Myford ML7 Repairs and Renovation

Hello, I'm new here and just finding my way. I've just bought a Myford ML7 Lathe which was a great bargain, but I think it needs a bit of work.

It's serial no. is K43772 which I think makes it a 1959-1960 machine. So far I've noticed what I think may be 4 issues that need my attention

1. The Burnerd Model 30M 3 jaw chuck wont close and one of the jaws is out of alignment with the other 2
2. The belt pulley on the countershaft (I think its called the countershaft, its the one driven directly by the belt from the electric motor) has some backlash
3. In order to move the cross slide forwards (i.e. towards me when facing the lathe) I have to turn the handwheel almost 1 turn before it bites and actually moves the cross slide. It works fine backwards (to the back of the lathe)
4. The handwheel that moves the apron has backlash of about 1/16 of a turn

I'm thinking none of this are good or conducive to accurate machining.

My questions are

1. can I get hold of a parts diagram of the ML7?
2. Is there a book that can give me some idea of repair procedures for a Myford lathe, e.g. "if faced with excessive backlash on the apron handwheel then......"?

Thanks

Alan

Hi Alan

If you PM me your email address I can send you the ML7 manual in Pdf form

Cheers Dennis

Welcome to the forum Alan.

> The Burnerd Model 30M 3 jaw chuck wont close and one of the jaws is out of alignment with the other 2

Undo the jaws while pushing the one (or two) that won't go all the way to the middle in. You will feel it/them click in to place, now wind them back in keeping the pressure on until they are all being pulled in by the scroll. You should now be sorted.

Aside from 3 which sounds like a poorly adjusted cross-slide screw or loose feed nut, 2 and 4 probably aren't issues - backlash in the motor drive is no issue (unless its a symptom of a deeper fault) and apron handwheel feeds usually have a fair degree of backlash. But someone more familiar with Myfords will be along in a moment.

Neil

Hi Alan,

If you go to the Myford website you will find exploded drawings with part numbers for all of the major components of the Myford lathes and all you need to do is select the correct model, which in your case will be the ML7 and then upon opening each sub-assembly page will find the diagrams at the end. These can be enlarged, saved and printed and become a useful source when dismantling and reassembling.

Mike

There is also a reasonably active and helpful group over on Yahoo.

Yahoo Link

Edited By John Stevenson on 12/04/2015 22:23:41

Myford ML7 lathe manual .... see here

Much obliged to everyone for the advice, chuck working, manual downloaded

Much obliged to everyone for the advice, chuck working, manual downloaded

.

Alan,

Backlash in a belt drive system is usually indicative of a badly fitted key and/or grubscrew.

It would be worth checking the fit of all the pulleys; because, if left 'rattling' things will only get worse.

The bore in the motor pulley on my ML7R has worn 'bellmouthed' and the motor shaft has worn 'waisted' because the previous owner had ignored the slight looseness.

MichaelG.

Alan,

I second what Michael has said.

I have suffered in the past with a pulley grubscrew that insisted on coming loose no matter what, and the only solution was to drill and tap the pulley and fit another one.

Your problem with the cross-slide sounds like poor adjustment. You have probably now discovered that the flats on the index dial are not ornamental, but so you can hold it with a spanner and undo the ball handle. Then by holding the feedscrew inside the slide the dial can be tightened to remove any play, and locked up by tightening the ball handle again, again holding the dial with a spanner.

Phil

Thanks everyone, I've adjusted the cross slide and tightened the grub screw on the pulley. Now all I need is some SAE 30 Oil and a mini grease gun. (Maybe next month I've spent enough this month!)

Whilst discussing repairs and renovations to the ML7/S7 range is there any way of producing a definitive list of inter-changeable parts? F'rinstance can a ML7 bed replace that of a S7? What's the real difference betwixt early and late head-stocks, saddles and beds? etc etc.

Brian,

Don`t know about the beds being interchangeable but I`ve just fitted an S7 long cross slide to my ML7 with no problems whatsoever. Wish I`d done it years ago, no more fiddling about with those tee nuts when you want to cut a short taper.

Alan

Now having an old S7 (Mk1) after owning a ML7 for a time I agree regards the top-slide swivel. The bit I don't fully understand is the wide shear/narrow shear difference.

Brian,

The Myford bed has a front and back plain flat shear. There are four resulting vertical edges at front and back of each shear. The early Myford beds had control of the cross slide adjusted across front and back of the front shear only. I think about 1974 when the power cross feed models came in, there were differences made amongst which was control becoming between the front of the front shear and the back of the rear shear. Hence the term "wide bed". On your early machine you have narrow bed control. Although the shear's design did not change dimensionally in 1974, there is a reason that you cannot just go for any bed replacement. It was something to do with the leadscrew position front to back.

Put differently, the saddle on your machine will fit on a later bed but the leadscrew claspnut - via the early apron - will not line up with the leadscrew. Send me a PM and I will supply more info.

Dennis