For all you Myford owners

OO nasty. I have only seen odd youtube video's of him doing repair work on STEAM engines. Anyway i am not the person to crib anyone elses work. As i am only a Hammer chewer myself.

Steve

On the comments about the poor perception of flat ways compared with prismatic ways, I'd suggest that the 80 tonne capacity flat bed Waldrich Seigen at work was a far better machine than the two prismatic way Ravensbergs.

It was a bit bigger as well,

V-flat and prismatic bed lathes are poorly suited for milling, which was a major capability for the 7 series.

The Myford VMB (mill) and Mystro MK2 (a wood lathe) were made in Taiwan.

Neil

Myford VME [also VMC & VMF?] also made in Taiwan but fitted with UK electrical parts in Nottingham.

Tony

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Also the 6” Rotary Table was made by Vertex and, in my opinion, a little better made than the versions they made for general sale [or perhaps I was just lucky]

MichaelG.

Keith Appleton has now updated this Myford "factory" video playlist as "THE OFFICIAL MYFORD SERIES". LINK

Seems that if they are official from Myford, they are paid promotional pieces, as they first appeared to be. Bit remiss of him not to mention it up front.

Edited By Hopper on 29/06/2022 04:38:08

What a tangled web we weave …

**LINK**

https://www.youtube.com/c/keithappleton

MichaelG.

There doesn't seem to be much machining going on. Hell there doesn't seem to be any machines other than a couple of drills. 🙄

.

I have tried, and thus-far failed, to find any clear definition of what constitutes ‘made’

This is the nearest I have found: **LINK**

https://www.sirgordonbennett.com/gordons-bugle/made-in-britain-definition/

… an opinion from the ‘Man on the Clapham Omnibus’ is what we need

MichaelG.

One of the reasons for designing and building the Stepperhead lathe was to try to show how outdated the Myford style lathes are. They were designed on the 1940s with a slow speed, plain bearing, headstock needing constant oiling. A separate countershaft arrangement is needed to vary the spindle speed by changing belts over differing pulley sizes and by engaging a back gear. Its sole saviour it that it has a Tee slotted cross slide, enabling various attachments to be fitted. The topslide design is a source of problems, needing a large weakening hole in the crosslide to locate and secure the topslide with awkwardly accessed screw fixings.

With Stepperhead the intention was to bring the homeworkshop lathe up to speed by a series of modular components that could enable the machine to change from being a basic simple lathe, then by adding separate packages i.e. stepper motors to drive the axes via a simple stepper drive circuit and finally by adding a laptop computer to CNC operation with an infinite range of threads and feed speeds in metric or imperial enabling the ability to perform many other operations. The spindle speed is inverter controlled from 15 to 3000 rpm. Backgear is enabled by a simple polyvee belt change. The ability to raise and lower the head and tailstock relative to the bed provided a massive range of operations, plus the ability to index the spindle as well as move the X and Y axes together or independantly enables infinite operation either manually or by CNC control.

The savings gained by eliminating the following items:- a separate countershaft, a back gear arrangement, a speed feed/thread gearbox, a tumbler reverse, and a spindle clutch, would have easily paid for the computer, stepper drives and motors and provided a quiet versatile machine.

Alan

Edited By Alan Jackson on 29/06/2022 10:14:12

I bought a VMB direct from Myford in the 90's, having visited the factory. I was told by the guy selling it that what came from Taiwan was used pretty much as just a set of castings. They were completely stripped down, all the supplied electrics thrown away, casting-sand cleaned out, mating surfaces corrected as required, some bearings replaced, and then rebuilt with all-new electrics. They may also have replaced the motor, but I can't swear to that as it was some time ago. Certainly mine hasn't given me any trouble since I bought it.

On the place of manufacture point, I have an expensive pair of walking boots whose label states "ENGINEERED IN ITALY"; on the normally invisible reverse, however, appears "MADE IN ROMANIA"!

The boots are nonetheless excellent.

Ironic. These days Taiwan has the reputation of making good quality machine tools. Maybe not the absolute world's best but very good quality and widely used in industry. They are much more expensive than the Chinese equivalent though, so no longer a cheap deal.

I don't think there is any question the current Myford lathes are made in UK. They say their components are all made in the Halifax area in their promotional video.

So it was Myford that held in one of the column mounting bolts with paint on mine then?

I really don't know what to make of these rather underhand advertising videos. Perhaps what's not said is more significant than what is said.

I wonder what will become of the shelf-loads of beds, countershaft brackets, and all the other very obviously used major components? When 'reconditioned' is mentioned, I expect the major components of a machine to be kept together: will these be? Perhaps they will be fettled and made to look like new. They will be a little under-size, according to original specifications. Does that matter? Well-aged castings are no bad thing, and if machined well should be just fine - possibly better than original production. Will these components form the basis of a 'newly manufactured' - and priced - machine?

The leadscrew shown in one of the videos looked cut, not rolled. There is/was a leadscrew manufacturer in Halifax, that produced leadscrews by 'thread whirling'. Is the work-hardened surface of a rolled thread significantly better? The bed and slideway finishes seem to be milled, not ground or scraped. If accurate, how much does this matter?

All things change. Myford lathes are dinosaurs. I suppose it's lucky someone has done a 'Jurassic Park' for the Myford name and products. The new factory is rather different from the Beeston works, where one could also see the MG12 cylindrical grinders being made. Hand scraping was a crucial part of manufacture of those, and there was a most sophisticated grinding machine producing the spindles. The S7 tapered bronze spindle bearing was hand scraped too.

I suppose it all comes down to quality control. It must be easier to monitor subbed-out QC if it's just down the road, as opposed to somewhere in China. I hope to see the new factory's metrology lab in a video...

When I went round the Beeston factory and saw the re-badged Taiwanese milling machines, having just seen a beautiful 280 lathe, apparently neglected in a store-room, I knew the end must be near.

Edited By Kiwi Bloke on 29/06/2022 11:29:37

I purchased a new Myford 254 back in 1997. It was a quite modern lathe at the time. It has electronic variable speed and now built in DRO, camlock spindle and full metric or imperial options. Even by today's standards it is competitive. I was always surprised that this model didn't completely displace the 7 series machines....

Edited By lfoggy on 29/06/2022 13:48:04