myford ml8

[sue denim]

Hello

I tried fitting an outboard faceplate on my myford recently and found that the edge of the face plate rubbed against the end of the bed tube. The temporary solution is to put a fat washer behind the faceplate to create clearance. It would appear that the bed is correctly positioned.

Is the problem down to excessive bearing wear and thus the central boss has moved inboard too far?.

If this is the case how easy is a bearing refit and can they still be obtained.

Biggest fear is will the bearing (if that is the problem) collapse inwards?.

Thank you in advance

Regards 'Sue'

 

[parvum]

Hi Sue, Myford are rather vague when it comes to assembley instructions, saying only that the belt hole in the bed should be central to the opening in the base of the headstock, Assuming your bed is not protruding too far from the left hand side of the headstock, the problem could be:-
(i) Non Myford face plate
(ii) Wear or damage to the face plate, is it rubbing he edge or the back of the face plate? has the overall depth of the threaded boss been reduced or the depth of the register increased, either by wear or modification to fit say a Turnstyler lathe.
For what it is worth for the massive bearings to wear enough to allow a significant change to the screwed collars position on the spindle, the lathe would sound like a cement mixer and vibrate like mad. The earlier bearings are imperial and very rare and expensive, later lathes have metric bearing and are more easily available from people like Bearing Boys or Simply Bearings, they are a pair of angular contact bearings.
As long as the spindle runs without any nasty noises and has adequate SAE 32 (Automatic transmission fluid works well) or Esso Nuto if you can find it,with just a thou or so of end float ( tighten the threaded collar with no more than finger and thumb pressure), you should be ok to run the lathe with your washer in place, as long as the face runs true without wobbling or vibrating. any such behaviour will drastically shorten the life of the bearings.
If You suspect your face plate is worn or has been got at these are the measurements from my face plates

1. Overall depth, 1.169 inches 27.91 mm
2. Depth of register rear face of boss to start of thread 0.505 inches 12.8 mm

I hope this helps, but if you need any more info please pm me

best regards

Paul

 

[Phil Pascoe]

From what I remember, I would thought that the bed and the headstock were slightly misaligned. I seem to remember that the bed only just comes through the rear turning attachment. Someone who's still got one will be along soon.

 

[Tinbasher]

Ill have to go out and have a look but the tubular bed set too far out sounds like the problem.

 

[sue denim]

Hello

the bed extends 50mm from the headstock and the threaded spindle bit protrudes 27mm from the bearing collar.

I believe the faceplate is an original myford accessory.

Anyone measured theirs ?

Regards

'Sue'

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You're putting on an outside faceplate, so I assume you have an outboard turning attachment? If so, where does the bed end relative to that?

 

[Tinbasher]

Hi all

Just measured mine and its 50mm. It would foul a larger faceplate but I have a 6" one on at present.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, thinking back - the Myford one is 6". You can put something like 11.5" on it without fouling anything, but a faceplate itself much larger than 6" would foul.