Myford

[Martin Evans]

Sad to see that Myford has gone into liquidation . Since the 1930s, they have provided model engineers (And others who want a small machine) with good quality lathes. I grew up with one and it has proved itself of value over and over again (I even used it to do some of my college work) and I couldn't imagine life without it. Further details of this sad business are available at http://www.ppauctions.com/_assets/aucti ... ysheet.pdf.

[tractorman]

Cheap imports have killed the long-standing lathe and machine tool manufacturers - the likes of Axminsters sell Chinese machines for peanuts (relatively speaking). My own Clark should have been £700 - £800 and you can't get a Boxford/Myford that's worth using for anywhere near that price - though I suspect a lathe expert would cry at the amount of backlash on the thing.

The likes of Denford have moved to educational stuff - CAM lathes/routers etc, though one or two firms haven't realised the demands made by schools on such machines - we regularly "killed" our Denford CAM milling machine by trying to mass produce items for project work! However, moving to educational stuff has kept the company in business and they do make some nice kit.

[Martin Evans]

From what I've seen the imported ones are a lot cheaper and certainly inferior (Though perhaps not in proportion to the price). I suspect that Myford spares back up was better (We bourght a fixed steady for ours about ten years ago and it was no problem at all). On a positive note, I have found out that http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/index.html have bought Myford, so there is hopefully light at the end of the tunnel.

I suppose it's the same with lots of things, foreign imports have killed them BUT there is (And has been) a ready market for the stuff. I often wonder, when I see items about people losing their jobs (And there is a big hooharr), how many of them have been happy to buy cheap imported goods and to what extent what goes around has come around The trouble is now that so much stuff is now imported, you can't really avoid buying it and if we were to suddenly shut the gate, the horse has bolted and there would be shortages, until we were able to address the situation (Which would take time). The other day I was buying tomatoes and I had a choice of Morocco or Holland......you won't find many greenhouses in Guernsey these days.

[tractorman]

If RDG have taken over, you'll get some good back up. I bought most of the stuff for my lathe from there and have been really happy with the quality of both the items I bought and the advice/service given. The price was another thing - but you pay for quality!! Typically, the Clarke lathe uses a Boxford Quick Change Tool Post that was nicely over £100. If it had used another lathe's QCT, they would have cost about £40!! However, the RDG one is a superb piece of kit and makes the lathe look even cheaper!

I was watching a programme on BBC4 (I think) about the history of shipping containers and how they have "changed the world". Apparently, it's the use of vast container ships (with exceptionally quick turnaround) that has brought the costs of importing "cheap" goods from China etc down to a point where it's more economical to do that than make goods at home. Where the dockers would have access to goods, eg crates of Scotch would disappear; with containers, there's no access until the container reaches its final destination. Apparently, that has reduced losses - and hence costs - significantly. I'm not saying it's just British Dockers of course; the principle would be the same the world over. The problem is that a container can hide illegal substances more easily - I suppose it's possible that a full container of drugs could come ashore and get on the street without ever being detected; or your classic car to the continent or Far East before you realise that it has gone (I gather it has become a problem with large expensive tractors too)

[rich.]

when we have no industry left & nothing to sell, who is going to pay the bills?

[Martin Evans]

The City

[rich.]

think we will soon be looking to zimbawe for a loan then??

[JPB]

Well Nigeria must be where the real money is. Put it this way; every time I sell something of value on eBay, a resident of that country offers to send me a cheque for a million pounds to pay for it, provided that I give them back their remaining £999,990.99 as cash.

One of these days I must try to find a replacement headstock bearing for the old Myford in the hut, perhaps I won't need to drive to China for one now?

[Martin Evans]

One of these days I must try to find a replacement headstock bearing for the old Myford in the hut, perhaps I won't need to drive to China for one now?

Is this what you mean http://www.lathespares.co.uk/myford-sup ... per-7-p-52

[JPB]

Thanks Martin. I've emailed the vendor to ask for precise dimensions, but I suspect that those on my machine** may be larger than the ones used in Super 7s. For now, the cups have been replaced by grease nipples so that I can give them some thicker lubrication which does reduce the chatter to almost acceptable levels though it's a bit sore on tools.


** A modified ML10 with a gapped bed and - & here's the thing that seems to be getting in the way - modified bearings. It's also had the scroll clutch replaced with something that looks like it came out of a machine several times the size, has been lengthened (by an amount that corresponds to the gap) and - most worryingly - has had the gearbox from one of those '70s Chinese copies fitted to it, meaning that it's perfect for cutting threads for use in public lavatory cubicles' fixings; the asymmetric kind that are designed not to be taken apart.