New Myford lathe - need some mounting advice

[jeffdg]

Hi there,

First post - so, Hello, all.

I've just purchased a lovely Myford ML7 to replace my oversized Colchester Student. The sale didn't include a stand, so I will make one. Anyone got any advice on this matter?

At the moment I'm considering welding up a frame of 40mm box section steel (3mm wall) and topping it with a welded suds tray made from a rectangular base plate and four trapezoidal sides. The suds tray would be fairly beefy sheet steel - 3-4mm. The whole thing will be about elbow-height. Since it will be really top heavy, I'll bolt the legs to the floor.

Does this sound rigid enough for a 90kg lathe?

I did have vibration problems with my previous lathe until it was stood on a solid concrete floor - will I have problems if my lathe and stand are bolted to wooden floorboards? It's a much lighter machine than the 750kg Colchester!

I am also considering a cheaper, lighter wooden bench design - is that out of the question? It would be good to hear from other Myford owners about their lathe stand arrangements.

Finally; how does one level a lathe properly? I never bothered on my previous lathe, and didn't seem to have any problems as a result, but I would like to do things right.

Cheers,

Jeff
http://www.warrantyvoidifremoved.com

[martinw]

Originally Posted by jeffdg Hi there, First post - so, Hello, all. I've just purchased a lovely Myford ML7 to replace my oversized Colchester Student. The sale didn't include a stand, so I will make one. Anyone got any advice on this matter? Jeff http://www.warrantyvoidifremoved.com

Dear Jeff,

Welcome to CNCZone.

Stick with it, and you won't regret it. It does, however, have strangely addictive properties.

There is book by LH Sparey called "The Amateur's Lathe" (available on ebay and elsewhere). It was written a while ago, but gives sound advice about Myford lathes. There are a couple of pages about lathe benches and getting the machine level. Nothing of any detail, but it might be of use.

I do not have a scanner, but I do have a photo copier. If you send me your email address via the Private Message facility , we could arrange some way of me posting you a few pages.

Oh, by the way, take care on your bike. Have you seen the Extreme Unicycle clip on YouTube?

Best wishes

Martin

[jeffdg]

Thanks for the advice, Martin. Thanks for the offer of posting bits, but I decided to buy the book as it looks to contain lots of useful stuff besides the installation chapter.

Here's the assembled machine on a temporary table:
http://warrantyvoidifremoved.com/pos...4-28/new-lathe

Hehe, I have seen some crazy unicycling on youtube - nowhere near that standard yet! On the plus side; no major injuries so far!

Cheers,

Jeff

[Geof]

With a small lathe it is not necessary to get too obsessive about levelling; actually it is not even necessary to worry about levelling at all. Big machines must be levelled because they are large enough to distort appreciably due to their own weight. 'Level' was used as a reference point during their manufacture so they must be set level for use to get the maximum accuracy and precision.

With a small machine what is more important than level is that you do not build a very sturdy stand and then bolt your machine to it. That is UNLESS you have had the mounting pads on the stand machined perfectly co-planar; well as perfect as your machine that is. If the bolt points are out of alignment you will simply distort your lathe and no matter how level it is you have lost accuracy and precision.

To avoid the need for machining the stand attach the lathe to the stand with stiff rubber isolators; this will prevent inaccuracies in the stand being transmitted to the lathe. Now if you have something badly out of balance in the lathe it will vibrate but that is not a problem and anyway you should balance things.

[jeffdg]

Cheers, Geof, rubber mounts it is. Something like these?

[Geof]

Originally Posted by jeffdg Cheers, Geof, rubber mounts it is. Something like these?

Yes, probably. You want something that is not so floppy the lathe rocks around like a wobbly man but you don't want it solid as a rock.

Actually I just realised you did say welding, doing it yourself you mean? Make little mounting tabs for the lathe, right angle with a hole to bolt them to the lathe so the other leg of the angle sticks down. Bolt them up tight, put the lathe in position so the angle sticking down rests on your pan and then just run a small weld bead along between the pan and angle. This way you have made your mounting pads align themselves to the machine.

[martinw]

Originally Posted by jeffdg I've just purchased a lovely Myford ML7 to replace my oversized Colchester Student. Jeff http://www.warrantyvoidifremoved.com

Dear Jeff,

I keep bidding on ebay for a Myford lathe , and am always outbid, cheapie that I am.

Anyway, there is a book " Myford Series Seven Manual" by Ian Bradley, that is out of print, and usually people pay a whopping £50 t0 £60 for it on ebay. That book probably contains a lot of good information. The bidders are not stupid.

If you can find a copy on the cheap, buy it.

Best wishes

Martin

[jeffdg]

Geof; good idea, I'll probably do that.

Martin; managed to get mine for £360 which I thought was very reasonable given that it came with quite a few bits & bobs - 4 jaw, vertical slide, changewheels, faceplate etc. I'll keep an eye out for the book.