By Donovan V. Browne
When I first acquired my second-hand Myford ML7 lathe – complete with sturdy wooden bench, three- and four-jaw chucks, and several faceplates (and lots of other nice tooling) – I suddenly became acutely aware that it had been more than 40 years since I had the opportunity of cutting a thread. Did I need practice! It also became immediately apparent that I needed a clean, secure method/place to safely store my unused faceplates and expensive Burnerd chucks.
I decided that perhaps I could combine the two tasks – the thread chasing review (which I so badly needed) and the clean chuck storage problem – by turning out several 1 1/8″ diameter x 12 tpi (Myford spindle nose 55-degree thread form) stubs, each about 1 1/2″ long. I could then, in turn, drill, tap (5/16″ NC), and tightly bolt them to appropriate places on the legs of the lathe bench. The unused chucks or faceplates can now be threaded onto these stubs for orderly, out-of-the-way storage, at the same time protecting their delicate threads and registers from shop dust, swarf, and damaging grit.
