Myford self-indexing turret slide

disassembly

John Wild
February 2018
Myford self-indexing turret slide accessories
Stripping down a Myford self-indexing turret slide.
On receiving my turret, I discovered the capstan
wheel stiffened in a couple of places and travel was
not smooth. On closer inspection, there was a
considerable amount of brass swarf inside.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any
operating instructions nor exploded parts diagram
for this unit. Myford say they cannot find any.
Below is my experience with the re-assembly of the
turret. I have written it this way around because it is
easier to pull things to pieces than to put them back
together again without having a box of bits left over at
the end! Just disassemble in the reverse order.
It was very easy to determine the order in which it
should be taken apart. The only fiddle was the turret
locking pin release lever assembly. Not knowing how
it fitted together and being pushed into a strange
position under spring pressure out of view did
not help. Watch for the woodruff key – it dropped
unnoticed into a pile of swarf. I then ‘lost’ it in the
The front slide wiper and flexible cover are missing,
allowing such a large quantity to enter the unit. From
photos I have seen, there should also be a rack wiper
at the rear and that too is missing.
sediment at the bottom of the degreaser bucket, hence
it’s not in the photo line-up. It was not necessary to
totally disassemble the unit to access the relevant
parts for a clean and re-lubrication.
Having removed the majority of detritus and the
compacted swarf from the rack and pinion, helix
and mitre gears, the parts were thoroughly cleaned
in de-greaser - Deb Jizer - rinsed in hot water, dried
and sprayed with WD40 to prevent any rusting until
reassembly.
All bearing surfaces were wiped clean and lubricated
with Myford slide oil; the rack and pinion, mitre gears
and helix with grease (this had been the previous
lubricant).
1) Insert the helix shaft into the upper casting from
the rear, through the centre bearing and fit the
mitre gear and insert its locking pin – note this is
a taper pin. Fit the locking ring to the rear of the
casting over the rotary turret stop screw plate. A
peg box spanner can be used but I found that a
pin punch in one hole rotated the ring easily. Do
not over tighten at this point, just sufficiently to
hold the shaft in place. This ring will eventually
be locked in place by two screws in the ring face,
which squeeze together two circumferential slots
in the thread, causing the threads to bind. These
screws do not have to be removed on disassembly,
just loosened. The fine helix return spring on
my unit seems a little weak and does not firmly
return the helix into the sliding clutch ratchet. See
comment later.
2) Grease the turret locating/locking pin and spring
and insert from the top, check alignment of recess
in pin with cut out in casting. Tip the unit on
its front face, this makes it easier to insert the
operating peg into the locking pin recess within
the housing. Hold the woodruff key in its slot in
the pawl/release lever shaft whilst the peg unit
is slid fully onto the shaft, the peg fitted into the
locking pin against the spring pressure and the
shaft pushed all the way out through the hole in
the side of the casting. It becomes easy after about
20 attempts. The woodruff key does not stay in
place if the unit is on its back although it’s easier to
see what’s going on. Fit the external flanged shaft
bearing – joggle the turret locking pin up and
down a little to reduce angular pressure while the
bearing is slid over the shaft and into its hole in
the casting; tighten the four screws before fitting
the withdrawal lever and pin. Note it is a taper pin.
The lever points downwards.
3) Fit slide base into top casting dovetails from the
rear.
4) Fit rearward travel stop screw (large headed screw
with a flat on its shaft) into base. When tightened,
the slot in the head should be parallel to the
direction of travel with the flat inside facing the
front. I had to fit two thick paper washers under
the screw because it tightened up past its parallel
alignment. I could have cut a shim washer but
didn’t have a suitable thickness of shim to hand.
Paper has a bit of compression ‘give’ and so works
well. The flat on the screw acts as a stop for the
rearward travel of the slide, adjustable by an allen
grub screw in the front of the casting. I did not
remove the grub screw so readjustment was not
necessary.
5) Insert the helix rotation peg, with its flat face
towards the rear, through its hole into the base.
The forward travel stop dog-end screws hit this
flat. Fit the three retaining screws.
6) Fit helix cover plate to the base; the corner screw
holes on mine only align with the ones in the base
accurately one way. The cover plate was tight in the
roughness of the un-machined part of the casting
and had to be pressed in place; fit screws
7) Fit turret; the turret locking pin has to be retracted
using the release lever whilst aligning the teeth
on the mitre gears so that the turret tool position
 number matches that on the stop screw plate at
the rear when locked in place by the locking pin.
The turret lock ring is lightly screwed down whilst
still allowing free rotation and the allen screw
tightened. I did not check coincidence of the tool
position numbers when I disassembled the unit.
On the stop screw plate, the numbers are visible
from above but the respective adjustment screw is
at 180 degrees, on the bottom of the plate where the
numbers are invisible. So, should the adjustment
plate number on the top be the same as that on the
turret forward facing tool but refer to the screw at
the bottom of the plate, or should the invisible plate
number on the bottom match with the number on
the turret? The first means that the screw at the
bottom is adjusted with the correct number at the
top of the plate or, the second way, that the screw
at the bottom, in the correctly numbered hole is
adjusted when the wrong number is visible from
the top. Decisions, decisions. Either way it does
not really matter because whatever tool is aligned
in the turret, the adjustment screw at the bottom
is the active one.
8) Insert the tool shaft locking bushes in their
corresponding holes in the turret - they are
numbered – and then the locking nuts. If the nuts
are loosened, the bushes can be lifted and then
rotated slightly between the fingers so that the
small quadrant cut out of the bush can be aligned
with the tool holder shaft.
9) Fit the cap and locking lever to turret axis screw –
leave loose.
10) Fit pinion through side of casting to mesh with
the rack, locate in position with screw through
top of casting into groove in pinion and then fit
capstan wheel. The undersize (on mine), easily
removable fixing pin, is held centrally by grub
screws either side of the wheel hub. Rotating the
capstan handles should move the slide back and
forth and rotate the turret to the next position at
the rear of its travel. Initially mine was reluctant
to fully rotate to the next position, not helped by
the weak sliding clutch ratchet return spring. This
prevented forward movement of the slide until the
turret had been further rotated by hand to its next
stop whilst juggling the capstan wheel back and
forth a little.
This failure to complete its arc of rotation was
caused partly by tightness of the adjustment screw
plate and also the turret locking ring. These were
loosened to permit free rotation. There is visible
wear on some internal parts, which will not help
either. The capstan wheel needs to be firmly
rotated to ensure positive operation of the ratchet
and pawl. The locking lever, on top of the turret,
locks the turret firmly whilst the tool is cutting
and should be released before retracting the slide
to rotate the turret to the next position and then
re-tightened before cutting commences.
The turret tool positions can be quickly skipped, by
operating the release lever so that the turret is free to
be manually rotated to any position.
The lathe bed clamp screws are set at a 60 degree angle
so as to pull the unit towards the rear side of the bed
slot for consistent location.
Sequence of operation: From the central slide position,
when the capstan wheel is rotated clockwise to the rear,
there is a slight resistance as the internal block screwed
to the base hits the pawl which then acts to withdraw
the turret locking pin, compressing its spring; further
rearward slide movement engages the helix rotation
peg in the helix causing the turret and the stop screw
plate to rotate to their next position; on reversing the
capstan wheel for forward travel, the locking pin re-
engages with the turret, the helix pin reverses helix
rotation causing the sliding clutch ratchet to click to
the next position; the helix pin then disengages from
the helix, now ready for the next tooth to be picked up
at the appropriate point on rearward slide travel. The
slide then continues forward to the cutting position
until its travel is stopped by the appropriate setting
screw. The capstan wheel is then reversed and the
sequence is repeated to bring the next tool into place.
I am puzzled by the three, circa, 7/16” diameter,
partly protruding, pegs on the back shoulder face
of the casting. The bulges inside the casting are full
depth of the casting - about 1 1/2” - with no through
hole. The pegs stick out above the top lower shoulder
face by about 5/16” with about 50% of a narrow
circumferential groove visible, the rest becomes
hidden within the rising curvature of the top of the
casting. The pegs cannot be moved. If they are circa
1½” long with just 5/16” protruding -reducing to
flush - within the curvature, they have been designed
to be very secure and able to take, proportionally, a
large force. I have no idea as to their use. I have seen
a photo of a unit without these. Is this earlier or later
than my unit?
Also puzzling is the 6” length of four of the five travel
stop screws - one stop screw is missing and one is just
4” long and without the dog end (a replacement?).
Anything fully inserted over 4” does not allow the
slide far enough forward to let the helix rotate to the
next groove, preventing the turret from rotating.
I have tried to locate some high tensile ¼” BSF
studding – I think mild steel will tend to bend – but
I have not found a source for a short length sufficient
to make a new set, one being missing and the others
slightly bent. Anyone want to buy 99 metres of surplus
studding?
My next project is to make a box tool. Plans for this,
other turret tooling and complete turret slides are
available from https://downrivertools.com/
I did consider making my own turret slide and bought
a set of plans. Having priced materials – well over
50% of the cost of a second hand turret - and given
consideration to the time involved, trying to find a
second hand unit made sense.
A couple of years ago I bought a 5/16” Herbert
Coventry die head (maximum thread diameter 5/16”
or 8mm) with a set of 4BA chasers from a car boot
sale for next to nothing. It fits the turret, so I now have
a planned use for it, with the correct chasers, to cut
some ¼” BSF HT studding. However, to cut over 3” it
will have to be bracket mounted on the cross slide to
give a clear through hole for the longer length.
John Wild
February 2018
A coventry diehead is the ideal companion for a capstan turret slide. A PDF copy of this book can be downloaded from:
http://pounceatron.dreamhosters.com/docs/coventry-herbert-die-head.pdf
See also:
https://www.threadtools.com/Threadtools.com/files/33/335bb9a5-edb9-4aa8-87cc-c948a497c403.pdf
http://www.racingvincent.co.uk/14%20Norton%20Site/Manx-Norton-28.htm
http://doit101.com/Lathe/chapter5.html
http://www.ajhw.co.uk/books/book247/book247.html