.250” register diameter. Spindle is heat treated and the threads and register are ground. Threads need to be deburred at both ends, but everything is in order. Except the distance from the end of the spindle to the register shoulder. The Myford lathe spindle is a nominal 1” length and the dividing head is 0.865” or approximately 1/8” shorter.

The problem with the missing 1/8” of thread is that the Myford Burnerd chucks, faceplates, etc. only engage 2-1/4 turns. With a thread lead of 0.083”, that is only 3/16” of thread engagement. With a hardened D/H spindle thread and cast iron chuck backplates, that could be a potential problem with cracking or failure of the cast iron internal threads.

My questions to other BS-0 D/H owners: Are your D/H spindles 7/8” long and has this ever been an issue for you?

Another odd thing with this unit is that it came with a lathe dog, I am guessing, instead of a proper dog driver. See photos below. The 2MT center has the short parallel diameter to attach the dog driver. Not a big deal to make one, just curious that it wasn’t included. The blank chuck backplate has a 1.250” register diameter that is too short to be mounted on the Myford lathe spindle but it doesn’t have a slot to drive the supplied lathe dog. Any work dog would need to be held captive on a D/H, so that probably isn’t what was intended. Have other owners received a proper dog driver?

Ian at Rotagrip told me this model of BS-0 (Model T) has been discontinued and he believes this was the last one he had in stock. I wanted to ask of others experiences with this model before contacting Rotagrip.

Thanks for taking a look.

Regards,

Mike

Hello Neil,

Will this special issue be sent to ME and MEW subscribers or is this a separate purchase?

Regards,

Mike

Thank you Andrew for the very detailed and informative response to my post. Your confusion is due to my incorrectly referring to the Saddle Strip (Front) Myford KA7 #A9185 as a "Front Gib Strip". What I was wondering was if your lathe was using the Saddle Strip to lock the carriage. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for the insight.

Thank you Cabeng for documenting your Myford S7 Newall DRO installation in MEW No.87 (Dec.2002/ Jan.2003) and for your response to my carriage lock question. It looks like an external lock may be the best solution.

Kind regards,

Mike

Here is a photo of the Myford Factory Newall DRO installation with front mounted carriage lock. Note the counterbored SHCS to the left of what appears to be the original location of the right hand SHCS to secure the front gib strip. The use of the original location (with a sleeve to fill the counterbore?) to lock the saddle by squeezing the front gib strip? Does anyone have any knowledge of this modification?

Thanks,

Mike

Hello,

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but it contains posts by two members who I believe can answer my question.

Just purchased all of the Newall components to add a DRO to my Myford S7. Researching this forum I found several references to the problem of moving the carriage lock to the front of the saddle. Two photos show what appears to be the right hand counterbored location of the front saddle gib strip being used to lock the saddle. In the Myford factory DRO installation, it appears that they added another SHCS to the left of the original location to hold the front gib strip and shim with the original location being used as a lock.

My question is: Did Myford just use the original front gib strip to lock the carriage or did they actually use something similar to the original lock?

The original counterbore for the right hand gib strip SHCS is too far from the bed to use that location for a similar to the original design carriage locking device. There appears to be room to the right of this location (end of the front gib strip) to install something. Would love to hear about what others have done to solve the problem. I would like to keep my new carriage lock on the saddle.

Please see photo in next post below.

Thanks!

Regards,

Mike

Edited By Michael O'Connor on 01/01/2015 01:28:07