Drummond Lathe

I am writing this message for a friend that has recently purchased a Drummond Mk 4 , 3.5" Lathe. He is having difficulty trying to get everything to work and if any one in the Wetherby/ Leeds area has such a machine , Keith, would love to visit and discuss the various points that are giving him some trouble.

I will pass on any messages that you can send to me and Keith will no doubt contact you.

Ken.

Which one is the mk4?

Lathes co uk doesnt list it

There is a very active facebook page for Drummond /Myford lathes that might be able to help. Also a group on groups.io.

Not familiar with a Mk4. Is it perhaps an M Type?

Sorry about the mistake, it is an M type . Ken.

Lots of M users about

Headstock stripdown here

I believe there is a yahoo site out there

I turfed all my headstock piccies here

edit: anyone anysite that wants them can use/store them, the more the merrier imo

Edited By Ady1 on 27/08/2020 20:02:16

Hi Kenneth I have an M Type lathe and it is a very capable little lathe. I have done quite a few mods and improvements and make many parts on it. I also have quite a coĺlection of information on them. If you wish I can send some by email just send a personal message with an address to send it to.

David

Edited By David George 1 on 27/08/2020 20:20:19

Hi Kenneth, if you hover over WORKSHOP in the black bar above and then click on Machines and then scroll down to Machine Tool Manuals - a Library, you'll find a copy of the user manual for the drummond M type. It's the top one in the list.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 27/08/2020 21:22:49

Yippee lots of info on my lathe! Thanks guys.

It desperately needs some extra-TLC on the spindle, a previous owner tried to convert it to V-belt and didn't re-assembly the spindle, which has since seized. It lacks a makers plate so I can't date it accurately but it does look like the older model Ms. I will post some better pictures before I ask any questions.

The "manuals" look to be more like sales brochures, they lack instruction for setting up the change gears. I guess such instruction was encouraged in person?

Looks like you have a pretty comprehensive set of stuff there so once you sort the spindle out you will avoid a lot of shopping for accessories. As others have said, there are a couple of Drummond forums -

https://groups.io/g/drummondlathe

and on Facebook 'Drummond/Myford Lathe Owners and enthusiasts'

Both forums are pretty active and a lot of the same names appear on both so take your pick.

I think the M type has an 8 TPI lead screw so if you can find a Myford 7 screw cutting gear chart that should give you a start. Someone on the forums may have one specifically for the M type but it's mostly very simple maths - for example a 20T on the spindle and a 40T on the leadscrew will mean the leadscrew rotates once for every two rotations of the spindle and job, so 8 x 2 = 16 TPI.

A myford chart found online...

https://oi249.photobucket.com/albums/gg220/ozhopper/screw20cutting20big.jpg~original

You may find that metric approximations are done differently with the M type gears but most of the imperial setups should be very similar.

Not sure if this clear from the chart but if you have 2 intermediate (idler) gears you will get a RH thread and with one intermediate gear you will get a LH thread.

There are some screw cutting charts on the groups.io forum too but these are for earlier Drummonds with a 10 TPI lead screw, so don't use those.

The spindle probably got stuck in the v belt conversion lol

It's a good fit if memory serves, needs "encouragement" because you want zero clunk on the main drive from the motor

Total stripdown and rebuild required there... and some oil...

good luck

edit:That faceplate is pretty rare, looks like you have some pretty original bits

Edited By Ady1 on 28/08/2020 02:02:55

It looks like you might have the very rare 73 tooth gear in your very comprehensive set there, for doing metric threads as above. If not, get a copy of Martin Cleeves' book Screwcutting in the Lathe for a chart of using the other standard gears to cut metric threads. Also forum member Andrew Johnstone IIRC has a spreadsheet of same.

If the spindle is seized in that aluminium V-belt pulley it should come loose if you heat the aluminium with a propane torch, heat gun or even a hair dryer (wait until she's out at the shops!). You tap the left hand end of the spindle with a hammer and block of wood to push it out through the headstock toward the tailstock.

Make sure too that if there is a grub screw in that pulley it is backed off. It is not actually a grub screw but an oiling plug and should never be screwed all the way in until it hits the spindle or it can do serious damage.

Nice pile of accessories there. I've never seen a vertical slide or the milling spindle attachment like that before. Very nice indeed.

To learn the basics of setting up and using these old lathes, including the gears, see LH Sparey's book The Amateur's Lathe. It even has pics of M-Types in it and is the bible for old Brit hobby lathes.

Edited By Hopper on 28/08/2020 05:08:23

Interesting to see a decent photo of the M type screw cutting plate thanks.

The 'trick' seems to be the 73T and 46T wheels - 73 / 46 = 0.63 which can then be multiplied to approximate 25.4... with a 0.7% error.

Looks like some commonly used smaller metric pitches are not shown (e.g. 0.4, 0.7, 0.8) so you might still need a bit of maths to derive a setup for those.

Sudoku for lathes

Got a 100t but they get a bit big at the top end for my liking, 65t is the max I prefer to use

The biggies are good for an auto fine feed though

Thank you all for such helpful advice and information. I have a copy of Sparey, from 1998, which may be about when I got this lathe. It has followed me around ever since awaiting some free time and space.

As shown in Sparey's excellent book a modelling lathe is a supremely flexible machine and far more adaptable (or easily adaptable) than an industrial lathe. I would encourage anyone who can get one at reasonable cost to have a go with it to enable some of the more interesting jobs.

All the files and screwcutting charts are on the Groups.io pages so no need to go to other odd places. The Gears look to have keyways not the Drummond standard of a pin so are from somewhere else. Can still be adapted for use just not standard.
You do not have to go for the 73 tooth option for metric as there are tables using a 63 (though also rare) and just using normal gears if you use 6 in the chain istead of 4.
The parts in the photo are not all Drummond so may not fit and may have been collected with the intention of adapting which may or may ot have happened.

The tables under 'changewheels' in the groups.io forum all seem to be for 10 TPI lead screws. Did you find some 8 TPI ones somewhere?