MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite Technical - How Useful is a Lathe

A few years ago I bought a Myford Super 7 lathe which had been in a school metalwork department. It was invaluable when I was rebuilding my MG TF and I have noted lathes have been mentioned in posts regarding gear box and diff overhauls. The good news is small lathes are advertised on eBay but the bad news is they are often from schools or colleges. CNC and CAD are the future but nothing beats traditional skills as a starting point.

Jan T
J Targosz

I wouldn't be without one or more lathes, I have 3 2 manual 1 CNC, and 3 of my neighbours would say similar. My immediate neighbour has a Super 7 also and is likely his last in a line of Myfords. Ex school/college is a term that often conjures up horror show lathes that have been long used or badly abused but sometimes it seems more recent stuff can be in excellent condition because they just haven't been used.
David Billington

I inherited from my dad a lathe that I never knew him not to have. It must date at least from the 1940s and may even be pre-war. When I took it over it had a motor made in a factory not more than 2 miles from where I was born in Croydon. Fancy that - something actually made in England. Sadly the motor expired quite quickly so it has a modern one now. As a biologist I don't know anything about engineering, so most of the tools and gears that came with it mean nothing to me. But it has been immensely useful. The last job I did was to skim the piston crowns to get the compression heights the same (or as near as I could get). About 10 years ago I made a brass collar to make an A+ distributor fit the early block. My wife has also seen the benefits - I made an aluminium gear for her ice cream machine when the crappy plastic one stripped its teeth off. That was about 15 years ago, and it's still going strong.
Les Rose

We have an ex school Harrison, it is brilliant. The emergency cut off tweaks are good too! I also have a Unimat millennium baby lathe which is cute.
Peter Burgess Tuning

My old Myford is a part of the furniture, I know there's more modern, possibly better machines about, but he's been here from new and in for the long haul---Probably use it more for internal boring than anything but really enjoy thread cutting with it--Have been in the process of building a toolpost grinder for it but that's on the backburner at the moment--Made up a power feed for it a couple of years ago but that took the fun out of screwing it along manually, it was handy but boring to use so that's ended up being removed and binned.
Don't think I could survive without a lathe, there's just something special about the feeling of making stuff--
William Revit

Regarding the Dremel for small toolpost grinding jobs the nose thread is 3/4"-12 UNS but that's the same pitch as 3/4" BSF which is what I used and the Dremel screws in fine. This is for a Dremel 4000, other models and knockoffs may be different. My first Dremel doesn't have a threaded nose but it's also old enough to be made in the USA.
David Billington

David,
Interested in how you mounted the Dremel - mine has a nose of 18.6mm haven’t checked thread as yet. How rigid is it ?
Also I have a much larger Lidl’s die grinder with a 39mm nose that could be used to clamp it.

Yes I would be lost without a lathe - so useful !
I have a Denford Viceroy 10” swing which I fitted a VFD so have very good torque and speed control etc and a very small Cowells that is now very old but great for small jobs on models etc.

R.
richard b

Richard,

See image for 3 of the 4 holders I've made. Top if for the Dremel flexi tool and IIRC 1/2" UNF, middle is for the Dremel tool itself and 3/4" BSF, bottom is for my air pencil die grinder. I have another which is similar to the bottom one but larger for my biggest die grinder. I've only used the middle one once so far for cutting some tungsten carbide rod with a diamond coated disc and no problems with rigidity. Mounting in a Dickson toolholder in my case as per any other rectangular tool. I'll be using one of them again soon as I need to correct a short taper nose chuck adapter and it needs a small amount of material removing with a small mounted point.


David Billington

I had access to a machine shop until about ten years ago when the owner (one of my oldest friends) died suddenly. I didn't need to use it much and couldn't justify buying a lathe at my age but, as much as I miss good old John I miss the machine tools (almost) as much.
Greybeard

Thanks David,

Never done any grinding in a lathe - do you set the centre of the stones at centre height ?

R.
richard b

Richard,

Yes and ideally have the spindle rotation so the surface is travelling in the opposite direction to the stone at the cutting point.
David Billington

Hi David,

You advise the spindle should rotate in the opposite direction to the Dremel.

My Myford had an original Crompton Parkinson 3/4 horse, single phase motor. with the belt detached the motor was quiet but when refitted was noisy. Apparently this is a problem with single phase Myfords with noise being transitted through the main drive belt. One semi-solution is to fit a link belt which breaks up the vibrations but I don't think many engineers would be happy with this. My lathe was fitted with the correct reversing switch but last year the contacts in the motor itself, that the reversing switch was connected to, burt out. I decided to treat myself to an inverter and three phase, 1.5 hourse, motor. I bought a kit from Newton Tessla in Warrington and it is superb! The lathe is now so quiet I have had to paint stripes on the main pulley to remind me to turn off the power. I can dial up the speed from zero to max without moving any belts, I can jog the chuck and flick into reverse ( with a caution about the chuck unscrewing - mine isn't a cam lock)

Jan T
J Targosz

Jan,
My upgraded motor and controller is also from Newton Tesla- sounds similar to your set up.
Very helpful company.

My lathe has a Brammer link belt - fitted as standard to Denford Viceroy lathes, countershaft to headstock.
richard b

My neighbour has a Newton Tesla supplied motor and inverter set-up on his Tom Senior vertical knee mill and he's happy with it and it hasn't had any issues since late 2005. I was concerned that the supplied inverter was an obsolete model and required an external programmer to set parameters but fortunately it came preconfigured with suitable ones.

My experience with an inverter was about 8 years ago and things had moved on with all parameters being easily set from the VFD front panel and a comprehensive manual.
David Billington

This thread was discussed between 16/02/2023 and 22/02/2023

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS now