Change Wheels for Myford ML10

Hi again,

I'm trying to make sense of what I got with the Myford ML10 I bought a few weeks ago, as I'm still in the process of setting it up for eventual use.

There were apparently 15 change wheels that originally came with a ML10, according to their manual and literature. Sadly, I only seem to possess a few, which will likely limit what I may be able to do with it for screwcutting, if and when I get around to doing that kind of work. The wheels I seem to have are:

25T driver

38T, 40T, and 75T

Should I worry unnecessarily about this at this time? And should I try to acquire some of the missing wheels for future use, and if so, which ones would be more important to at least partly complete my set?

Thank you very much for your help. --Robert

The price of single gears make assembling a set quite expensive but eBay often has sets for around £100. I think I would check eBay for a while and get a set and sell any that duplicate what you have. If you think you may not cut many threads then maybe just go for a train to do a few fine feeds. The standard set is nice to have as then you can tackle most common threads that may come your way.

Mike

I would suggest getting enough gears to allow you to set up a couple of slow feeds rather than screw cutting. You can then buy the required screwcutting gears on an as required basis. You may only need a few pitches to last a lifetime!

Robert.

Start with the gears for fine feed. You will need 65, 70, 75, 20 and 20 tooth gears for this.With these you will be able to traverse the saddle slowly under power. That suffices for me most of the time. If you need to screwcut then buy as needed. As Mike Poole said, you may find a set on ebay. What ever you buy, the next one that you need will not be in your collection - its called Sods Law.

Regards. Mike Potts.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice on the gears.

Indeed, I see some for sale on Ebay so will keep an eye out. As suggested by Mike, I'll start by hunting down the ones for fine feed (I already have the 75 so need 65, 70 and a pair of 20's if I understand correctly).

In the meantime is there a useful configuration I could muster up with the gears I have, for general use? (25, 38, 40, 75)

Too bad I didn't pay enough attention to this when I bought the lathe. The seller did allude to the fact that it did not have a complete set of gears but said that replacements could "easily be bought for around $10 each". might have been stretching it...

10$ US, 10$AU?

Often see better value for money than in £UK! Perhaps a location in your profile might make comparisons more meaningful?

Sorry, lowly Canada $...

I just updated my profile so hopefully my country shows up now

Hi, the change gears are the same as the Myford 7 series ones and RDG charge £10 for the smaller ones up to 39 teeth and £12 (this including VAT I think) for the larger ones you need. Although pattern ones those I have (metric change set) run very well and have given no problems. If you look at Myfords own page their smaller ones are £9 (without VAT which from your 10$ you may not have to pay). Larger ones quickly get much more expensive though. Obviously postage would add to this cost but still not too bad if you want a few at a time.

As mentioned above E-Bay might be a source but depending on location and your luck can be quite expensive these days for a full set. Sets of 12 seem fairly common round the £100 mark as Mike says but would still need extra ones for your fine feed set. In the past I collected many from various Model Engineering Shows and car boot sales but now everyone knows (or thinks they know) that anything Myford is worth a good part of the earth. Just look at the prices paid for Myford stands to see what I mean. Not any help I know but my first new Myford Speed 10 longbed cost less than many are asking for the industrial stand (OK it was 1984 - wish I had bought a few), excellent lathe I used for at least 20 years. I'm sure you will enjoy yours.

Keith

Not a lot you can do with that selection. But the finest feed you can get out if it will be achieved by putting the 75 on the leadscrew. If the spindle gear is removeable, put the smallest you have on the spindle. Then pair the remaining smallest gear and remaining largest gear together on one stud on the quadrant arm. Set up the remaining gears as idlers.

So the spindle gear drives the larger of the two paired gears on the top stud. The smaller of those two paired gears then drives an idler gear on the next stud. That idler then drives the large 75 on the leadscrew. It won't give a real fine feed though.

Do you have a handwheel on the other end of the leadscrew? You might be best to leave the change gears off and use that for feed for the time being.

Thank you Keith and Hopper for the useful advice on finding gears, and how to best use the ones I have presently. I did acquire a 65 at a used tool store a few days ago, so have that one in the mix for future use.

Hopper, yes I have a handwheel on the end of the leadscrew, so perhaps the change gears aren't immediately important to me, as I embark on a journey of familiarization and experimentation with my first "hobby lathe".

Best regards.

There may be some duplicates here but how about this listing?...

**LINK**

For imperial use the following are listed in the ML10 book:-20,25,32,38,45,45,50,60,65,70,75.

For metric.:- 21,27,30,32,33,35,36,42,48,55,63.

Robert,

If your lathe doesn't have one fitted, I would look at getting a leadscrew clutch fitted. This means that you can use the handwheel on the leadscrew without having to disengage the gear train, especially if you've got a fine feed set up. I don't know if you can still source the ML10 leadscrew clutch but it's not a difficult accessory to make if you have to make your own. There should be a groove ground round your leadscrew at the headstock end which is the marker for the saw blade.

Jim.

Edited By Jim Guthrie on 03/05/2018 17:00:30