Myford Super 7 Lathe CNC Conversion anyone?

Hi all

Today I scored a Myford Super 7 lathe for free, I pick it up on Thursday this week. Immediately I thought of converting it to CNC and found some info on it at this site: www.jeffree.co.uk/modelengineering.html



The pic attached is just a general one I found on the web, not my actual machine.

Of course I plan to use LCNC under Pathpilot to run it instead of Mach3 so I was wondering if anyone has completed a conversion on one of these lathes? Would be interested in any feedback anyone could offer.

Cheers
Bruce

Here is a conversion here. I'm sure I've seen a few on the net.

www.jeffree.co.uk/pages/ml7-cnc/part-1-files/myfordcncpt1.htm

Hehe... Rod, thats the same one I linked in my post above. I just noticed he has has an ML7, apparently they are a little different to the Super 7. Still good basics in those articles.

I have 4x 425oz-in Nema 23's from my old router, just need some controllers to run them and would probably use my PMDX-126 on it once I get my 5i25 and 7i76 to run my router. My wife thinks it s great idea to CNC the lathe, she doesn't particularly like the idea of a spinning chuck and a sliding tool controlled by me

Go for ballscrews! Even if getting a cheap chinese one.

The backlash is much smaller. You may even come out cheaper, as the ballscrews have a much lower friction.
So you can get away with smaller steppers and drives. Or, alternatively get more acceleration and speed from the same size stepper & drive. Both come in handy when screwcutting.

Controlled by you!? I'm not so sure about that. I had a tool crash today on the CNC lathe. I cannot remember last time I had one on my manual lathes. Probably >40 years ago. After forgetting the G43 after a toolchange, never issue a G0!

racedirector wrote: Would be interested in any feedback anyone could offer.

Myford lathes seem to have a value quite out of proportion to their utility.

It might be better to clean up and fix the Myford (if needed) and buy something else to convert with the money.

The "something else" should not be a brand-new Chinese lathe, trust me on this

Basllscrews are cheap enough that there really isn't a good reason not to use them:
www.zappautomation.co.uk/mechanical-prod...t3-fsid-ballnut.html

If you convert the Myford, don't mess about. Just plan on totally replacing the feeds gearbox and the apron.

If you can make wooden patterns then one-off iron castings are probably cheaper than you think. You can probably have a custom CNC apron for £30

This is the write-up of my Holbrook conversion. But note that I was doing it for fun, and many of the choices I made were barely rational. bodgesoc.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Hol...20Phase%20Conversion (and the other 7 installments)

andypugh wrote: Myford lathes seem to have a value quite out of proportion to their utility.

I have seen quite a few of them for sale in the UK at what look like expensive pricing but I have never seen one for sale in Australia. Lathes here, even second hand, are horribly expensive which is why I was so quick to pick this one up for free. Having never owned one, and the last time I used one was in school 40+ years ago, this is more of a learning tool. Once I get it home and see what condition it is in I will decide what comes next.

The "something else" should not be a brand-new Chinese lathe, trust me on this

Oh yea, I know what that means and fully trust you on that one!

Basllscrews are cheap enough that there really isn't a good reason not to use them:
www.zappautomation.co.uk/mechanical-prod...t3-fsid-ballnut.html

If you convert the Myford, don't mess about. Just plan on totally replacing the feeds gearbox and the apron.

I actually have a couple of 16mm ballscrews I was going to use on my old router and they have been just sitting there waiting for something to do. I also want to add a VFD to allow LCNC control of that too.

If you can make wooden patterns then one-off iron castings are probably cheaper than you think. You can probably have a custom CNC apron for £30

Have never done any casting in my life, not sure where to start with that one.

I found a site that sells parts and kits for actually CNCing the Super 7, its a British guy but the prices are serious money: cncyourmyford.com

If anything I would buy the spindle speed encoder from him but at around $500 AUD its a little out of my league right now.

This is the write-up of my Holbrook conversion. But note that I was doing it for fun, and many of the choices I made were barely rational. bodgesoc.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Hol...20Phase%20Conversion (and the other 7 installments)

Thanks for that, will have a good read of what you did.

Cheers