Engraving Myford ML7 Tailstock Barrel

Evenin' all,

I am after a bit of advice. I have recently rebuilt a 1951 ML7 and its pretty much finished. However I have a niggle with the machine, the tail stock barrel does not have any markings, which for me is a right pain because I use these on my previous lathe very regularly for drilling to depth.

Having seen the price of a new barrel from Myford it looks like it is going to be a DIY effort to engrave the barrel. I only have a lathe, and the best method I can think of is it to hold the barrel horizontally onto the milling slide and place either an engraving bit or a sharp point in the lathe chuck, and move the milling slide vertically at regular intervals. Can anyone think of a better method as I don't want to mess it up.

Whilst I have started a thread for this, a second niggle is the non ejecting tailstock. Has anyone devised a modification that will allow the 2MT tool to be ejected from the tailstock?

See this thread re tailstock eject.

John

Hi Dave

A well worthwhile improvement!

Remove the tailstock barrel , reverse it , and transfer it to the headstock chuck. The outer end can be put just into the mouth of the tailstock to support it. The process is then to cut lines onto the outside of the barrel with a suitable "V" pointed tool held in the toolpost. This needs a bit of thought but is really quite easy. With the tool on its side a line can be scribed along the length of the barrel for the distance you want the scale to be. For marking the divisions the "V" tool is held inverted with its tip in line with the line just inscribed. Advance the tool to the same depth as the first cut (above) then the circumferential marks can be made. The mark is made by rotating the headstock chuck BY HAND!

.......but how do you get the lines to be the right length I hear you ask!

This is with a bit of "Model Engineer's cunning!".... so this was MY cunning plan! :-

I decided that I would have marks at 1/8 In intervals With a longer mark at 1/2 in and longer again at 1in. The length of each mark was determined by a stop. This was easier than it sounds. With a bit of trial and error - and using a pencil rather than the cutting tool! it looked OK. By making blocks of a suitable size and by arranging the position of the chuck and location of the barrel in the chuck I was able to limit the rotation by inserting the correct block to contact the chuck jaw. It worked a treat! All lines were the same depth controlled by the cross slide index and it was just a case of concentrating hard and inserting the correct block at the right time! When all were marked a light rub with some fine polishing paper removed the burrs and I then went over with a black wax crayon ( pinched from one of the kids art box!)

It would have been useful to have some numerals inscribed ..... but that was a step too far for me!

I would have liked to show you a pic or two ... but I sold the machine and bought a Super 7 -- which came with all those goodies!

Good luck - give it a go it's not hard and is very satisfying!

Norman

Edited By NJH on 13/04/2017 20:57:48

Norman, that sounds like an easier idea than mine. I have already added a graduated leadscrew handle so the measurements between the lines shouldn't be too hard.

Are there two versions of the barrel then? Mine is marked.

Just for the record ... it's interesting to recall how Myford did the job

Have a look at Brian Wood's comment, and my response, here: **LINK**

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=114289

Maybe someone has a photo of the device [?]

MichaelG.

It should be possible to mount the tailstock tube eccentrically in a four-jaw chuck and use the leadscrew to move a sharp tool in steps to produce the desired markings. If the cuts were repeated slightly deeper every five, and deeper still every ten, it would make sense. Or whatever suits your working with a non-decimal system.

Alternatively, make one mark on the tube, and strap a six-inch rule to the outside housing. A slider, or a marker pen, on the rule could then be used to indicate the desired dimension. Not quite so clever but much less fiddle.

Regards, Tim

Hello Dave

​As a final refinement, why not incorporate a centre line engraving on the nose of the barrel when you have it re-assembled?.

​It only takes minutes to do with a sharp tool laid sideways on and moved by the carriage, the important thing to get right is to set that absolutely on centre to start with. You then have a permanent reference for tool height setting, on the machine where it can't get lost, which works for all tooling, including boring bars.

Regards

Brian

Having worked with both ejecting and non-ejecting tailstocks over the years, I have a firm preference for the non-ejecting type.

I have a 'bopper' which is a piece of rod, clearance diameter for the barrel bore, with a biggish lump of a handle to give it substance. It normally lives in the tailstock. When I need to eject a fitment from the taper I support it in my left hand and give it a bop with the right. Job done. It saves no end of twiddling of the tailstock wheel, isn't fazed by short tapers, and the times I have needed to assist it with a hammer are very few.

It would be quite possible to make a dead-blow bopper with a chamber full of lead shot, depleted uranium or whatever, but I've never felt the need.

George

Dave

I did mine the same as Norman states. Mine is a Super 7 but I found the markings at 1/8" increments to be too course so I did pretty much as Norman says. Graduating at 1/32" intervals. I jury rigged up 2 stops for the chuck jaws to come up against as it was rotated to cut the lines, to ensure that the 1/16" and 1/32" lines were all the same length. I made all the 1/16" ones half the length of the 1/8" ones and all the 1/32" ones half the length of the 1/16" ones. I used the lead screw graduated hand wheel to space the lines.

John

Hi Dave

I don't know how far you have got with your engraving your barrel, but there is a description of how to do it in this book on ebay by the author Ian Bradley. Item number 311843564464. It's a great book to own.

geoff

Geoff

Whilst I wouldn't argue with you about the usefulness and interest of Bradley's "The Amateur's Workshop" I dug out my copy (1979 reprint) and cannot find any mention there of adding a scale to the tailstock barrel?

Norman

Dave, Geoff & Norman - You'll find the description for graduating the tail-stock barrel in "Lathe Devices" by Ian Bradley and Norman Hallows rather than in "The Amateurs Workshop".

HTH

Keith

After engraving it you will decide it isn't as useful as you thought, mostly I think because it can't be zeroed and will add one of the additional scale / rule holders often featured in ME.

Why not fit a small digital scale ( 4" ) with neodymium magnets to the tailstock & a steel collar to the barrel then you can measure imp / metric / & zero to your hearts content without having all the palaver of set up /engraving etc.

George.

Hi Norman/Keith and all,

The early Ian Bradley amateurs workshop book now on ebay (311843564464) is more or less a completely different book to later 1970's version which has a vastly different content.

I have copies of both and I can assure all that the tail stock barrel graduation technique is described in the early version.

Both copies are imo worthy of addition to any model engineers library. Also imo the second version is a very serious contender to spareys amateurs lathe as the best m.e. book of them all.

regards geoff

You could mount your tailstock barrel into a 4 jaw so that it rotated off centre a little bit, then use a sharp (say 20 degree) tool and using the top slide, place a mark every 1/8" or whatever. Every 1", advance the tool just a little deeper?

To "Zero" it, just position the tailstock where you want it??
BobH