Hello - Lubricating an ML7

Hello all,

I've bought m first lathe - an old Myford ML7. It's not in A1 condition - I couldn't afford one that is. Having got it home, complete with about 3 Lbs of swarf, I've made a start at cleaning and oiling.

question 1

I've got some iso32 as per the manual and (having cleaned/ unblocked/ repaired the drip-feed lubricators) i'm wondering what the drip rate should be set to - the manual says as slow as possible unless using high spindle speeds, but that's a bit vague for me so I was hoping someone might suggest a drip rate in, say, drips/min ?

question 2

The lathe came with a gun that appears to have grease in it and most, if not all, of the nipples that the manual recommends iso 68 for appear to have been greased. I've got some iso 68 which I'm using for the cleaned and reassembled crossslide/topslide, etc, but I am wondering if I need to clean out the grease or if it's likely to be OK just to put oil in through the nipples?

Q3

Do you think that a gun that has been used for grease will work with oil (not sure what the difference is betwen an oil gun and a grease gun, so I don't know if that which came with the lathe is designed for oil or not)?

thanks

I think the previous owner was i bit haphazard with his lubing - one of the dripfeed lubricators was assembled incorrectly and the other was filled with something that smelled like ep90 gear oil, and wouldn't drip at all.

Hello,

I can't remember the drip rate for ML7 oilers, but as long as oil was being administered i found it was quite satisfactory even if that is imprecise.. The later S7 lathes use a wick fed system on the front taper bush so bearings of this sort really only need a film of oil, not flooding. Motor bushes will run for years with little attention, they have a felt reservoir to replenish the oil and it doesn't hold a lot.

I would clean out the oilgun and get rid of the grease, it is far too heavy and stiff for the application. I wouldn't think you need to strip parts of the machine though, just pump through plenty until the effects of grease lubrication have been well diluted.

I just hope the previous owner wasn't trying to hide trouble by glooping things up with grease.

I hope this helps you get started. Enjoy your new acquisition.

Regards Brian

Depite not being an Myford owner, their 'oil guns' are the stuff of legend - apparently they used to supply grease-type guns for oiling that leaked more oil than they put into the bearings. Perhaps the previous owner ran up the white flag and used grease instead?

Neil

The manual is as close as it gets re drip rate!, it's quite a personal thing. Best set it so that you can see a quick drip..drip..drip..drip, then slow it down until it goes drip...........drip...........drip............drip. What you want is to get it as slow as possible while making sure some oil gets through. Don't forget that the oil runs straight through the bearings and collects in a puddle underneath, so the faster the drip the quicker the puddle and the quicker you run out of oil in the lubricator. The manual is vague because this isn't an exact science. I set mine by watching a drip, then waiting for the next drip - if I'm just getting fed up of waiting and the next drip appears, then its right.

Clean all the grease out of the gun, and the nipples and oilways by flushing through, lubrication is by lost oil not by retained grease. the grease will scrape off the bearing surfaces and stick in the non-mating surfaces, so there will in effect be no lubrication. Oil creeps along all the time, and needs to be frequently replenished.

Depends whether the gun started life as a grease gun or an oil gun. Oil is more searching than grease, so an oil gun has tighter clearances/washers and no clear air vent. Only way to find out is to try it. Clean the grease out and put some oil in, but only enough to try or if it don't work you'll have oil everywhere. If it doesn't leak oil, then try pressing it on a nipple, if oil goess through the nipple OK, otherwise it will shoot out the back and up your arm

Myford oil guns are notoriously awful, and it was said you could tell a Myford owner by the oil stains up his right sleeve!

Phil

The latest Myford oil gun (made by WANNER for Myford) works as it should do but is a trifle on the expensive side.

Hi Marqous, Welcome to the forum, lots of brilliant people on it, myself excluded.

Good advice on all of the above posts.

I'm the proud owner of a ML7 too. Its old and has worked hard in a previous life.

I'm sure you will enjoy working with it.

Regards, Bear..

Always use oil, never use grease

The clean up after using grease is pretty massive and it hoards swarf

(...not that I've ever made that mistake of course, I heard it from a bloke in a pub)

I think that's why this lathe is covered in swarf - when I said 3 lbs i wasn't exaggerating. I've been stripping bits to clean them of grease & swarf both, although I've had to stop cleaning as all my allen keys seem to be metric and don't fit the ML7.

Thanks for all the advice; I'll probably be using faster oil drips than needed but better too much than too little I think.

I'm looking forward to using the lathe but I want it to be swarf free first . I have run the lathe now the drip feeders are working and it's nice and quiet, except for the flapping of a loose bit of the motor drive belt. The cleaned cross slide and top slide feel quite nice except there's a lot of play between the screws and 'slides' - not between the screw and the 'nut' ,but where the screw turns in the end of the slide behind the handle - don't know if that can be shimmed up or something.

I'll try the gun with oil - keep putting it off as it's going to be messy just getting the grease out.

Hi again,

You should be able to adjust the play around the handle - if you mean the handle "winds in" a bit before the slide moves. You will need to remove the slide, turn it over and you will see a collar, secured by a grubscrew, on the feedscrew on the inner side of the feedscrew mounting bracket on the end of the slide. Take off the handle and use the collar together with the dial on the outside to adjust the feedscrew to be a close fit in the mounting bracket..

That's as far as I remember, haven't overhauled an ML7 for a while.

Too much oil is better than too little, although messy. What you want to do is flood the headstock bearings when you start up, then reduce the flow as you keep working. Don't forget the bearing will warm up as you use the machine, and alter the clearances.

The white metal bearings in which the spindle runs have grooves in them which retain some oil - will do a pic if I can dig out some spare bearings I have.

Phil.

Further to my last post, forgot to add that once the dial is adjusted to give a good fit on the feedscrew bracket, it is locked in that position by the handle, that's why the dial has spanner flats on it.

This adjustment can be done with the slide in situ if you can see underneath it. Between the collar and the thread on the feedscrew there is a plain neck, which can be gripped with those miniature pointy nose Mole grips you see about, and the dial adjusted with a spanner. But if it is all too stiff with age (like me) then it is best removed.

Phil

Aha! Thanks Robbo, I'll sort those out then.

I agree, you can never have too much oil!

I will usually push down on the drip levers to give 5 or 6 drops before I start anything, they are set to drip very slowly but I will give them another 'dose' every now and again during use.

I will keep the bed clean and oiled and have a rubber cover fitted to the steady fixing hole to keep the worst of the swarf off - I will also cover bed shears with paper and change often.

At the end of session I will clean and oil up (often dont feel like it)! but is worth it next time you go to use it!

My ML7 is an early 50's machine and still produces very accurate results and should do for many years to come.

Alan

More than a trifle I think! There are some good ones come up on ebay from time to time at about half the Myford price, but they are badly described and not a named brand. It depends which type of nipple is on your ML7 as to whether they will fit or not - when they do they are good, when they don't -aaaaargh. If the nipples are the old flat top type then I would change them for the later ones.

Perhaps a new thread is indicated to find an oil gun that works - though it's probably already been done if you search for it!

Phil

just give it some oil and it will be fine!

As promised earlier, picture of ML7 headstock bearing shells, for those who've never removed the spindle.

l

Phil

Oh, I see, thanks for the pic.

M

Hello again,

As you are refurbishing your ML7, you may like to have a look here, if you have not done so already.

**LINK**

Phil

Guy Lautard's pamphlet 'A Treatise on Oiling of Machine Tools' includes instructions on modifying a grease gun into a very effective oil gun to suit the Myford.