Myford cross slide

Has anyone come up with a method of locking the cross slide of a Myford Super 7, that does not involve disturbing the adjustment of the gib strips please?

Regards Maurice

I used a method described in October 2005 MEW on my old Super 7 which used the travelling steady fixing bolt holes. It worked and was simple.

Damage was done by a previous owner.

JA

That seems a great idea, and so simple! I shall copy it as soon as I can. Thanks JA.

Maurice

I think you will find that 2 of the screws on the gib adjusment side are longer and intended to lock the cross slide without playing any part in the slide adjusment, when slackened the slide should be in normal adjustment and tightening should lock the slide.

Mike

Mike,

I believe the Super 7 has a 'solid' gib, not the loose gib-strip seen on the ML7 etc.

MichaelG.

You are right Michael, the super 7 has the two part gib strip with cheese head screws to lock it after adjustment but looking at the screws each segment has two wedgelock adjusters and a third longer plain screw but unless the cheese head screws are slackend I would think the screws I assumed were for locking would have to be stupidly tight to lock the slide. The OPs solution does indeed save losing the often hard fought for optimum slide adjusment.

Mike

Maurice,

For ease of reference I have sent you a PM with a copy of the article from Oct 2005 MEW as used by JA above (and others)

See your inbox

Phil

Edited By Robbo on 13/10/2015 23:28:14

Hi Phil,

Any chance of sharing that article please? My Myford does not have the additional locking screws that are shown in the manual.

Regards,

Jim.

Jim,

PM on its way. Check your inbox.

What a clever idea! I'd like to add one of these to my lathe too.

Phil, any chance I can trouble you for a copy as well?

Cheers,

James

James,

In your inbox

Me too if you would be so kind.

H

I would agree that the OP's solution is simple and effective,

I have the "extra" two setscrews on the right hand side and have only ever needed slight nip to set them, nothing like the "stupidly tight" referred to above. With a high resolution DRO scale on the cross slide I have yet to see any unwanted movement. Most of the time I leave them untouched and again no discernable movement.

H,

In your Inbox.

This is now available for anyone to view in my Albums, see "S7 cross-slide lock".

Phil

> Damage was done by a previous owner.

Should I keep that in the same box as 'cheque in the post' and 'guards removed for clarity'

Neil

My copy of the 1973 S7 manual shows these "extra" screws numbered K70 and both they and the Wedglok adjusters are M5 which seems quite advanced for the date. My own older machine has 2BA adjusters with lock nuts and two extra setscrews for locking purposes which I think I installed myself years ago. I have never felt the need for additional locking capability but I would agree that the MEW device is likely to be more positive. At the same time, the author's statement that the S7 arrangement does not lend itself to locking seems to be open to question.

Kwil,

I forgot to mention that I have the "extra" cap heads on the cross-slide of my Mk 1 Super 7, and it only takes the lightest touch, less than 1/8th of a turn, to completely lock the slide. The only drawback is it needs a long hex key to reach without banging knuckles.

In this respect the OP's method is better because the bolt head is more accessible.

Interesting ... the MEW article was written around the ML7 (the author's machine) with the S7 as an "also ran".

When I checked my ML7, I found I only have a single tapped hole in that location - not two as described. In that respect, my machine is the same as the drawings in my copy of the manual which similarly depict a single hole.

Is this a "serial number xxx or later" kind of thing?