Thank-you so much for taking the time to write your comments on what to look for. Sounds like there are some good features that are worth looking out for.
Thanks again, Mark
Welcome.
I started my hobby machining journey before we had very much Internet to look for info on. Lots of magazines and books though! On the Myford front, that really means getting in to some of the British sources for information, as they inevitably assume you have a Myford, making it really reassuring if you are in any way nervous.
Again, I will give a STELLAR shout out to the George H Thomas Workshop Practices Books, available from Hemingway Kits if not Amazon, etc.
https://www.hemingwaykits.com/the-apprentices-library
The 'Gold' in a used Myford, is getting a late model with the power cross feed. They have a different looking Apron, with the extra button to engage the feed. Check out the
www.lathes.co.uk site for more info.I kinda disregard the later 'Modern' Myfords, (Big Bore Super 7) as they really represented a stupidity level of spending for value received. Last gasps at trying to stay in any way relevant. I wouldn't pass on one if it was priced at regular Myford prices, but, at the end of their run, they were trying to get better than $22K Canadian, for a Super 7 without much more than the most basic equipment, and, as much as I like my Myford, if I was spending that kind of money, well, the world is my oyster, so to speak! I'd own Schaublin or Hardinge for that kind of money!
Condition is King! Unless the lathe has had a paint-rebuild, you can generally get a pretty good sense of it's overall condition by the way it presents when you look it over. Nice, if it is clean and tidy, but if the paint looks great under a layer of grime, you might pay yourself very well in savings, for doing the cleaning that he prior owner didn't... My lathes never looked that great, but they were slathered in oil, and despite their sketchy looks, they were in pretty decent shape under the grime. Yeah, I'm 'THAT' guy, not an absolute fanatic about polished and clean. But my machines are ready to make decent parts...
It is not too hard to see where the carriage bears on the bed, vs. where it does not. A close look at the wear that will be there, is worthwhile. It's not going to be very much, unless the lathe was beaten upon as an industrial tool, but it provides a quick reference to visually see the wear that may be present.
Chucks. 'Gold', is getting a Burnerd Adjust-Tru 3 jaw, but don't be afraid to take what is on offer. Burnerd effectively priced themselves to a point that even Myford stopped buying them. Which is kinda ironic, given that Myford did the same to their machines... But they are out there. The Burnerd 4 jaw integral (threaded directly, rather than a chuck bolted to a threaded backplate) chuck that was stocked is pretty nice too, and doesn't eat your between centers distance. I think, near end of run, Myford had switched to some eastern European sourced chucks (Bison?) which were still, really good tools.
I made a (butcher's) clone of a Tripan 111 size tool post for my Myford, a bunch of years ago, using my Super 7 and a milling slide, and think it is pretty much the right size and volume to match the Myford's capacities. I have about half an ice cream bucket worth of tool holder blanks that I made, so it suits my needs well. A decent quick change tool post is a life changer, IMO.
I like my Myford, figure I will die with it in my basement, unless i stumble upon a decently tooled up Schaublin 135 or 150, at which point, I upgrade a LOT! LOL! But the odds... Even more laughable! Myfords are not the be-all-to-end-all, but they filled a gap between the then current industrial production, and the truly dismal crap that was foisted off on the hobbyists before China started making truly cheap and nasty machine tools... And they are a pretty decently built, decent quality product worth investing in.
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