Mounting my Myford - help needed

Can you do option (3), but fasten the box section under the drip tray. Does the boxford cabinet have re-enforcing bars under the tray??? Keep the top clear and fit the myford as per it's own cabinet, on myford mounts.

Joules

I was going to use the box section in place of Myford raising blocks. Using Myford blocks still leaves the question as to how to fit them to the stand...

Robin

The Boxford "drip tray" (at least mine) is 3/16" thick with support from the stand sides/ends as well as the inner cupboard verticals which are all welded to it. The doublers below the mounting holes are 1/4" thick and also welded to the tray and the front rear panels. It is extremely well supported and well up to holding the Myford off the ground.

The problem when I did it years ago was that the stand was a bit low for the Myford as a Boxford normally sits on 4" raising blocks. I mounted mine on some 100x50x6mm steel box section (because I had it available) mounted across the stand at the headstock end and two pieces mounted longways at the tailstock end. I made up some long (very) studs for the Myford raising blocks and using the front (Boxford) hole at the headstock end just "slotted" the hole at the back for the Myford spacing (Although it was quite a few years ago I think it was only 1/2" or so different). At the tailstock (outer) end I welded studs in to pick up the Boxford holes and for the inner end drilled right through the box section and the drip tray at the Myford length. Again using long studs for the raising block. Because I didn't like the open box section I welded it closed with some 3mm sheet. The new Myford length holes in the tray I doubled up underneath with a length of 2x1/4" strip. I always meant to weld this to the inside of the stand but never got round to it. Although not particularly elegant I used this setup for a couple of years with no problem at all. While I didn't have the problem because my stand was "longbed" you might like to check where the Myford length sits in relationship to the internal cupboard side as it could be close to where you need to drill the additional holes.

As I have said, not an elegant solution but it proved plenty strong and stable enough over a couple of years use. I did however further raise the stand with some more 100x50x6mm box section under the stand feet as it was still too low for me. There will be a million ways to do it better but hopefully this might provide a few ideas.

Best regards

Keith

That's brilliant. I'm not sure whether mine is the "long bed" stand or not. Here's a rather silly question - when you mount the Myford on the studs, do you adjust the height of each leg by shimming or is it supported on 4 nuts?

Robin

Hi, you can do it either way. Have a look here

for a drawing of an adjustable mounting stud. Obviously, instead of screwing into the base plate there is no reason why it could not be a length of 8/10mm studding (you need to check which is the largest that will go through the Myford mounting holes) with relevant nuts. The actual Myford raising blocks are drilled and tapped for I believe 9/16 (or 5/8"?) bolts which are themselves drilled through to take the 8mm (in my case) long studs. You screw the hollow bolts in/out to adjust the height of each corner.

On the actual one I did I used shims as I believed that they gave a wider/firmer base; they were a bit of a b****er to initially set up though. Since those days I have used studding and nuts with every success although I keep the length of free studding between the holding down nut and the actual adjusting nut as short as I can. I also find the average nuts provided with the lengths of studding are a bit loose and I have found some deeper better fitting nuts to use. I put the studding through the stand box section etc and tighten down with a couple of inches sticking up for the lathe. Put on an additional nut and large washer leaving about =BC" gap between the two and then drop on the lathe and adjust as required finishing off with the lathe holding down nuts. You need to be careful when finally tightening as it can upset the the level so it takes a bit of trial and error to get just right.

If your stand came from the Hampshire area (I missed bidding on it myself as I was away) I believe that it is the standard bed length so you should be OK. The trouble with Boxfords is that they made a range of different length beds so you will need to measure your particular stand to be sure. Hope this helps.

Regards

Keith

That's a useful link. I've read most of his site before, but must've skipped over that bit.

Here is the stand I bought, a bargain at =A337!!!

I've measured it and it's just long enough for the Myford. I think with the tailstock as far back as it will go it might stick off the end, but only slightly. The drip tray should catch all of the swarf that I'm hoping to produce.

If you have any pictures of your setup, I'd be interested to see them.

Robin

Hi, stand looks good, particularly for =A337! I'm sorry but my Myford/Boxford setup was a good few years, 3 houses and 4 lathes ago so no pictures I'm afraid. My current Myford sits on the boring but effective Myford raising blocks. I still have a Boxford stand but it came with an AUD bolted to it.

One other point I forgot to mention was that if the CUD was an "underdrive" there will be a big square hole that the belt went through, initially I didn't seal this very well and ended up with lots of oil in the area I was using to store the chucks etc. If you have a welder it might be worth welding a plate over it, if not, I put a plate over sealed with a cork gasket and that stopped most of the mess.

Regards

Keith