Lathe newbie in East Midlands

Hi,

My names Cai and I bought a Myford ML7 lathe a few months ago to increase the types of work I can do when restoring old engines and classic motorcycles. I am avid amateur motorcycle mechanic with the ambition to one day fabricate my own single cylinder engine.

I've only used my ML7 for simple tasks so far and hoping to learn much and, in time, help others out along the way!

Diolch! / Thanks!

Hello Cai and welcome. There are quite a few motorcycle fans on here and one or more should be along soon.

Brian

Hi I restore stationary engines and have restored a few pre 65 trials bikes, I suggest that you get to know how to use the ML 7 and begin to make a model engine and and parts for motor cycles ,you will soon find that there is a limit to the size of parts that can be made on a 3.5 inch lathe, To make a full size engine you will need a larger lathe eg 6.5 inch with gap bed ( Colchester master) or larger .I have bored the cylinder of a 4 hp Blackstone 5 inch bore 17 inches long on a Master. Phil Vincent of Vincent m/cs wrote a series of articles about 50 odd years a ago of his experiences and said that all of the Vincent crankcases were machined on a centre lathe ,he would have much preferred to use a horizontal borer, but in the years around 1948 to the mid fifties the aircraft industry had first call on machine tools partly due to the Korean war and cold war,other industries had to make do ,in those days even a new capstan lathe had 3 year waiting list.

Hi Cai welcome to the forum. There are quite a lot of vintage motorcyclists on here. I had a Triumph T100 Daytona, and raced with Dresda motorcycles on a Suzuki and worked in their factory. As you are in the East Midlands are you anywhere near Sutton in Ashfield where live as when thjs lockdown ends you can share problems localy as well.

David

Edited By David George 1 on 28/04/2020 10:57:28

Posted by David George 1 on 28/04/2020 10:56:58:

... There are quite a lot of vintage motorcyclists on here. ...

David

Is that motorcyclists with vintage bikes or really old motorcyclists? I guess on this forum possibly both

John

Edited By Journeyman on 28/04/2020 11:06:48

Welcome!

Lots of help and advice available on here, covering all sorts of questions.

If you need face to face advice / help / demonstration, find a local Model Engineering Club.

Sometimes, you will be amazed at the wheezes that are used to solve a particular problem!

Whereabouts are you located in the East Midlands?. You may find like minds nearby.

Howard

Great to hear that there are plenty of classic motorcycle and engine work going on. Thanks for the heads up Nigel, yeah I think the ML7 will certainly limit some big projects I have in mind but it's a brilliant size and weight to fit into my garage. Hopefully, it won't lose much value when it comes time to upgrading to a larger lathe!

I'll have to do a quick google for a local Model Engineering Club to join, an excellent idea that I hadn't thought about.

I'm located in Loughborough for the time being

Hello Cai , welcome to the forum . I am a newbie and have a love of motorcycles , I have been making a few bits for a mates motorcycle at present and hopefully next year I plan to build a bike frame from scratch . The advice and experience on here is fantastic .

Hi Cai,

I sometimes wonder if this should be the motorcycle-engineer forum! You will find plenty of fellow enthusiasts here.

Neil

Welcome!