Found in a dilapidated condition, this Myford ML2 was stripped down to the last nut and bolt, the major castings gently sand blasted, primed and repainted in Myford Grey. The various slideways were in good order so just cleaned and polished. As some component parts were missing it was decided to upgrade the lathe to make it as functional as possible - while keeping cots within reason; the work included: improving the notoriously weak tailstock-to-bed fitting by using a modified clamping mechanism, incorporating a ML7 thread-dial indicator and fitting a simple non-graduated handwheel to the end of the leadscrew to provide a much slower and more controllable hand feed to the carriage than the direct-acting, apron-mounted handwheel. One significant and useful modification was to fit an ML7 tumble-reverse, this requiring just a little light machining to thin it down sufficiently to fit in the restricted space available.
As the previous owner had already engineered an ML7 changewheel banjo to fit, it was decided to mount a proper ML7 changewheel guard. Unfortunately this blocks access to the spindle bore but, since this is so small and the owner unlikely to turn any long, thin items it does not present any real difficulty. To allow the (deeper) guard to clear the original cast-iron chip tray a pair of raiser blocks were made and fitted beneath the bed. The only custom-made item required was the guard backplate.
Drive from the motor was improved by discarding the primitive home-made countershaft and using complete ML7 countershaft and motor-plate assembly bolted to the back of the stand together with a substantial brace - the mounting point being the cast-in slot provided at the back of the left-hand headstock bearing originally intended to take a changewheel stud when left-hand threads were required (the provision of tumble-reverse rendering this fitting obsolete). Guards for both drive belts are under construction.
Details of the Myford ML1. ML2, ML3 and ML4 lathes here