Myford travelling steady

I have just bought a travelling steady from chronos for my myford super 7 lathe, & it's to big. It states on the box ML7 , is the ML7 one larger? Or am I fitting it wrong? I noted on RDG tools site they state steady to fit ML7/super7 so I thought it would fit , it is too high, 3 inch from base to centre, & I think I need 2inch. Help please.

Rob

Hi Rob,

Are you trying to mount it on the cross-slide? It should bolt onto the chuck end of the saddle using a tapped hole there. The 3 inch height will be correct then.

John

My genuine Myford steady is about 3" from the mounting face to the approximate centre.

Len. P.

Yes I was, will look on saddle can't say I found a holl will go and look, any photos of this hole would be good,

Rob

Yes found the 2 holes on the saddle, but far to far back, the hole on the steady is at the front ! Some what larger.

rob

Does this help? The tapped hole on my ML7 is approximately in the centre.

Edited By John Baguley on 16/07/2013 16:49:42

The hole you require is right at the front of the saddle (chuck end) low down and approx. half way across the bed. It is tapped 1/4" BSF and probably has a hex headed blanking set screw in it.

Some years ago I also bought a travelling steady for my S7 from Chronos at an exhibition and it was the most useless item that I ever purchased. The mounting hole was oversize at 10 mm diameter plus and it was drilled at about 10 degrees out of line.

. The horizontal "finger " was 2 mm below centre height. Both fingers were too sloppy in their grooves.

I should have returned it but like a fool I took the task of correcting it as a challenge, so I plugged the hole, re-machined a 1/4" clearance hole in the correct place ( so that the vertical finger was aligned with the lathe axis)and made a 2 mm thick spacer for the base. But I was not happy with the item as it represented my stupidity and folly buying cheap Far Eastern junk. I sold it cheaply to a fellow S7 owner after fully explaining its history. He was very happy with it. I kept my eye on eBay for while and managed to get a genuine Nottingham Myford steady that had been stored for years but not used for about the same price as the Chronos one.

I have to say that I have also had some good items from Chronos but the just seem to sell what ever they receive without any proper quality control.

The moral of the story for me was to always buy the best I can afford and not insult a superbly made Myford lathe by attaching junk to it!

Eric

Rob

If you are dissatisfied with the one you have bought you can make your own. College Engineering sell the castings/materials and it is an good exercise in some simple machining. Here, as they say, is one I made earlier! It was originally for my ML10 and you may note a piece of M/S fixed to the bottom to allow for the increase in centre height when I upgraded to a S7. The downside is that I think that the cost of the casting & materials is about the same as the finished item from one of the suppliers mentioned. On the other hand think of the satisfaction in making it yourself!

Alternatively you can find a used one HERE

N

Hi
I agree with Rob why not make one ?
Nobby

Edited By JasonB on 17/07/2013 12:25:34

Work out what you want to turn and make your own to suit.

Problem with steady's, fixed and travelling is that no one size suits all jobs.

Thank for all your help guys, will return this one, chronos are ok with that, I have found a proper one for sale, & yes making my own will happen, as you say! No one tool will do all.

Maybe Jasonb can have a look and see if it is my photo that is causing it?

I assumed that the software would make the thumbnail a suitable size for the page and then you click on it to view full sized. That's how 'proper' software works anyway.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem a way to edit a photo (e.g. reduce it's size) once it's in your photo album

By the way, Nobby's photo is bigger than mine

I've never had this problem with the adverts overlapping the posts (Firefox + XP) but I do use an advert blocker which stops them appearing in the first place!

John

Edited By John Baguley on 17/07/2013 11:59:28

Looks like someone beat me to it but I've taken it down a bit more, just click the image if you want to see it larger.

J

Just taped the holes out to clean them, 1/4 UNF, you were spot on again.

Rob,

The ads down the middle of the screen are only on my Ipad3 and not on my P.C.

Len. P.

Still got the adds through the posts, but NJH & Nobby's photos are ok"

Mine is 1/4 BSF not UNF There is a different thread count

Roy

How do you count treads in a small holl like that.

Rob

Hi Rob & Guys
Try various screws until one screws in . MY S& Mk, 1 is 1/4 BSF The rule us toolmaker's used to use was Whiworth in cast iron and BSF in steel I dont if you can in this case but larger threaded hole you can press plasticine into half the hole then check form with using a thread gauge . Having trouble uploading photo,s or has it already been said ? Note M6 would screw in mine as well

Nobby