ML1 Worn Saddle adjustment

Thank you for the encouragement Howard, yes my ML1 has the lower centre height and 7/8" nose thread.

Having skimmed a bit of brass yesterday I took the plunge and put it to work today, faced off the cast brass bracket in the photo and then bored the centre out to the new size and correctly centred, well better than it was. Then in a case of extreme tapping I cut the 3/4" thread. Really only did it this way as the tap is too big for my 1/2" chuck, but it all went well. Took me hours of course but I had fun doing it.

Last night I was reading a forum thread about gip strips, people having bought Seig mills and replacing the steel strip with brass. I wonder if it might be worth it for my lathe?

Does anyone sell steel shim in narrow strips? I made a few up from brass then dropped one in between the bed ways, thought if I'd used steel a magnet would have got it out, for now its a feature! (-:

Cheers

Chris.

You can buy guage plate in strips.

regards Martin

Chris,

Nice to see the lathe in action, I hope you get lots of use and enjoyment out of it.

Regards

Brian

Thank you Martin, any thoughts on suppliers? I can only find the thicker stuff......

Thanks Brian, its been a long time coming but today was a good day. I'm quite sure there's more adjustments and tweaking to do and I'm sure many foibles to contend with, but Iv'e learnt so much already this year, this forum is just great!

Cheers

Chris.

As a "quick and nasty", baked bean tins seem to be made from tin plate which is about 0.010" thick.

It might be worth trying different types of tin, such as sardine tins, in case they are any thinner, or thicker.

Cooking foil is probably only about 0.001" thick, and is probably not going to be long lasting, but might do as a short term fine tune.

Do make a centre height gauge. We are not on piece work, but it will save time and frustration in setting tools.

Glad to see that you are up and running, and climbing the learning curve. Nothing succeeds like success. Every job that you do will increase your confidence and experience..

If you can find a couple more 20T changewheels, get them. To get the finest feed, you need three.

One from a ML7 will be OK, once you have drilled a 3/32 hole into one side of it for the driving pin. The bore and width are the same; as are the DP and Pressure Angle

Not long ago, I did this with an ex ML7 60T gear, so that a chap could set up a 20:60/20:65/20:60 gear train.

This gave a feed of 0.0043"/rev as a fine feed, using the Leadscrew. The 65T needed to be on the middle stud to avoid a clash between the two 20:60 meshes..

One other job for the "Round Tuit" might be to make a mandrel handle. This will be handy when you come to cut threads, even with Taps or Dies. It will allow you to turn the Chuck slowly (Ideal when cutting up to a shoulder )

Making it will involve some plain turning, a couple of short tapers, and two external, and two internal screw threads. These need only be 1/4 BSF, 1/4 UNF or M6.  1/4 BSF would be ideal to keep in with the rest of the Whit form threads on the lathe.

A bit of hacksawing and filing will be required, but nothing too complicated.

PM me with an E mail address, and I'll send a picture of the one that I made for a ML4

Howard

Edited By Howard Lewis on 12/12/2019 20:36:00 Fat Fingers!

Edited By Howard Lewis on 12/12/2019 20:37:00

Thank you Howard.

Next to my lack of knowledge is lack of time, so telling me exactly what gears I need for a slow feed is great. So far my power feed is not in action but I will look at what changewheels I have. I was kind of hoping to find some period wheels without the keyway but then was put off as had read DP & angles are not all the same. I'm not pretending to know exactly what that means but realise if they are not right the gears will not mesh properly which is all I really need to know right now. I will look for ex ML7 wheels to replace those I might need.

I was aware of mandrel handles and centre height gauges, I will PM you thanks, and look around at height gauge ideas, I certainly need one of those.

I had seen those boat type rocker tool posts available but the small one at arc euro is a 1/8" too big for my 3-1/8" centre height.

Cheers

Chris.

Hello Chris,

Some time ago I put together a pdf for gearings to all manner of pitches that is applicable to all lathes with 8 tpi leadscrews. Those are based around the standard set of change wheels that were provided with Myford lathes, you will just need to add a wheel of 63 teeth to make the metric conversions. Some duplications will be also needed but the accuracy is very good; error margins are listed for each value

Send me your email address if you would like a copy.

wood_y(at)btinternet(dot)com all lower case and be sure to include an underscore between the d and y

Regards Brian

Am not a fan of boat type tool holders. As you adjust the tool to set the tip on centre height, the rake angle varies, usually tending to increase.

To maintain angles constant, shimming is a better way of setting tools, IMO..

The Tangentiial Tool has much to recommend it for newbies. There is only one face to grind for sharpening, and once you have a centre height gauge, setting the toolbit to centre height is easy.

For those who do not know it, the ML1 is a small, light lathe, capable of good work, in the right hands. but is a child of its era; the late 30s, and has the foibles of its three sister machines.

The Cross and Top Slide leadscrews are 12 tpi, making for some interesting graduations of the dia!s.

The Apron handle moves the Saddle in the opposite direction to that of later lathes, and for power fed turning, or screwcutting right hand threads, requires a three stage gear train.

Once you come to terms with these features, and it is correctly set up, it is a capable machine.

Howard

Thank you Brian, have just emailed you.

Thank you Howard, received your email and will reply properly tomorrow.

Cheers

Chris.

Hi Chris,

I would use cast iron or steel for a gib strip before brass. Not only is it cheaper but it's better wearing and less 'grabby' when lube is neglected. Brass tends to smear on a sliding surface.

Pete.

Hello Chris,

Your email hasn't reached me---did you miss out the underscore? That is the usual mistake people make.

Try again wood_y(at)btinternet(dot)com no spaces, all lower case and the tricky underscore

Regards

Brian

Hi Brian, thank you, I have tried again and sent you a PM with my email too,

Cheers

Chris.

Thanks Pete, I wonder why those Seig owners use brass then, horses for courses I suppose!

Cheers

Chris.

It's easy to machine and it's shiny. It'll do the job but it's a bit too soft. You don't want too soft a material as it'll form a lap with the dirt it collects and will wear shiny in a very short time. tHe shiny surface squuezes out all oil then the brass starts to smear. If you look at a machine that has a brass gib you'll probably see evidence of black and gold streaks in the opposite face.

If you're near North Kent I could give you some solid advice on the condition of your lathe and how to get around your wear issues.

Thank you Pete, so maybe they should use bronze which is a bit harder, though likely still a bit soft and more expensive.

I will leave my gips as they are, they seem quite happy right now .

Thank you for the offer of assistance, I'm in Somerset though so rather a distance.

Cheers

Chris.