Myford change wheels

Question: Is there a myford lathe which does not rely on the threading lead screw for power feed?

As I see it (many will not, I suppose) lead screws wear out fast enough to fall foul of any initial claimed 'super tolerance' without continually driving the power feed mechanism full time (when in operation).

Just one aspect of the superiority of the Raglan lathes over the myfords of the day, I guess? Raglan's later gear change wheel arrangement adoption (without the 127 gear) was close enough for them, as conversion for metric thread cutting. And it is close enough , for me, now.

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Answer: Not so far as I am aware ... but your question does prompt an interesting thought: It might not be beyond the wit of man to devise a stepper motor drive, to work using the fast traverse rack ... thereby 'saving' the leadscrew for screwcutting and such.

MichaelG.

Another idea in that vein would entail using the longitudinal groove in the Myford Super 7 lead screw (for powering the cross feed) to drive the hand wheel, a la the old South Bends. A bronze miter gear would ride along the lead screw, with a key to be driven by the slot. This would mesh with another gear with axis parallel to the hand wheel axis. All else is imagination.

I discussed this idea with Ivan Law at a London show years ago and was not encouraged. His thought was that a Myford lead screw would wear so slowly as to make this adaptation unnecessary. Would surely be cool, though. In place of doing all the engineering involved, I just bought a new lead screw against the day.

I dunno guys. The leadscrew on my old Drummond has been doing double duty for feed and screwcutting for 80 years odd now and still has not worn out. Several brass half-nuts that engage with it have been replaced though. The most wear I can roughly measure on the leadscrew with digital vernier is one thou on the thread width at the high-wear area near the headstock end. Good enough for me.