Myford Saddle hand wheel dial

Hi All

After a lot of time on various sites I have have managed to find a supplier of the Graham Meek design Myford Saddle hand wheel design. Apparently Hemingway kits did them for a while but have now stopped. The company Steve Tracey Tooling tel. 07952-547002. Talking to Steve he told me that he had agreed a design purchase from Graham Meek and has gone into limited production of both an imperial and metric version. I transfered the money £140.00 on Saturday evening and received my dial today (Monday) with excellent communications all the way. The Dial was double boxed in custom boxes and well packed with a very very comprehensive set of instructions. the quality is excellent and will look to be an original part of the lathe not an add on. I have no connection with Steve Tracey tooling other than a very satisfied customer.

Could have just looked on this site, Steves version has been mentioned several times such as here

Steve is also a forum member

J

Edited By JasonB on 24/02/2014 16:47:10

Hi Jason yes that would have been easy but I could not find a thread to start looking this is always a problem with all forums but thanks anyway.

I am also satified customer, a useful add on to my lathe. I wonder why Myford didn'y fit them to the lathes when they were brand new ? Ted

Hello Peter,

Thank you for your kind comments, I hope the dial gives you good service.

Gray,

I think that your offer being declined is typical of how "head in the sand" the original Myford became in its final years and I can't help but think that this attitude contributed their eventual demise. Even when they took a lathe that was fitted with one of your dials in PX against a new one, the dial was removed and left languishing in their stores. I know this because the "New" Myford owners approached me at an exhibition and asked if I had made the dials for the original Myford. When I replied that no one had made them for Myford, the retort was "They must have done, because we found versions of the dial in the stores". I pointed out the scenario as laid out above and nothing more was said.

I understand that you made about 500 units over the years, and my own sales have been far more than I had been expecting.

Best regards,

Steve.

But would people have paid another £30 for an already expensive machine for a feature that while desirable is patently non essential. By not fitting it they opened the door to an add-on market that clearly does suit people to add when they can afford it.

They could have don't it at no extra cost apart from the dial to go over an existing handwheel.

I have one here that works this way, just a standard handwheel, nothing special.

I suspect that towards the end Myford were in a desperate state old plant
that was expensive to run with insufficient funds to invest over a period
time in more cost efficient machinery to keep their prices competitive.
The competition from the far east must have been very worrying. So to add
little extras like this excellent dial would be the last thing they would
consider. On my Emco Maximat this is fitted as standard but that is a
lathe which was far more expensive although of much greater capacity
possibly Myford 254 standard and capacity. Chris Moore did an excellent
job to keep Myford hanging in so long.

When I purchased my reconditioned S7B from Myfords, it came with one of Graham's dials fitted , and as far as I am concerned, it is an excellent and indispensible piece of equipment . In actual fact , it was because of the dial that I chose this machine in preference to the other similar ones available at the time .

Edited By Trevor Drabble on 26/02/2014 23:05:15

Hello Trevor,

That is interesting. I was always under the impression that they only reconditioned lathes to a standard spec. I stand corrected. I believe that there is an analogy with using a Myford lathe with or without a gearbox. Whilst it is perfectly acceptable to use a changewheel model, once the gearbox option is taken, the user will wonder how they ever managed without it.

Mr Fletcher, I think I met you at Harrogate? Glad to hear the dial is giving good service.

Best regards,

Steve.

I strongly disagree with that statement having been there.

When I had my ML7 I lusted after a gearbox for years, cursing every time I had to swap gears which was often.

Eventually I found a S/H box and fitted it, then bought the very expensive Myford Metric conversion kit and realised I had made the biggest mistake of my life.

Before what was a two minute job swapping gears, then became a ten minute job swapping gears and banjo only to have to swap back to get the fine feed back. I really cursed the day I fitted it.

It was only later I discovered the 33 / 34 gear trick that Brian Wood has recently wrote up in MEW that makes life a lot easier.

It's obviously that popular that Brian says RDG sold out in one day and I'm currently making another batch of 200 gears.

Hello John,

So to summarise, now that the 33/34 gear trick is widely known, the QC box is the better option?

Best regards,

Steve.