Help, too much choice.

I have nearly got my garage ready for some machinery. I have not owned a mill or lathe before and my leanings were for a new WM290V lathe and WM 18 mill from Warco. But now there is a spanner in the works, an old fellow in the club I am in cannot carry on with the hobby, old age and illness. He has offered me first shout on his equipment.

He has a late 1980's Myford ML7B which he has had from new and it does look immaculate, it will also come with quick change tool post and a host of other stuff as well.

The mill he has is a Gate Elliot 00, this he acquired second hand and comes with a three phase convertor. I must say that it is an impressive piece of kit and very heavy.

My machinery will be used for up to 5" gauge loco's plus some static stuff. I appreciate that you cannot see these machines but if they are as good as they look which way would you go.

David.

Well that is a bit of a quandry......

I'm pretty sure the Myford brigade will surely extol the virtues of owning such a brand machine, cant comment on the mill offering....

My own armoury comprises a WM290V equivalent accompanied by a VMC mill ( well Chester's 626...), so my opinions are somewhat biassed....

However the main limitation of the lathe is the diameter of stock that will fit through the spindle, so unless you go for the Warco offering, you will be limited to the internal bore of the Myford....While between centres doesnt usually present any major issues...

I started out with a typical 9 x 20 lathe and soon outgrew its limitations.....

Pay your money take your choice....

Edited By John Rudd on 17/06/2018 09:57:10

I would go for the Myford lathe & the Gate Elliot mill every time. The gear box on the Myford S7 B is a God send also it sounds as if you will also get a lot of other goodies that would be expensive to buy separately.

Eric

Hello David,

I would be inclined to take the offer you have, he may well have other useful tackle to go with it after much of a lifetime gathering it together that you would not get buying from Warco. The real advantage is that you know the man, it will be a genuine offer and you have been able to see and assess it.

The spindle bore of 16 mm maximum might be a limitation you learn to get around, there are ways!

My views for what they are worth as an owner of a good Myford ML7B

Brian

It all depends on what the old club member is asking money wise, what else comes with the package etc. I can only comment on Warco's as I have the 250V-F lath & the WM16 mill & can't complain about either of them. The only downside I can comment on is, as mentioned, the spindle bore diameter limitation of the Myford, but a big plus is the gearbox on the Myford. It is a quandary as said, but there again you pays your money. Whichever you end up with I'm sure you will enjoy either.

George.

Lambton and Mechman

I didn't see a gearbox being mentioned in the description of the lathe, a quick change toolpost is included.

I don't believe those lathes came with a screwcutting gearbox as a standard fitment, it was an extra either factory fitted or by the owner.

Regards Brian

The warco has a spindle bore 38 mm i believe and that can be handy , it really comes down to what you want to make so compare things like spindle bore , swing over bed and cross slide and distance between centres etc ..

I would put spindle bore at the bottom of that list .

Depending of what sort of money your club member wants i would sway towards his offering if it was for the right sort of money .

You could also sell on the machines in the future if you want to upgrade or upsize .

Grab it. Buy it. The whole deal. Before someone else does...

I must admit that the spindle bore was bothering me and the fact that most people advise buying the biggest machine that you can afford / fit in your workshop. However when I looked at the Myford yesterday it just had that appearance of a totally complete machine and the finish to it was first class.

It was quite sad to be in this guys workshop and looking to move his life time hobby away. He even had an 80 % built 5" loco that he knew he could not complete, it was started over 20 years ago.

I think that with the extras that will come as well I should go for it. I just need to work out the transport of half a tonne of milling machine now. A nice problem to have.

David.

Yes, grab it (the Myford etc) while you can. And get all the tooling and equipment along with it that you can -- that is where the real money adds up when you are starting a workshop from scratch, especially the accessories etc for the milling machine such as rotary table, dividing head, vice, cutters, collets etc etc.

And don't let spindle bore diameter even be a factor. You rarely need it bigger than the Myford's, and if you do it's not a problem, simply use a fixed steady and stick the job out like this;

Edited By Hopper on 17/06/2018 10:57:43

Thanks guys, I guess I just needed reassuring. Lets go for it.

David.

Hi David, as a very satisfied Myford owner that would be my choice. One other aspect no one else has mentioned, the person with the lathe and mill for sale would, I imagine, be happy to look in to help you out if you are a bit stuck on a detail of whatever is being worked on at that particular time. Let’s assume you go the all new route, would he be likely to be along to help ? Sometimes a little thought on the personal angle is worthwhile,at least I think so. Your decision mate !

Brian,

David describes the lathe a an ML7B. The "B" indicates that it is fitted with a gearbox.

eric

David

My Myford built a 3.1/2" gauge Juliet; a 5" gauge Ajax; and a 7.1/4" gauge William.

Axles turned using fixed steady or between centres.

Beautiful machines and made in England to a very acceptable standard.

Grab all the bits and pieces you can, and, because you will have all his tools, hopefully the previous owner will impart much of his experience and knowledge. That you cannot buy.

You lucky beggar.

All the best.

Richard 2.

Go for it David, even if the Myford turns(pun not intended) out to be not big enough for future projects, it'l be a good investment to buy bigger later on.
Brian

I did this 30 years ago. Never regretted a minute of it. Still have a few "accessories" I have not fully explored. The Myford is always the go to machine despite a larger CNC next to it. No brainer!!!

David,

I assume the Gate Elliott 00 mill is the same as the Elliott juniormill 00 (sometimes called the Omnimill). These machines have a swivelling vertical head, horizontal spindle with over arm and power feed to the table in the X axis. If that's what it is, grab it with both hands! They are great little machines and none of the current 'hobby' machines will come anywhere close. I bought one which is as far as I can tell getting on for 50 years old but still has plenty of life in it. So far I have done some machining operations on th cylinder of my half size traction engine and am currently cutting the final drive gear which is 4 DP, so chunky teeth, 19.5" diameter, using the horizontal spindle. Mine has MT3 spindles in both directions so tooling is interchangeable between them. I have a face mill which I used in the horizontal spindle to machine the side of my cylinder casting and then swapped to the vertical spindle to do the top - only one set up of the job for 2 faces and bang on square to each other.

I don't think you will regret getting it. Yes it's big and heavy and takes up space but it's worth it.

Paul.

Yes I agree Eric. If he doesn’t like either of the pieces of kit after using it for a while I’m sure he’ll have no bother moving it on.

Hello Lambton,

Thank you for correcting me over the ML7B Myford terminology. I didn't know the subtleties involved [I have an ML7R which the previous owner bought new and had the gearbox added at the factory]

That then makes David's choice even easier to make, the gearbox is a lovely piece of engineering in it's own right and together with a versatile mill I think this offer he has had would make a superb start to his workshop equipment

Regards Brian