Myford tailstock swarf pad

For a very long time I have worried about the tailstock ploughing a furrow as it is being slid up and down the bed, even though I try to wipe the swarf away beforehand.

I remember seeing a swarf guard described somewhere, but cannot remember where now. I had it in mind to copy the idea and have finally got round to making and fixing same.

As a bonus, the tailstock now seems to glide up and down the bed with consummate ease. It maybe too late for the furrow already ploughed, but hopefully, it will prevent it getting deep enough to plant the spuds.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Very neat, Dave

MichaelG.

Yep! Did that to my Super 7 a few years back and posted the idea. Interesting to see how the internal shears have worn where the top of the tailstock slides don't go full depth. I always considered that a poor design. I also did the saddle with the same idea, you need to sweep the swarf not only from the top of the ways but also in the gap. I never understood why Myford neglected this fact.

The other thing I did was I milled some oil grooves on the underside of the tailstock and cross drilled the bottom casting to allow the oil to flow to all surfaces. Did the same on the saddle and now when the oilgun is applied you can see the oil coming out all around the saddle. Makes a huge difference as you can flood the slideways with aoil and push out all the gunge that normally collects!

A couple of pictures of my Myford S7 swarf guards. The tailstock has an oil nipple added and this is cross drilled right through the casting to near the back. Then two communicating holes go down to the slideways and a 2mm wide groove is milled almost the full length of the slides on both sides. When you apply the oil gun oil floods out all the way around the surfaces driving out any rubbish.

I did a similar trick with the saddle. The original oil grooves stop too far from the vertical shears so they get starved of oil. I extended the grooves and put in some cross grooves to let the oil get to more of the working surfaces. Note on the saddle picture how the inner vertical shears have a wiping pad to stop the swarf adhering to them. I will dig out the saddle modification pictures later and post them.

Tailstock wiper modification

S

I managed to find the pictures from when I made the modifications to my S7. Date stamp is Nov 2014, doesn't time fly when you are having fun!

Now I recall the tailstock needed two oil nipples as it wasn't possible to cross-drill the bottom block. The oil nipples have to close to the rear of the tailstock so they don't clash with the saddle when working right up to it. You will see if you push the tailstock up the saddle that it comes a fair way back along the sides of the tailstock.

The saddle was ground on the working faces and then I cut the new oil grooves. The exact placement isn't too critical, but the intention was to get the cross grooves as close to the outer sides as possible so some oil can get to the vertical shears. The original oil grooves leave a large part of the slideways starved of lubrication.

On my saddle the portion at the front looked like corduroy trousers where the swarf chips had become stuck and abraded the cast iron. Hence, I had the saddle working faces surface ground to remove these imperfections. This is another reason to improve the swarf guard to improve the wiping action. Without the swarf felt wiper the saddle acts like a vacuum cleaner and the dirt gets pushed under the saddle to cause mayhem as the normal oil grooves cannot flush out the muck. It just made a lovely grinding paste!

Oil grooves in tailstock base

The other modification which prompted all of this work was the tailstock riding upwards as it has no positive vertical clamping apart from the bed locking clamp. When the tailstock gets a bit worn as you slide it along the bed it is possible that the top portion rides up slightly and a piece of swarf can get into the gap at the front. This causes the barrel to tilt upwards and upsets the centering. So I made an additional clamping arrangement. Note this modification is not for the faint hearted as you need to drill some holes in the castings, but with care it is not too difficult to do and the end result is worth the effort. If anyone wants the details then just shout. You can see the additional clamp bolt nyloc nut in the picture of the tailstock base.

Extended oil grooves in saddle

Those are nice mods Dave and John, may I add a further tip that I have used for years?

At the end of the day, I sweep the whole lathe, saddle, ways--both across and along, with what is know as a bannister brush to shift all the swarf. The brushes are cheap, they come with a handle at the end and can be cleaned first by banging them on their side on a hard surface and if necessary in detergent/water to dry overnight.

It is extraordinary how much muck a brush will shift, followed up by a rag on the ways to clean them. Oiling of the underside of the tailstock I do by tilting it forward and squirting oil in underneath. It then floats.

Regards Brian

Hi Brian,

Since I have installed a homemade full flood cutting fluid system I now use the Locline to hose down the bed and slides after use. The nice thing about soluble cutting oil is it is a really good lubricant and the water evaporates leaving a thin film of oil on the bedways. So no rusting takes place and the extra little oil finds it way into all the nooks and crannies.