Help identify Myford super 7 cross slide enplate material

Hi,

I am trying to work out the material of a Myford super 7 cross slide endplate non power feed as it is broken and I was woundering if it is possible to weld it. Currently I carnt seem to find a replacement online as myford have sold out of the raw castings.

The part I have is non magnetic, feels to heavy to be aluminium, is cast, and does not spark when touched with an angle grinder.

Also does anyone know if the Power cross feed endplate would fit a non power cross feed lathe

Any help will be much appriciated

Thanks

My understanding is that all or most of the ‘silvery’ non-ferrous castings on the Myfords are Zinc-based alloy

i.e. Mazak/Zamak or similar

MichaelG.

Michael is correct, I think it is Mazak.

If you can give me the dimensions of the bits I can check against my PXF endplate. You could think of fabricating a beefier bracket from Aluminium plate and bar. I did this for my CNC conversion.

Thanks for the response MichaelG,

I'm Probably going to try and solder it and see if it holds up

Thanks

There are numerous names for a low temp welding rod that will work on mazak and aluminium. I have used it with great success !

It requires the casting to be very clean and gently heat overall. once near the melting temp the rod will suddenly flow and you then puddle the molten pool and move forward feeding the filler rod in. If you can weld or braze this is a REAL handycap. Read the instructions and stick to them. One trade name I have heard is LUMIWELD.

Good luck, Noel

Here are the dimensions, they are not the most accurate as it is hard to mesure in 2 pieces. Thanks for the replies and advice Noel and John

Hello M A

I would strongly advise you make up some form of jig to hold the hole for the feedscrew in the right orientation in both axes before you go ahead with the joining method.

Having got that sorted out I would also make a simple weld preparation vee around the joint faces to help the new metal to flow into the joint

Good luck

Brian

May I repeat the OP's supplementary?

I believe the PXF bracket is longer than the plain version but what about fixing hole centres, hole diameters, etc?

Associated point: am I right in thinking that the PXF machine continues to use the leadscrew plus half nuts for powering the saddle ie not the keyway?

I ask because I noticed from an excellent Blondihacks YouTube video that some Chinese hobby lathes use the leadscrew keyway for both power feeds, reserving the leadscrew proper for screwcutting.

This a pxf bracket. Bolt hole spacing is ~80mm, LOA also ~80mm, base flange 100mm (probably actual nominal dimensions are inch). So the hole spacing is quite possibly 3.125 (three and an eighth). Length seems significantly greater, I'm not sure why. Critical dimension is that between the plane of the mounting hole s=centres and axis of the feedscrew, I'm pretty certain that would be the same between the lathes.

That's correct, the keyway only powers the pxf - the self-act Z feed rate is unchanged between pxf and non-pxf versions.

Personally I think the mazak castings look flimsy and let the lathe down, I'd just fabricate one from aluminium.

And to another ega point, it may well be that the non-pxf screw will be too short for the pxf type bracket.

Edited By John Haine on 04/03/2021 10:12:20

John Haine:

Thank you kindly.

Your final point reminds me that some years ago I increased the effective length of my non-PXF cross slide bracket by about 25mm bringing the overall length to just under 80mm. This involved a simple spacer: see one or two photos in my Super 7 album.

I don't recall the detailed reasons for this but the arrangement has served me well with the standard feed screw. The cross slide design does, of course, confine the topslide to one position near to the operator and the alteration gets the tool post closer to centre.

I have always assumed that the extra length in the PXF bracket was to accommodate the additional gearing, etc but it may simply be that Myfords thought, like me, that size mattered!

Hi,

Thank you for all of your replies and advice. I think i'm going to try and use a aluminium weld rod, possibly: **LINK**or Lumiweld and hope it will hold up untill I can fabricate a new one.I'll try and fabricate a new one on the lathe once I get it operational. I think the PXF bracket will be to long for the cross slide feed screw.

Thanks

Here you can buy a new one but you will have to overcome the benefits of Brexit **LINK**

http://www.myfordsolutions.nl/contents/nl/p91.html

Niko.

Edited By speelwerk on 04/03/2021 13:20:23