Identifying a lathe?

[Rich H]

Can anyone help identify this lathe for me please?

It's the right price but I'd like to know what it is before taking the plunge. The seller reckons it's an Myford ML7 but I think it might be an ML4.

cheers
Rich

 

[stormin]

Looks like it's the Myford Drummond M type.
See here:-
http://www.lathes.co.uk/drummond/index.html

 

[Rich H]

Thanks!

 

[Pete.]

Yes it's a Drummond M, as identified by the toolpost. They were made by Myford after a certain year - it was forced on Drummond by some government department to do with the war effort. The bar hanging along the bottom is a carriage-feed knock-off. My father has a similar machine which he bought recently with loads of accessories including a nice Burnerd 4-jaw, two different collet chuck systems, a compound vertical slide and a pair of 127-tooth metric transposing gears. His was missing the aforementioned bar though.

 

[Rich H]

Grand!

This one comes with a load of back gears, a 3 and 4 jaw chuck, some tooling and some other bits.
Most importantly it comes with a lesson from the owner on not lopping off lumps of myself...LOL

Just got to fetch it and sneak it past SWMBO...

 

[Pete.]

Sounds like a good buy, I was impressed by the sturdiness of the machine - much better than my similar-sized Atlas. They don't look too rigid in the pictures with the single foot and long overhanging tail-end but I think they are a great machine for the size & weight. look after the headstock bearings.

 

[Rich H]

I take it headstock bearings are not something easily found anymore...

 

[Pete.]

No, they are babbitt bearings I think - white metal. They must be oiled religiously in use. If you wear them out they can be re-cast but the best thing is to keep them in good nick. The seller should tell you the oiling regime.

 

[Rich H]

Cool. Ta.
As far as I can remember he was a timed served machinist who now does it as a hobby so should be OK there.

 

[Rich H]

So it's in! It has the worlds largest single phase 1/2 horsepower motor and a proper Drummond counter shaft and motor mount - it's just arranged in a slightly non-standard way to save a bit of space.

It has a lead screw and loads of change wheels, it's missing one from the set but I have possibly found one. Lead screw nut is a bit worn but it'll still feed accurately enough.

It has 3 and 4 jaw chucks too.

The motor wiring is best before 1960 so I plan on changing it all tomorrow and the reverse switch is very tired, will be one of the first projects I think.

Oiling regime is every time - oil it! I'm using gearbox oil, GL4 as it's bronze friendly and I have some handy...

Excited...

 

[Shox Dr]

Have a look at lathes.co.uk , a vast resource for info on lathes, milling machines etc

 

[stormin]

Would've thought that big old motor would cope without the water cooling!
That's what the tap is for isn't it?

I think the underdrive set-up is a lot better use of space and less rotating parts near eye level.

 

[Rich H]

LOL
The only problem with this setup is the massive hole in the worktop, but it's 18mm thck ply and heavily braced so should be OK...

It's all wired in and running! Even turned a little bit of ali bar last night - need to learn to make proper tools though, I seem to have hundreds of 60 degree tooling adn no rounded tips. The drum switch internals are very tired but I now have some copper plate and silversteel to make replacement parts.

Sadly I have found that the motor has a load of cracks in the back cover, it's OK for now but won't last forever - maybe only another 20 years or so...