On Tuesday the 3rd February I had something of a mixed morning in the workshop. The anticipation of work that could be finished was far in excess of what was finished!
Not feeling my best, I thought I would test out how machine able the leadscrew was and what damage, if any the leadscrew would sustain in the chuck. First action though was to test it in by putting it through the half nuts on the saddle. Whist the Myford thread is perhaps a little more square at the top than the replacement It seemed to work fine and the half nuts closed with little problem.
Happy that it would fit I placed the threaded leadscrew in the chuck, and with very little showing, faced it off. I am pleased to say it cut very well and no impression could be seen on the screw from the chuck jaws. However, because the area tested would be turned down later it didn’t matter if any damage was sustained I will still protect the shaft by either shim stock or make a thin brass collet.
The next task was to have a cup of tea and make drawings up with dimensions, for the jobs I had to do. This involved four drawings in all. Sounds grand, but just pencil on a ring bound note pad. Nevertheless by drawing up the job to do allowed me to check if I had all the required tools and stock material. Because this is such an important part of the lathe (and I didn’t want to buy another length of leadscrew) I wanted everything in place.
Just then our post lady arrived with the bronze material for the bearings, so one step forward. Looking to see what reamers I required I found that I didn’t have two of them, and since I only need two, that was a step backwards. I also searched out for a couple of split pins to suit and again I had none. So it started to look like it would not be full steam ahead quite yet. Not deterred too much I looked to see what I could actually make and the only item I found was the joining piece between the leadscrew and the gear change end of the lathe.
This was a relatively easy task, and after getting the nearest size stock I could, turned and parted off to dimensions. I didn’t bore out either of the two holes as I had not yet changed the 3 jaw for the 4 jaw chuck and those pesky reamers needed to be sourced. So after measuring the angle of the chamfer on the existing part I cut the chamfer on the new joining piece and since I wasn’t at my best, decided to call it a day and go in and order all the parts required and chase up the revolving live centre still outstanding from RDG Tools.
Wednesday wasn’t much better for me health wise and since parts were outstanding and I couldn’t do any more on the MGA wing mirrors, I had a day of rest.
As soon as I feel up to it and hopefully this corresponds with a couple of deliveries, I will concentrate on the leadscrew. This is the only outstanding issue for the Myford ML7 rebuild ass all other parts are to complete the build. The digital readouts will be delayed for a little while as funds need to be restored…..Luckily the chess set I made as a retirement present for my brother Stephen, has been accepted for an article to be published in the next couple of Model Engineer magazines starting with the issue on sale from the 13th February. This will bring in some monies to go toward the DRO’s (after I have kept a bit back for the tax man!)
Whilst the rest of the country is buried under a lot of snow here in Brixham, sunny Devon we have just had a little flurry on one day but the rest of the time it has been raining. So Thursday we are attempting to go fishing for the first time in over 3 weeks (our longest spell other that holidays). If you want to follow our fishing exploits have a look at http://www.dartmouthfishing.co.uk
Hello Mike.
I would like to ask a question about the myford lathe line boring set-up on your home page. I have never done line boring this…. or any other way, come to think of it. I can see how the set-up works, and I can see how you increase the size of cut/bore.
How, though, do you position the workpiece so that the bore position is where you need it to be? Cross ways, I can see…but how about up and down? Do you use packing shims or something?
Thanks, and kind regards.
Colin
Hello Colin, you have got it in one. You have to pack it and shim (if necessary) to the height you want to bore it through. It does take a bit of time setting up because you need to allow for the compression when tightening the holding clamps, but easily done with a little care. Hope this helps and good luck with your project(s).