Small vintage lathes

[groily]

A real labour of love GB. it looks enviably beautiful - congrats on your skill and patience, and yes, the Bling was worth it!

[Greybeard]

My current hobby is, restoring an old lathe.
My next hobby is going to be, learning how to use it. 🤔

[RichardL]

Am I correct that the lathe belonged to your now-gone brother-in-law? If so,  you've done him and yourself proud. You're lucky that there was a source for the ball-crank handles, wish there was the samea for South Bend. Hey, would you mind sharing the source for the handles?

Richard L.

[RichardL]

Went back to look at first post in this topic, so, emphasizing the terrific renovation. Wow.

Richard L.

[groily]

It'll be too good to use if you don't watch out GB!!

[Greybeard]

Richard, the lathe came from my sisters workshop. She and her husband restore vintage cars. They've got a larger lathe now so the Myford was surplus to requirements.

My ML4 lathe has not really required much work apart from cleaning off patina and painting. The spindle bushes were good. No broken teeth on the pinions. There is evidence of repairs on the counter-shaft frame and the gearbox backplate so someone loved the old girl. I bought three ball handles from Myford. They have 1/4 BSF thread, same as the ubiquitous ML7. What thread does your lathe have for handles?

I'm going to have a go at nickel plating various levers. I watched this video: https://youtu.be/G-PtnwtOR24
I need to get hold of some Hydrochloric/Muriatic acid for prepping the metal. I believe the stuff to clean cement from brickwork is HC but I do not want to have to buy 5itres. Do you know if any household product contains HC? Maybe something like Drano?

[RichardL]

GB,

Apologies. I did not mean to decease your brother-in-law or diminish your sister's machining skills.

I was thinking the handle supplier might be an aftermarket company providing handles for various marks and models. I don't think Myford would help with a South Bend. Does "Myford," per se, actually still exist? 

I have a gallon of the acid you need in my garage. You're welcome to it, but shipping might be prohibitive and frowned upon.

Richard L.

[BagONails]

GB,

Does "Myford," per se, actually still exist? 


Richard L.

That was a good question, I thought they'd died off years ago but no...GB it would seem is well supported for spares!
https://www.myford.co.uk/

[Greybeard]

I understand that Myford went bust. Someone bought the name. They are selling spares. I don't know if they are making new parts. The ball handles I bought both have minor imperfections so may just be old stock.

[Greybeard]

Richard please check the thread size on your lathe. If its 1/4 BSF you can get ball handles from Myford.

I bought a 5ltr container of Hydrochloric acid based brick cleaner today from a local builder supply merchants for a very reasonable price. If the nickel plating goes well maybe you could try plating your lathe handles.

I also received a suitable strip of nickel for the plating anode(?)

[RichardL]

GB,

I'm envious of your having such a good source for the Myford parts. Regarding the thread size, the South Bend handles slide onto keyed shafts and are held in place with nuts. I'm having a hard time envisioning how a threaded-on handle stays on when turning CCW

Richard L.

[terryg]

Richard - this is probably either known to you already or a complete red herring…

https://www.southbendlathe.com/older-machines/parts

I was surprised to see the information still held on South Bend lathes.

BTW, the ball handles on my Myford stay tight (most of the time) when turning CCW with just an extra nip up, no threadlock just yet.

Regards

[Rex]

I understand that Myford went bust. Someone bought the name. They are selling spares. I don't know if they are making new parts. The ball handles I bought both have minor imperfections so may just be old stock.

As I recall Myford folded a couple of years back (almost inevitable given their somewhat chaotic and archaic ways of doing business) and were taken over by a certain large precision tool seller prominent on Ebay.
NB when I say "precision" most/all of their stock seems to be Chinese, Indian or Taiwan produced, so while it's all relatively cheap, quality can be errrr...variable.

[Greybeard]

This arrived today.

[Greybeard]

I must say, the designed engineering on my ML4 seem rather quant. The ball handles are threaded  1/4 BSF with just a locknut behind them. As the handle should not really have much force put through it, the solution works.
The bull wheel is locked to the main shaft with a difficult to access grub screw through the pinion boss. Before back gear is engaged that grub screw has to be removed, (and not lost!).
The small pinion on the back end of the mainshaft is locked by a tiny screw that has half its thread in the pinion boss and the other half in the mainshaft. That one amazes me!
Anyway, this machine is probably 80 years old and still in pretty good shape so what the heck!