Make your own parts on a Myford?

[zooma]

Hi Zooma


I have an old Faircut lathe that i've made a few airgun parts on, the trouble is that my shed at the bottom of the garden was rotten so I binned it and now all the stuff from the shed is in my garage so I can't get to my lathe (or any of the other tools come to that )

Myfords are brilliant lathes and as you said, with all the right tooling you can do allsorts!!!

I made some custom parts for my Ratties on mine..



Cheers, John

Those two Ratties look impressive John - and the machine lurking on the floor beside the table looks interesting as well!

[greasemonkey]

hi all ,have always had a lathe in the corner of the workshop for the last 25yrs.couple of years back i went to look at an ajax bench mill with a "20 bed advertised on this forum but local to me.to cut it short i ended up buying both the mill and the ajax bench lathe with a "36 bed and "1 1/2 headstock bore that was for sale as well.both nice modernish[1980,s?]machines with lots of extras thrown in by the generous seller[cheers nick ,you know where they are if you need to use them].have made lots of bits for my guns on them .my latest project was to make up the tools for opening up fixed shotgun chokes .basically an extended adjustable reamer with a bore guide and a gunsmiths lead lap.used them to open up the chokes on one of my s/s ten bores an a s/s webley and scott 12 bore that was very tightly choked.gave me much satisfaction when both tools worked superbly ..sometimes i might have been better off buying rather than making parts but i it do it for the personal satisfaction..30 yrs ago i used to use the little myfords in the machine shop were i worked. even back then they seemed a little quaint compared to the more modern stuff we had but even as a callow youth i found that they had a certain charismatic charm which made me want to possess one..the advances in medical science make it much more practical for the novice machinist nowadays because unless they are too mangled if you can now get your fingers sown back on if you have a little mishap::in my day when it was gone it was gone!::..cheers..greasemonkey

[Andy001]

I want a lathe to learn on, but the prices are out of this world. For both new, and second hand items

[hawkeye]

Willpower and a not inconsiderable distance will keep the cash safe in your pocket .

Enjoy your Unimat, it is a very capable little lathe - I am selling Gerald Wingroves "Unimat Lathe Projects" book on Amazon at the moment as I don't have a Unimat, but it is a very informative read and shows the capabilities of the machine tool.

A neat little machine with a big punch - very nice!

I bought a couple of books last week and some new cutting tools but will take a look at yours on Amazon now .

[keithomas]

For reading, the home work shop serise are a mine of information!
the hemmingway website is worth a look aswell. They sell brilliant shop gear

[zooma]

I bought a couple of books last week and some new cutting tools but will take a look at yours on Amazon now .

The book is a beginners guide and shows you have to make ten useful tools as project parts on your Unimat.

Quite clever really - as you make some useful parts for your lathe and workshop, you learn a lot about using the Unimat.

It shows you how to make 10 tools with lots of general info along the way like how to sharpen drills correctly, so by the time you have started to have a go at making the first part you have already gained a fair bit of knowledge to store up ready for making that airgun part you need !

I don't have a Unimat lathe, but found the book very helpful as the techniques used can apply to any size and type of lathe.

[hawkeye]

For reading, the home work shop serise are a mine of information!
the hemmingway website is worth a look aswell. They sell brilliant shop gear

Is this the site you mention ?
http://www.hemingwaykits.com/

[keithomas]

yeah thats the job. if your going to get a bench grinder get the warden one off them. its brilliant!

[magicniner]

I had a Myford Super 7 for many years, it was a good machine with little wear & i made a lot of bits & pieces on it.
It fell down in one major respect, it has a piddling little hole up the headstock so you cant do barrels or cylinders on it. It was always too small for the jobs i had to do.
Sold it & got a Colchester Bantam. Problem solved!

Yes, it's terrible when you don't have a lathe with the capacity for a job you want to do, luckily my Super 7 seems to have the capacity that your Myford lacked
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/IMG_0215.jpg

30 yrs ago i used to use the little myfords in the machine shop were i worked. even back then they seemed a little quaint compared to the more modern stuff we had but even as a callow youth i found that they had a certain charismatic charm which made me want to possess one..the advances in medical science make it much more practical for the novice machinist nowadays because unless they are too mangled if you can now get your fingers sown back on if you have a little mishap::in my day when it was gone it was gone!::..cheers..greasemonkey

Lathes are like guns, if the user is competent the safeties are never asked to do their job and a safe lathe is one which is used safely, not one which has all manner of switches and covers plastered all over it, I do agree though that the inexperienced and incompetent are better off with all manner of guards, although that will prevent the use of some rather useful setups

- Nick

[frontend loader]

Apparently my Myford would have done everything if I had read the manual

[zooma]

All Myfords that are working and in good condition are nice to use and should be big enough for any repair or airweapon related project.

I have a really nice Myford Speed 10 at the moment - it's like an ML10 but with the extended bed, so although it is compact it can handle almost as much as a Super 7 and needs a lot less workshop space to accomodate it.