Myford ml3

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Be grateful for small mercies, Sean ... It's probably better that way than 'matching the apron but not fitting the bed'

Measure up the two [non] mating surfaces, and put a sketch in your album ... Someone is sure to come up with a bright idea.

MichaelG.

Will do Michael, I have a couple of ideas involving two dowels in the middle ,two flush fitting screws outside of the dowels . There's a local guy who has a small machine shop, I might ask if he would be willing to do it .

Sean

Great progress. That assembly is a super bargain. I'd say that the fit is pretty good for something we knew wasn't the genuine ML3 part. The apron from Sparky's album picture shows the two screws use bosses and not a continuous ledge along the top of the apron.

Option 1. I would line one of them up and file a flat on the inside of the apron to screw on a bracket.

Option 2. I assume the front of the new saddle has a couple of holes to fit the apron from whatever lathe it originally came from so you could attach a small plate there to drop down in front of your apron.

Above all just be careful when drilling not to force anything and crack a casting.

Edited By sean logie on 08/09/2016 07:49:06

Isn't that strange. Probably means it has never been finished, hence not used. I wonder if it has been around for 60 years passing from one engineer to another thinking 'I can do something with that one day'

Yes, use the existing hole closest to the chuck so the slide can get as close as possible to the work. Also I hope you noticed the saddle handwheel gears modification on Sparky's one. Something to do later..

The handle end is often loose if it hasn't been adjusted. Not a problem but a feature of almost all lathes so no worry.

If you know someone with a wood lathe they might make you a plywood pulley set to start you off. You need one about 8 inch dia to receive the belt from the motor, and a 3 step one like on the lathe for the next stage. You can use a shaft in plummer blocks if you can find some scrap ones but otherwise some ball bearings and a wood housing can suffice. I think a key thing to look for at this stage is for these pulleys to be all the same bore, then get a shaft and bearings to fit as you don't have the set up to make bushes to compensate for mixed sizes.

on e bay in the milling section on page 15 or 16 is advertised a my ford B1lathe, I think it is probably an M1 or M2 but it has anM3 M4 top slide and may be of interest to Sean.by the by I have 2 M1s and an M4 but none o them had thrust gearings on the spindle

fat finger, should be thrust bearings

further to my penultimate post in the same section of ebay on page 9 is a superb specimen of an ML3

sean- sorry don't know how to give you a link but listing is now under lathes and e bay item no. is 182270820663