It's started; Baby #1's name is Myford.

69_knives

69_knives

Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
1,855
While inquiring about a couple of things for sale locally I was informed at the very bottom of a very long list that a lathe was also for sale and I had just been pricing out a combo lathe/mill machine from house of tools so I asked about the price and some more information about it.

It belonged to an older fellow that has passed on but it looks as though it hasn't been used in 20 years and had been sitting on the bottom shelf of the bench it was probably used on at one time.

haven't even unloaded it yet and I'm trying to figure out how I can use it to mill guard slots. I think it should be doable but maybe easier to convert a benchtop drill press to a mill.

First I have to clean up the 20 years of mouse piss and make sure everything's lubed proper.

the ML7... Believe it or not, it took over 2 hours to drive 70 miles in white out blizzard conditions on April 22, - today! Global warming... right!

thanks for lookin'
GEDC0283.jpg
 
Stop now! Do not go any further! Otherwise soon your garage will become so crowed there will be nowhere to park your car. Not that there will be enough money left over to keep cars you care about anyways...

Folks whine about how expensive a hobby knifemakeing is. :rolleyes:

Whine: Oh boohoo! I had to drop a thousand dollars to get a really nice anvil. Oh waaah! A knife grinder costs a thousand bucks too! Oh no - I had to get a heat treat oven and it was spendy!

I spent eight grand on cutters and stuff last month. Run away!
 
What Nathan said!... Looks like a slow change lathe. I hope you got all the gears too. any chucks, faceplates, goodies or tooling come with it?

Jason
 
They say that with a lathe you can make every other tool in the shop. I don't think that's necessarily accurate, but I bet it's pretty close.
 
Nathan,

I realized how bad the 'plague' can get when I went to pick this one up. The guy that is helping the lady sell this stuff has 5 lathes, a number of milling machines and drill presses and other machinery and yes; it was walking room only in his shop. I drew some vacation pay for this one so I'm not really out anything... who needs a vacation anyway :)

Jason,

yes I got a bunch of gears for the thread cutting pitches, a 3 jaw chuck, a faceplate, a handful of cutters, a bunch of things I think he called them 'dogs' or dawgs, some centre drills and a couple of dead centres and a few other knick knacks; I really don't know a bunch about machinery or tooling so BIG learning curve ahead. At least I'll get to know it intimately during the cleaning process.

Barnett25,

The fellow I got this from gave me a book called "How to Run a Lathe" and the very first sentence is "The screw cutting engine lathe is the oldest and most important of machine tools and from it all other machine tools have been developed."
 
I got the lathe all cleaned up and working, tightened up the combo clearances and what not..

a couple before and after pics.

Not too shabby considering I paid about a hundred dollars more than a cheap, plastic-geared, chinese lathe about half the size.

going by the serial number, this one was built in 1957. I took the 1/4 horse motor off and put on a 1/2 HP motor that was sitting in the garage doing nothing.

lathe1-0.jpg


lathe2-0.jpg
 
Um- that is a lathe correct. im not too educated with a lathe or a milling machine but i was wondering is that a lathe/mill combo? otherwise how can you drill out guard slots ( as stated in original thread)? thank you--marekz
 
marekz said:
how can you drill out guard slots ( as stated in original thread)? thank you--marekz
Click to expand...

build a mount for a vise that would mount where the x-axis micro slide mounts, or use the tool clamp, or wait for one of the mill attachments that were made for this unit to go on ebay.
 
can you do the same thing with all lathes. The reason im asking because i was thinking of getting lathe for awhile.lol. I was going to do mainly wood type stuff( a smaller fox lathe), but i also wanted to think about getting a mill to learn stuff around knife making( since everyone says how beneficial itcan be)If I can get a lathe that i can also use as a mill that would be ideal. thanks again-marekz
 
there is ageneral macinery lathe for $200.00 it says with chuck---36" long with a 12" swing. any opinions-marekz--im sorry im hijacking this thread-ill be quite now--marekz
 
That look like a nice machine! I'm partial to the south bend belt drive lathes I learned on, but that machine is probably a bit more stout for it's size. I've heard flat ways are bad about wear, how does this one look?

Marekz,
I think you might be looking at a wood lathe. The easiest way to tell is to see if it has a cross slide with all of the dials and levers you see on this lathe. Wood lathes are very basic and are used with hand held chisels on a simple tool rest. Unless you get a great deal like this (and know what you are working with) you would be better off with a mini mill and a separate wood lathe.
 
Marekz what brand is it? I'm very partial to South Bend, Cincinatti, Kearny & Treker, Browne & Sharp,
Is it a quick change or a slow change. does it have any tooling that comes with it?

For the machinary noob / challenged ( I myself would be considered in this group as far as modern cnc stuff goes but older 1970's and below I'm fairly good on!)
Quick change Lathe = a geared transmission with a "shifter"
Slow Change = no actual transmission but you open the door on the left and litterally change the gears out to make the lathe run at diffrent speeds.

A Lathe Dog is used in conjunction with a face plate. to hold the work between centers.

Hope this helps

Jason
 
barnett25 said:
I've heard flat ways are bad about wear, how does this one look?
Click to expand...

It looks good. Aside from a couple of hack saw marks on the back edge and a couple of scratches, there is very little wear. That is the same for pretty much everything including the headstock spindle and bearings.

The spindle speed is changed fairly quickly. There's a knob just above the 'F' on the front, that lifts a cover revealing a belt and two 3 step pulleys, there's a lever that releases tension so the belt position can easily be changed.

The lead screw speed for cutting threads, however, is slow change and requires changing gears under the left side cover.
 
I'm not going to pretend I don't like a quick change gearbox, but it's not like you are going to need to change your lead screw speed that often. I definitely think I could live with it.

Looks like an awesome deal, it has me wanting to pick up a lathe. I haven't run one in 7 years. :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top