An "Impulse-buy" or whatever the saying in English is.. at least not very well planned.. a(nother) Myford Super 7.
A long drive, and no time or real incitement to bargain the price, it being within the range of what I consider a "project price". This "start-up cost" is usually only a fraction of the resulting value of a finished item anyway, say 1/5 to 1/3.
As can be seen from the video/pictures, the machine is in a "sorry state".. but since I by now know what it takes and have the means to do so, I will take this back as far as it is possible vs. "factory specs".
NB! Myford once published a very nice "guide to inspecting a lathe", which of course is one (recommended) way to cover the steps the manufacturer themselves deemed necessary in a restoration process. I remember there was also an article in MEW about a typical restoration, so for both these publications, I think you can look it up on the (excellent) MEW pages online.
Because I know my way around this machine, I omitted the stage of measuring it in the "all assembled state", instead starting the project with an inspection of parts after disassembly and partial cleaning. This revealed a number of "shortcomings", ie. the broken end plate and need for replacing the cross-slide screw/nut, damaged backgear cluster, mauled tops slide, some missing parts here and there, the usual (in this case, light) wear, rust, need for a bed regrind, good paintjob etc. In that respect, I will again mention the fact that spart parts and accessories, new and used are available from different sources, which I find crucial! I have made a list of the bare minimum I will need for this machine and have added this at the end of the video. There might be even more parts, eg. if the bore in the tailstock barrel is "beyond economical repair", if there are cracks in the bullwheel teeth that renders this also ripe for replacement, if I decide I want to exchange the halfnuts/leadscrew, consider replacing the different bearings/bushes, new top slide castings/parts, small parts like screws/nuts/bolts/washers, motor/drive/electrical system etc. All in all, this additional cost will probably triple the initial purchase price, so this has to be accounted for when a purchase is considered. Then the time it will take me for scraping, testing, reassembly etc... possibly say 100 hours, which should also be considered vs. the price for a new lathe. I say this, because one often forgets.. in the euforia of seeing the lathe you desperately desired and then going a little "overboard" when buying.. that there is a certain "market price" for a certain machine type.
From a wear point of view, the bed is quite lightly worn, only 2.5/100 mm difference in width at the worst spot (thickness of the shears also about the same numbers), as usual on the front way towards to the headstock. The rear way is almost unworn. As this is a "narrow guided" saddle it has been riding between the front- and rear sides of the front way. This together with the fact that the tailstock rides between the rear side of the front way and the front side of the rear way of course accounts for this wear, but also leaves the rear side of the rear way untouched. This again has the effect that it retains the original geometry and can therefore be useful in the restoration process. I will also probably modify the lathe to bear on this surface, ie. to the "wide guide principle". The saddle also has the typical wear, to the underside, left front side, because of tool pressure. A little more than on the bed, but within reason with respect to scraping.
Anyway, I thought I would share the initial steps in a project like this, as I guess these are both quite "universal" as well as "type specific" topics and therefore might have value for others to look at. I am not planning to cover all details as they have been well documented before, but if you have any special topic in mind, pls. let me know in the comments and then I can see if I can take the time to cover this again or re-use/refer to what has been made in a specific way.
PS! This project is of course additional to my other projects so will be "addressed sporadically".
PS! I plan to buy and try out an "ultrasonic cleaner" for the smaller parts..
