Myford ML10 motor drive parts and belt guard

Hi all,

New member and first posting, so please excuse novice errors.

I'm looking for some advice on my Dad's ML10, which I am now starting to use more as he's 95 and no longer engineering. He bought it new in around 1970 to replace an ageing Portass.

When he installed it in his workshop, he chose to fit his own motor (he was a physics teacher, with a large stock of such items to hand). I can't work out, and he can't remember, how he did this. Suffice to say the main belt guard was removed and he rigged up a simple clamp bolt and lever to tension/slacken the belt to allow tool changes etc. without turning the motor off. Is this right - to stop the chuck turning, the only way is to switch off? The belt is kept in tension by the weight of the motor?

I'm trying to get it back to how it should be, and have bought a used belt guard as the original vanished many years ago. I can't work out how the parts fit in this area, though. Don't know if anyone can shed any light on this?

I'd post a photo, but there doesn't seem to be an option to do so.

Roger

Hi Roger welcome to the forum there is plenty of help on here just ask. To post a picture there is help an a how to web page, click in the black bands on the top of the page on the tab forums. When that is up click the web site FAQ tab and follow instructions. I Hope this helps.

David

Thanks David,

yes, worked out how to add a photo but haven't worked out why it has rotated through 90deg! Anyway this is the motor and countershaft arrangement. Not sure where to start, really.

Roger,

My ML10 is about the same vintage as your father's machine - 1973. Here's a picture of the belt tensioning arrangement on the machine which is as original. The central nut acts on left and right hand threads on the threaded arms. The operating arm is still there on your machine and the original linkage might be hiding away in a tin in the workshop somewhere.

The setup could act as a clutch of a sort but would not lock in the slackened position so you would have to have used one hand to hold it which would limit what you could do. Perhaps you father's modification was to give a locked open position.

Jim.

Edited By Jim Guthrie on 03/05/2019 17:07:48

Thanks Jim, that's a very clear photo of what's missing.

Dad did cobble up his arrangement to give a lockable clutch, as you suggest. His work needed frequent tooling changes and he chose to do this rather than switch the motor on and off all the time.

I can see the virtue of his modification, but I was planning to refit a guard over the drive belt and the mod gets in the way of this. I guess mounting a decent on/off switch at the front of the lathe might be a more sensible way to go in the long run. If I can't find the original turnbuckle connector, it shouldn't be hugely difficult to make one up, but I'd need to get a set of measurements to get it right.

The other problem I have is the lathe stand. Dad has his ML10 mounted to two mdf blocks, and through a heavyweight timber tabletop, relying totally on the rigidity of the cast iron bed to keep things true. It's been like this ever since he bought it in '70, but I would like to get it mounted in a more 'proper' manner with raising blocks. This is proving tricky as I can't find any suitable blocks, so would need to make these also. I'd be very grateful if someone could send me some photos of the real thing so that I can see how they work/adjust/mount etc. - all I can tell at the moment is that the lathe has four mounting holes in the base of the bed.