Lathe Improvements

My lathe is a Myford Super 7B, bought new in 1994. It has been excellent in all respects and while I don't think I could afford the same lathe at today's prices, I've never regreted that its purchase blew my original budget by over 100%. However, nothing is so good it can't be improved and, as pointed out by the late George H Thomas in his highly recommended, posthumous book, The Model Engineers Workshop Manual, there are modifications that owners can make to improve this machine which would not be viable, price-wise, for Myford themselves. He goes on to detail several (actually, these are reprints of past articles and series published in Model Engineer). Using your lathe to modify itself has an appealing symetry to it, but is also a somewhat daunting prospect, with some lessons for others worth passing on.

 

The Quorn

The most ambitious project I've undertaken so far is the Quorn Tool and Cutter Grinder. This was one of those projects that mushroomed as I had to make tools, to make tools etc (a familiar story to model engineers). When complete, I wrote a piece on the saga and posted it on my (then) web site. Soon after, I was transferred overseas, eventually landing up in Portland, Oregon where I located the local model engineering group and went along to a meeting. At the meeting was a group of budding Quorn Builders discussing my web article. Don't know who got the bigger surprise, them, or me! The main driving force behind the effory was a great guy named Tom Hammond. The photo shows Tom with a demonstration board of the ball handles for the Quorn tool and cutter grinder, made using the method I described in my Quorn Adventure article (many thanks to Metal Web News for preserving a copy of the text of my Quorn saga when my old web site went kaput. Saved me a lot of work!)

Quorn Articles:

• Dennis Chaddock: Model Engineer
• A Raw beginner Builds a Quorn
• A Drill Sharpening Jig for the Quorn

 

Anodizing

One item that's been on my list of things to try for a while has been anodizing. A recent (August, 98) visit from my long time partner in all manner of crimes, plus the unexpected arrival of a grotty old power supply moved the project to the top of the event queue and after a bit of experementing, we achieved spectacular success - even if we do say so ourselves. This spurred a burst of old engine restoration activity. Here is a description of the process.