Good day to you all. You may recall a number of comments being made and asked about model engineering lathes, I think it was late last year 2024.
I said when I get time I will put something together so here it is.
I have a Myford Super 7 and I think it was built in 1952. Myford have the information, so if you know the serial number, you can easily trace it. It has been used and has a couple of dongs here and there but is still very accurate and parts off like a dream, using HSS. Due to its size it would struggle with carbide. These lathes have bronze split bearings in the headstock which makes them very rigid which reflect in the machining ability of the lathe. Lathes with roller bearings in the headstock tend to lack the same stability, hence the issues with part off. I machined 4 sets of bevel gears out of ali-bronze for the steering mechanism on the William C Daldy (old steam tug here in Auckland, google daldy.com) with a bore of 1-1/4 inches finished true and parallel. The OD of the gears was close to 3.5 inches. The lathe handled the job well and it took me 40 hours to machine all 8 pieces. I also made myself a fixed steady out of 6061 aluminiun, which you can see from the pictures. The OD was too large to fit over the saddle so I had to use a boring bar to turn and part off, from the ID and OD. I can highly recommend a Myford machine as they are excellent quality, but as anything which is good quality you pay for it. I had to make a 21 tooth gear for a special thread so I turned the blank up and hand cut the teeth. It did the job perfectly. If you have any questions please add to the conversation. Cheers Ian and happy modelling.