Author Topic: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe  (Read 16714 times)

Offline Allen Smithee

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Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« on: September 17, 2014, 05:43:47 PM »
So sometime over the next 10 days I will finally be collecting together my old lathe (stripped and stored about 20 years ago) and deciding what to do with it. I don't have space for a second lathe, so my options are:

1. Sell it
2. Keep any useful bits and give the rest to a scrap dealer.

I'll post some photos (hopefully) this weekend, but I'm fairly sure it's a late model of the long-bed version of the "4-inch precision" myford (see the lathes.co.uk page ), probably the MF-36.M with integral motor & countershaft on the pressed-steel stand and tray. It has the front-adjustable countershaft belt tension wheel shown on the photos of the dark green lathe about 2/3rds of the way down the page on lathes.co.uk. According to Tony it's probably a very rare beast (possibly a sole survivor of the model!).

If I don't sell it complete the I suspect it's more use to me as parts - I think the bed is the same as the super-7B I'm getting soon, so the tailstock, steadies and other bits could be usefrul to have as spares, it has nice handles and wheels that I'd keep for something else, while the unusual T-slotted cross-slide/compound slide assembly could be the basis of a nifty vertical slide for the super-7. And I never throw away gears, so the change gear set would be kept. I'm even wondering if (assuming it had no significant value) I could cut the bed away from the headstock (angle-grinders are such brutal tools!) and use it as the basis of a home-made small lathe (a bit bigger than a cowells, but you get the idea). Hey, it's just a thought OK!

Before I consider ebaying it or breaking it for bits I just wanted to find out if anyone here could be interested in it - it's located in Farnham (Surrey-Hants border) in the UK and I suspect it would need to be a collection job because even stripped down it wouldn't fit through the hole in the post box!

Anyone tempted?

AS
Quidquid latine dictum sit altum sonatur

Offline steamer

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2014, 06:03:07 PM »
This side of the pond perhaps.....bit of a long wet drive to get it there.... 8)


Dave
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Offline Allen Smithee

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2014, 06:24:16 PM »
This side of the pond perhaps.....bit of a long wet drive to get it there.... 8)

Well if you're potentially interested I could always leak that it was involved in an Afgan training camp, and then your chappies would probably send an executive jet and delta-force escort to transport it back to the yewsay (and they'd kit it out with a nice orange protective cover as well!).

 :mischief: :mischief:

AS
Quidquid latine dictum sit altum sonatur

Offline steamer

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2014, 07:11:07 PM »
This side of the pond perhaps.....bit of a long wet drive to get it there.... 8)

Well if you're potentially interested I could always leak that it was involved in an Afgan training camp, and then your chappies would probably send an executive jet and delta-force escort to transport it back to the yewsay (and they'd kit it out with a nice orange protective cover as well!).

 :mischief: :mischief:

AS



Feel free to do your part and crate it up! 8) :LittleDevil:
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
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Offline Allen Smithee

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2014, 08:48:20 PM »
Well most of the large parts weren't where I expected them to be. After an extensive search of the garage I finally found another crate in a corner under some family stuff - it wasn't with the rest of it, which meant that it never got "rescued" with the other bits after the roof leak.

So when I opened the crate I found this...




 :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :'( :'( :'( :wallbang:

What do you think - is it a complete gonner, or is it recoverable?

AS
Quidquid latine dictum sit altum sonatur

Online sco

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2014, 09:01:47 PM »
Looks like it will need a ton of work before it will be worthy of the name 'precision' - I guess it depends what you want to spend your free time doing.

Simon.
Ars longa, vita brevis.

Offline steamer

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2014, 10:43:10 PM »
Put some concrete in with it and make a wharf anchor......That's "totaled"....could you resurrect it?   Sure!....but for a 1/10th the money and none of the effort, you could buy another one that works....depends on what you want to spend you time and money on I guess

Dave
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

fcheslop

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2014, 10:54:07 PM »
God thats well Donald Ducked :embarassed:

Offline Allen Smithee

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2014, 11:16:32 PM »
Yes, that was essentially my assessment as well, but I though I should get a second opinion.

The bed itself is in good nick, as is the stand and suds tray. Does anyone need a stand and tray for their lathe? They're pressed steel fabrications, which means you could fit it to another lathe by just drilling a couple of holes.

The cross/topslide assembly isn't quite as bad as it looks, so I'll probably hold onto them to see if I can make a vertical slide out of them, and I may hang onto the tailstock because I can think of a few useful things I could make from it. But the rest is probably just scrap. How much can you get for cast iron/steel scrap these days...?

I'll check with Tony Griffiths to see if anyone might want the bed before I scrap it...

AS
Quidquid latine dictum sit altum sonatur

Offline tangler

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2014, 11:42:59 PM »
What a sad picture.  My guess is that none of it is quite as bad as it looks,  I wouldn't think there is much pitting.  I'm sure the chucks, at least,  can be made serviceable, you can't have too many chucks.

Commiserations,

Rod

Online Kim

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #10 on: September 20, 2014, 11:50:17 PM »
That looks very sad Allen.
Good luck with whatever you decided to do with that stew...
Kim

Offline Allen Smithee

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #11 on: September 21, 2014, 12:08:01 AM »
I think I owe it to the old beast to at least dry it all off, strip it an see how it might clean up with a little bit of effort, and then we'll see. I do have several sets of softjaws for that 3-jaw chuck, so it might be worth trying to save it. In one of the other crates there's a faceplate which is undamaged - it should fit the Super 7...

On the up-side - I watched Lewis take pole from Nico by 7msec which (by my quick fag-packet calculation) meant he was less than 2 feet in front across the line!

AS
« Last Edit: September 21, 2014, 12:13:15 AM by Allen Smithee »
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Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #12 on: September 21, 2014, 12:53:46 AM »
Doesn't look promising at all Allen, but I agree,  clean it up and see what you have that may be salvageable.

Bill

Online Jo

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #13 on: September 21, 2014, 01:29:04 AM »
I would grab the first bit, set up an electrolysis tank to take the rust off and give it a few days to make the rust float off and then decide if it is worth the effort on any other bits.

As a minimum those chucks are saveable as are the Dixons.

Jo
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Offline sshire

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Re: Myford "4-inch Precision" lathe
« Reply #14 on: September 21, 2014, 01:55:52 AM »
Sometimes, it's rather amazing what happens after electrolysis.
Agree with Jo. Very little work and a surprise may lurk under the rust.
I'd throw it in the tank and give it a few days
Best,
Stan

 

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