One Man And His Lathe

Jim Kent and his Muyford 254

As with many people of my era I served an apprenticeship, did my National Service then started work! I served my time as a machinist at Alfred Herbert’s in Coventry so have always had a keen interest in machine tools. A working lifetime of running my own production machine shops left little time for hobbies, but Model Engineering has always figured and during this time I built most of a “Minnie” traction engine, on a Myford Super 7 along with a Myford vertical mill. I changed the Super 7 to a Myford 254 and it was this machine that I used to complete the traction engine along with other projects on the larger more robust machine. In this article, I will describe using the 254 in a home workshop with some of my projects and associated setups to give an idea of how the lathe performs and maybe offer the odd tip for fellow model engineers / home machinists.

I purchased the Myford 254, in 1994 after using the Super 7 since 1973. The machine was supplied new by Percy Martin of Leicester in 1989, based on its condition it had only had light use from new. The first job was to acquire a single phase motor to replace the original 3 phase unit. The motor was purchased up the road from Myford Nottingham (the good old days!)

The machine is a professional tool with hardened bed ways and with the headstock enclosing the back gearing and tumbler reverse gears in an oil bath, with splash oil feed to the spindle bearings. Being slightly larger than the S7 it is noticeably more rigid, with a good speed range.