Myford super 7

[Alan]

I have just bought a super 7 in a poor state of repair. Before i start using it i have a queary that i cant find the answer, The headstock bearings seem to be lubricated by a grease pot above the bearing and not but a drip feed of oil. Is this correct? I am assuming its an early S7, am i also correct?
I do not have the lathe at my workshop yet, so cannot get its serial number.

I will be looking for a cross slide, saddle wheel and the indexing wheel and pointer that is at the tailstock end of the lathe

Any help welcome

[uuu]

The early Super7s have an oil reservoir above the bearing with a lid held on by a knurled nut. There's a window in the front so you can see the drips of oil, and a control knob to adjust the rate of flow. You have to remember to shut off the flow when the machine is idle or all the oil leaks away.

The later Super7s have a oil reservoir with a wick that feeds up to the bearing. There's an oiler in front with a hinged lid to top up. Nothing to adjust, and no leakage when idle.

See description and pictures here: www.lathes.co.uk/myford/page2.html

Wilf

[Alan]

Thanks uuu. Now im a bit worried as the machine has been used by allsorts and i doubt if anybody has thought about oiling it in its recent history (club lathe)

[uuu]

You'll either have to just use it and see if it behaves itself - or strip it to have a look at the bearings. The spindle has a conical bronze bearing at the front and a pair of angle-contact ball races at the left hand end. The ball races have threaded rings to adjust for spindle end float. So you'll need the instruction manual to guide you in setting it back up if you take it apart. You'd need to remove it to change the belt anyway, so it pays to learn how.

In theory you can "scrape" the bearing to make it lovely, but this is a skill I've never learned.

All the bearings use oil, not grease - even if the oilers look like grease nipples. You might like to strip and clean up any you think have been wrongly lubricated.

Wilf

[SteveW]

Guys,

I've got the Super7 with the headstock conical bearing lubed via a little spring capped cup that sits at the front and well below centre line. I usually top it up before starting and it seems to stay full until I finish as on checking it at the end of use I get to see the full cup drain away in one go.

Just thinking writing this, maybe the little spring cap has too good a seal and the vacuum in there is holding the oil back. Maybe it needs a little dink on the sealing edge.

Rather than faff about with the crappy little Myford oil gun I unscrew the rear nipple and hose a load of oil in there. What it doesn't need gets spat out.

[uuu]

That's interesting, because the one at the Pumphouse stays full from one week to the next and only needs the occasional top-up.

I used to have one of the earlier ones with the sight glass. It only needed setting to give one drip a minute or less. I carved an arrow into the adjusting knob so I could get used to the right position - and the off position too.

Wilf

[steamer5]

Hi guys,
It’s not prototypical, I helped one of the guys in the club who’s Myford has the clutch do a belt change, he didn’t want to pull the spindle to get access or pull the clutch apart. I sourced a segmented belt for him. What was heading down the road of a full days work with the possibility of loosing all the headstock setting, became a 5 minute change. The only issue was the belt wouldn’t fit one of the pulleys due to clearance, but it was an easy job to “brake” the belt & move it across beside which it wasn’t a speed he used often.

Cheers Kerrin

[millman]

My Super 7 does exactly the same as SteveW machine, I shall now wedge the spring loaded cap open a bit and see what happens. How do you know the state of the wick, does it wear down and apart from pulling the spindle out is there any way of telling if the wick is coming to the end of its life?

[uuu]

This diagram makes the arrangement of the wick clear: www.myford.co.uk/product-category/myford-super-7-non-power-feed/headstock-assembly-myford-super-7-non-power-feed/

The wick is part 68 and is held up by a spring, a sealing plug and o-ring. Not having a lathe to hand I can't see how accessible the sealing plug is.

If the diagram is to be believed, the oil should not leak away, as the only ways out are upwards via the wick, or downwards out of the sealing plug. Or sideways where the filler is. Or - there's another hole just under the spindle, that you stick a pin into to hold down the wick during assembly.

Wilf

[ettingtonliam]

Does the 'grease pot' have grease in it, or has it been used for oil? If its grease, I'd strongly recommend stripping the spindle and cleaning everything out. I had a Raglan 'Littlejohn' which had wrecked countershaft bearings because someone had substituted a grease nipple for the original 'Winkley' pattern oiler, the grease had choked up the oilways and the bearings were destroyed.