ML9 Myford?

[jon hill 3Participant @jonhill3]

Having briefly looked into various Myford lathes I wondered why there is no Myford 9 or ML9? The 7 series is well known and the ML8 wood lathe is still quite popular, ML10 and speed 10 less so.

Was a ML9 developed but not put into production?

[jon hill 3Participant @jonhill3]

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nein

MichaelG.

[BizibilderParticipant @bizibilder]

As with windows – seven ate nine!!

[Alan DonovanParticipant @alandonovan54394]

Hi Jon.

There was a ‘9’ series machine. It was the MG9. The prefix being MG for Myford Grinder. There was a significant redesign of the grinder in later years and this became the MG12. The ‘10’ series machine you know. I am not aware of an ‘11’ series machine being developed ……. unless this reference was assigned to the ‘MiniKop’ copying lathe, Maybe someone else on the forum may be able to throw some light on this.

Alan.

Edited By Alan Donovan on 30/05/2023 20:19:33

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

Misnamed (counted) 254? Obviously lost count!

Robert Butler

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Myford launched the 7-Series in 1946 with the ML7 and later expanded it with the deluxe spec Super 7 — the same basic machine with a few bells and whistles but steering carefully away from the suspect post-war fad of roller bearings that were looked down upon by the purist adherents to the bronze age. Having developed the ultimate lathe Myford saw no need for an ML9. "Progress is all very well, but it has been going on far too long," Mr Algernon Myford said when queried on the possibility by the press. That is why Myford is today the world's leading supplier of machine tools.

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

"Progress is all very well, but it has been going on far too long," Mr Algernon Myford said when queried on the possibility by the press. That is why Myford is today the world's leading supplier of machine tools.

I am taking that comment as being a slightly sarcastic, but amusing, quip. However, it could be equally applied to a whole bunch of erstwhile British manufacturers who had an initially successful product and just kept on producing basically the same thing with very little investment, enhancement or improvement until the market and technology moved on and other and other, mostly foreign, manufacturers overtook them.

I will cite Morgan Cars, for example, which is now an Italian company, I believe. Founded in the 1930's and producing basically the same car until the 21st century. Why did it never move on and become like a British version of Toyota or Nissan? It just puzzles me.

Edited By Chris Crew on 31/05/2023 07:19:15

Edited By Chris Crew on 31/05/2023 07:20:05

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Chris Crew on 31/05/2023 07:17:03:

[…]

I will cite Morgan Cars, for example, which is now an Italian company, I believe. Founded in the 1930's and producing basically the same car until the 21st century. Why did it never move on and become like a British version of Toyota or Nissan? It just puzzles me.

.

Do you remember the John Harvey-Jones T.V. series, Chris ?

MichaelG.

.

Ref.__ https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/haha-haha-ha-harveyjones-1602523.html

and YouTube has videos, should you wish to remind yourself.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 31/05/2023 09:07:04

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Chris Crew on 31/05/2023 07:17:03:

"Progress is all very well, but it has been going on far too long," Mr Algernon Myford said when queried on the possibility by the press. That is why Myford is today the world's leading supplier of machine tools.

I am taking that comment as being a slightly sarcastic, but amusing, quip. However, it could be equally applied to a whole bunch of erstwhile British manufacturers who had an initially successful product and just kept on producing basically the same thing with very little investment, enhancement or improvement until the market and technology moved on and other and other, mostly foreign, manufacturers overtook them.

I will cite Morgan Cars, for example, which is now an Italian company, I believe. Founded in the 1930's and producing basically the same car until the 21st century. Why did it never move on and become like a British version of Toyota or Nissan? It just puzzles me.

Edited By Chris Crew on 31/05/2023 07:19:15

Edited By Chris Crew on 31/05/2023 07:20:05

Yes just a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but there is a lot of truth behind it, as you say. The British motorbike industry was another one that did exactly the same. Whole books have been written on its demise. But basically producing 1930s designs updated along the way a little bit until their demise in the 1970s. Thanks to short-sighted management still banging out cast-iron-cylindered, vibrating, pushrod twins with separate four speed gearboxes and kickstarters when the opposition had all alloy, overhead cam smooth four cylinders with five speeds and electric start, CV carbs and fresh styling. And levels of reliability unrivalled even today.

Then new Triumph came along 20 years later and proved British industry could do it, from the ground up once old traditions and old management practices were dead and buried. But they missed the boat to be the new Honda or Yamaha etc.

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by Hopper on 31/05/2023 01:19:17:

Myford launched the 7-Series in 1946 with the ML7 and later expanded it with the deluxe spec Super 7 — the same basic machine with a few bells and whistles but steering carefully away from the suspect post-war fad of roller bearings that were looked down upon by the purist adherents to the bronze age. Having developed the ultimate lathe Myford saw no need for an ML9. "Progress is all very well, but it has been going on far too long," Mr Algernon Myford said when queried on the possibility by the press. That is why Myford is today the world's leading supplier of machine tools.

 

Myfords were started by Cecil Moore and his wife and after his death run by his son and grandson. AKAIK there was never anyone called Myford involved.

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 02/06/2023 14:39:23

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by Hopper on 31/05/2023 09:10:36:

Then new Triumph came along 20 years later and proved British industry could do it, from the ground up once old traditions and old management practices were dead and buried. But they missed the boat to be the new Honda or Yamaha etc.

The new engines were developed in conjunction with Kawasaki

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Nick Clarke 3 on 02/06/2023 14:38:15:

Myfords were started by Cecil Moore and his wife and after his death run by his son and grandson. AKAIK there was never anyone called Myford involved.

.

Myford was his middle name

… check Companies House

MichaelG.

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

Although entirely fictional, Mr Algernon Myford will always now stick in my memory, embellished with a formidable moustache which he twirled whilst making his famous quote about progress.

Nice to see some good natured humour on the forum.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Dave Wootton on 02/06/2023 16:24:05:

Although entirely fictional, Mr Algernon Myford will always now stick in my memory, embellished with a formidable moustache which he twirled whilst making his famous quote about progress.

…

Fictional? Fictional? I was quoting Algernon Myford's speech to Parliament recorded in its entirety in the seminal book "The History of British Machinery and Other Oil Leaks, Volume 9" by B.S. Whitworth-Sockett. Published 1969 by Garlic Press.

He went on to become Sir Algernon Myford, knighted as a reward for his services to British machinery worldwide, and presciently predicted: "China will, in time, become Great Britain's largest market for our progress-breaking machinery, for China is wholly incapable of making anything itself."

I don't think a historian of B.S. Whitworth-Sockett's calibre would have made this stuff up.

Edited By Hopper on 02/06/2023 23:29:42

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

Apologies Hopper, you have obviously researched this very thoroughly, I'l have to read Mr Whitworth Socketts book!

Dave

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Or you could go straight to the source and read Sir Algernon Myford's autobiography "The Seven Pillar Tools of Wisdom".

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Ten out of ten Hopper, Gold star and go to the top of the class ! Noel.

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 02/06/2023 15:31:14:

Posted by Nick Clarke 3 on 02/06/2023 14:38:15:

Myfords were started by Cecil Moore and his wife and after his death run by his son and grandson. AKAIK there was never anyone called Myford involved.

.

Myford was his middle name

… check Companies House

MichaelG.

Any relation to Sherlock Holmes?…..

Martin

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by noel shelley on 03/06/2023 09:32:51:

Ten out of ten Hopper, Gold star and go to the top of the class ! Noel.

I'd better stop then before I ruin my reputation. GHT and Lawrence in one allusion is as good as I get.

[Chris Pearson 1Participant @chrispearson1]

ML7, Super 7, etc. were 7 inch lathes. They never did produce 8 and 9 inch lathes, but they did do 254 mm and even a 279.4 mm one. I suppose that they could have been a "Super 10" and "Super 11".

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

They did make an ML8 which was an 8" wood lathe and an ML10, but its 6.5" swing had no relation to 10l. Neither did the ML1-4 series.

I never thought of the 7 in ML7 being related to the swing but it does explain the jump from ML4 to ML7.

I guess if you want a 9" classic lathe you have to go to a South Bend or one of its many clones, Boxford, Hercus etc.

[Bantam BillParticipant @bantambill]

The Myford 254 could qualify as the ML9 but with a swing of 10 inches (254mm) it might have also been the ML10. They did a larger swing version the 254+, the swing was a tad over 11 inches but the Myford 280 already existed.

[Chris Pearson 1Participant @chrispearson1]

A 254+ faceplate at 10 15/16 inches has only a few tens of thou clearance.

It was pretty easy to raise the headstock by 1/2"; likewise the tailstock. I am not quite sure what lifts the tool: is the cross-slide thicker, the top-slide, or the tool-post?

[Author]

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