What happened to the Myford sale thread?

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Eric,

That video was posted not to discourage anyone but to show that a new generation of machine tools does not have to be as time consuming or intensive as they were in the past.

 

Re read my last line in the post above.

 

John S.

[Bill PudneyParticipant @billpudney37759]

“Then imagine how many machines and jigs would be needed to make this old school.

John S.”

 

John S is spot on there. When I had to work for a living the place where I spent my time made some very complex parts. Some of them required up to 18 different operations and many changes from lathe to mill to the fitting bench and back again, there were inummerable small jigs and fixtures as well. All with their own inspection stages and opportunities for stuff ups. Then we got a new machine that did everything….bar stock in, finished part out, no jigs, no fixtures, one (big!) inspection stage, the machine paid itself back in under twelve months from memory. Those parts were not required in huge numbers, from memory batches of six or eight prevailed.

 

Given a robust well proven data pack (this may require several prototypes to sort out drawing issues), a workshop or workshops with the appropriate machinery there is no reason why a competent range of small/medium, widely specified lathes and maybe mills could not be made for a sensible price. The issue then is to match the design and manufacturing sophistication (and therefore the retail price) to the anticipated market.

Interesting discussion!!

cheers

Bill Pudney

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Just wondering, but was the downfall of Myford, and other similar industry perhaps linkedto inflexability of the workforce to change, they could have improoved there production, and reduced the price, increasing production etc etc. I was reading an article in todays news paper about the Chinese search and rescue squads, and how they are equiped with New Zealand designed, and built personal two way radio equipment, so much so that the Chistchurch company is going to set up a factory in China, as it has’nt the capacity in NZ. Ian S C

[Edward ClarkeParticipant @edwardclarke56361]

Does anyone know if bed/saddle regrinds can be done anywhere. The Myford -Rebuild site is about the only link still on line, Is this a an error, or is it a separate company that will still be trading ?

 

Eddie

[9fingersParticipant @9fingers]

Eddie,

 

I have no concrete information but just a feeling in my water that something might be available in time. Wait for the dust to settle a while and keep an eye on the forums and journals.

 

Bob

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

Myford are no longer able to do regrinds.

Ignore the link.

It will probably disappear in time.

regards David

[KMPParticipant @kmp]

Ian, I’m sure that the workforce would not have jumped at the prospect of major change, not many do without the right leadership and sense of involvement in the process.

The issue I’m sure is one of lack of foresight and major investment. Not in the last few years either, major investment in new tooling and a move to increase their production numbers was required 25 years ago at least. The sad thing to me is that a Myford with a couple of “improvements” and built on the modern production machinery could retain the quality and cost much less to produce. In fact he final workforce size (20 or so?) could be a major player with the right tooling even based in the UK. The reason I say that is the power of the Myford name before this last week; an updated S7 selling for £3 – 4K and with the possibility of a CNC retro fit pack, would still have sold very well in today’s market. Great pity but there we go. Hindsight is easy of course.

 

Best regards Keith

[Chris TriceParticipant @christrice43267]

I’m a great fan of Myford as most have probably gathered but there were at least three things that as a customer, I found irritating. Firstly, if you ordered something, even though it was in stock (and I would ask), it would still often take over a week before it was shipped. As a semi pro user, I often couldn’t wait that long. Secondly, and this is a throwback to the 19th century, the whole factory would close as everyone went on holiday at the same time. Again this meant waiting too long for anything ordered around that period, an often intolerable situation not often encountered in modern times. Thirdly, at least twice I made a special trip to the factory on a Saturday morning to buy things and the stores were closed when they were supposed to be open. On the second occasion, I found a fitter in the main building who said that the stores guy had gone early because he had some shopping he wanted to do. I was not amused. The product was good but the customer service could definitely have done with a good shake up.

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Re Bed and Saddle re-grinding. There is a chap advertises on the http://www.homeworkshop.org.uk website, hasn’t got an ad on at present, so you’ll have to look for it, and I can’t remember his name either. Come on, I am 70 years old!

 

Phil

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

5 brand new Myfords on Ebay at the moment.

regards David

 

[Chris TriceParticipant @christrice43267]

A lot more now, milling machines too. The big sell off has started.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Anything that doesn’t sell will be going into a public auction in about 4 weeks.

This from the asset management people on Monday when I was down there.

 

John S.

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

I see that these are all from a new ebay seller called “myfordlathes” who joined ebay on Monday 18th Jul and hasn’t yet sold anything. All the pictures are of the machines in the hall at Wilmott Lane.

See John S post above

Phil

[Chris TriceParticipant @christrice43267]

News of when and where the public auction is happening would be welcome.

[Andrew EvansParticipant @andrewevans67134]

Going by the capitalist premise that an item is worth what a person is willing to pay. It would be interesting to work out the true value of a new Myford lathe by letting these items sell on eBay as an auction with no reserve rather than ‘ buy it now’.

If that did happen any guesses on the final sale price?

[Carl O’BrianParticipant @carlobrian30559]

Just noticed lots of lathes appearing on Ebay for ‘Buy it Now’ or ‘Best Offer’.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/myfordlathes/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Here is the link.

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

This site is displaying the “Myford” logo which I understand is the property of RGD since RDG bought the IP rights.

 

If “myfordlathes” is not RGD, “myfordlathes” is guilty of passing off, the very offence that the real original Myford was legally attacking others recently.

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Hi

 

Of course it may be perfectly above board and it is only the disposal company trying to get ‘best value’ for Myford’s prior to the public auction by offering the stock to a much wider audience than would attend a local auction at Myfords.

 

Just a thought.

 

Cheers

 

Martin

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi Andrew

That would only work if the auctions were for one at a time.

regards David

 

[WALLACEParticipant @wallace]

Just wonder how much MyFord.co.u.k might be worth to a large car maker of a similar name !

 

Certainly worth the effort of changing to Myfordlathe.co.uk I would have thought . . . .

 

W.

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

I think the asset management copy are negotiating.

I would want a couple of million for it.

regards David

 

[Bob LambParticipant @boblamb44747]

It seems to me that the people selling the Myford lathes on ebay would be far more likely to achieve the best prices if they included rather more detail than there is at present. 1 or 3 phase would be a start together with whether the machines are metric or imperial. Just a thought. Bob

[Carl O’BrianParticipant @carlobrian30559]

Posted by Bob Lamb on 21/07/2011 16:49:50:

It seems to me that the people selling the Myford lathes on ebay would be far more likely to achieve the best prices if they included rather more detail than there is at present. 1 or 3 phase would be a start together with whether the machines are metric or imperial. Just a thought. Bob

Hi Bob

 

I asked a couple of questions on a few items and they have replied providing me with the details I needed so might be worth a go?

 

 

[Bob LambParticipant @boblamb44747]

I’ll give it a go tomorrow Carl – thanks

[Alan DickinsonParticipant @alandickinson66259]

To reply to some of your concerns regarding the sales of new Myford lathes on ebay uk.They are owned by the asset company arranging the final sale of Myford ltd

And are not the property of Rdg tools, and no guarantees will be given by us in respect to these machines.

Rdgtools within a week will have the address as http://www.myford.co.uk, and further information will be given on this site.

Alan ( Rdgtools )

[Author]

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