Myford lathes

[GeorgeRay]

Has any one any recent experience of ordering a new lathe from Myford and getting it. I am a very unhappy bunny at the moment, been waiting over 4 months, with latest forecast another 2 months and nothing from Myfords to tell me what is happening. Perhaps should have bought chinese after all.

[SteveW]

George,

A friend around the corner has finally got hacked off with is Warco/Chester clone mill/lathe and pushed the boat out (a long-long way) and is going Myford.

He's currently focused on getting DRO with it and an inverter drive. I'll ask him how he's doing.

Another chap I know went this way a while ago, bought all the toys with it and is dead impressed. I seem to recall it took a while but that might be just hear-say.

Are you going BIG BORE? Nearly everything I do with my old 7B hits the problem of the small plug hole.

[GeorgeRay]

I would be interested to know how long your friend actually waited. I am going big bore, my existing machine is a very old ML7B 1951 built, as you say the small bore is a bit of a problem a lot of the time.
I will have been waiting 5 1/2 months if the current delivery promise is met, thats against an intial quote of 6 weeks from confirmation of order. The only way I've found out about the delays is by ringing Myford about a week before the promised delivery. Hence my question and a little annoyance.

[SteveW]

George,

I range him tonight and he tells me he ordered it on Monday and was advised delivery would be July/August.

Apparently they make these things in batches. I assume its a bit like trains, miss it and you have to wait for another one. Maybe worth giving Myford a ring and having a rant at them. At least you'll have the benefit of giving them a piece of your mind. If nothing else they should as a minimum have given you a date.

If you enjoy the sort of luck I do your order may have drop through the cracks. Oops!

[GeorgeRay]

I ordered mid February against a deliver end of March. Chased Myford and of March and told had just missed the January?February build but would be in the April/May build so delivery end of May. Ranted and was told they might be able to improve on that. Phoned Tuesday to be told now in June/July build so would be end of July. Further rant now had an e-amil from them saying will be the first to be built in the latest batch. So as you can see a long drawn out saga. All the chasing has been doen by me. Suggest your friend gets a delivery date in writing. The only good thing at the moment is that the extra goodies available for that were available with my order are I think better than those currently on offer and which I will still be getting. Its not the long delivery that has annoyed me but the lack of information when the dates aren't going to be met. I'll let you know how I get on just hope your friend is luckier than I have been.

[Tel]

Cheer up George - just think of all the metal you are savin' while you wait.

[catgate]

Suggest your friend gets a delivery date in writing

This will simply ensure he gets the next notification of late delivery "in writing"!! Do you suppose they are interested in customers? They are, like all companies, only interested in the customer's money. Service is dead and they are living on a false reputation. Their designs have always been of "yester year".

[steammadman]

hi catgate,
i have heard myfords are now made abroad,maybe they missed a few boats
with yours.
The olnly dealings i've had with them since i bought my ml7,is for spairs and they
have been great,stuff delivered by return post.
Hope you get as much fun out of your new Myford asi've had out of my 1951 model.

[alanstepney]

catgate said:

Suggest your friend gets a delivery date in writing

Snipped
Their designs have always been of "yester year".

I really cant let that pass.

The early machines, up to and including the ML4 series, were excellent and far in advance of the competiton.

The 7 series, starting with the ML& and later, the Super7, were absolutely first rate, and far cheaper (and often better) than the competition.
Take a look at adverts for, say, Boxford, and compare the price to Myfords.

In fact, more models have been built on Myford 7's than on any other single type of lathe.
Dosnt sound like the outpit from an old design to me!

In my view, the biggest "fault with" the new Myfords is the colour, and perhaps the biggest advance is the enlarged headstock.

All I can say is that if anyone buying one today gets as much pleasure and as many bits made, from their new Myford as I have from my ML7 over the past 35 years, then they wont be disappointed.

[GeorgeRay]

My gripe was simply the lack of communication since placing the order. I have recently had an apology and a promise to do better. I wanted a Myford to replace my old faithful simple because with a 1/4HP motor and the slower spindle speeds my old ML7 was finding some jobs hard to cope with.
When Chris Moore visited me to examine my old machine for part exchange he confirmed that the ML7 series lathes are currently being built in UK because the far eastern countries could not grasp the concept of quality control. Much as he would have liked to use far eastern companies to lower the cost to his customers he thought the end cost to Myford would be much higher. The lathes are built in batches against orders placed and they no longer carry stocks of machines already built hence the 6-8 week delay following receipt of order. Spares are a different matter at present because they do carry stocks of them which is why there is a good service from the spares department.

[alanstepney]

Poor communication seems to be more common these days, but it is unforgiveable.
At least you got an apology, which is something.

[steammadman]

Well George that puts my information on the scrap heap, once and for all.
I'm more than pleased to hear that the trusty MYFORD is ALL BRITISH long may it remain so.
As i said i bought my ML7 in 1951,and hopefully it will out last me,although a little worn it still turns out some
1st class jobs ,with a little assistance from yours truly.
keep the great in britain
cheers for now
Brian (steammadman)

[chris vine]

Sorry to hear you are having to wait for your new Myford.

However I don't think you will be disappointed. I have a super 7 B, a few years old now and I never fail to be impressed by it. I recently fitted an inverter drive to it and it is now better than ever.

One thing I love about it is how quietly it runs even at top speed, no gears grinding away.. The only thing which used to spoil it was the rumbling noise caused by the primary belt drive from the motor. I replaced this years ago with a segmented type and it was a huge improvement. The new ones have a polyvee belt to will be better anyway.

one other worthwhile improvement is to make up an apron to cover the bed between the saddle and the chuck. Mine is made up of a bit of very flexible chrome leather from an old apron with a bit of polythene sheeting underneath to stop coolant wetting the bed ways. No chips get under the saddle now and the bed is always oily and silky smooth. An old myford I had before had a bit of bed wear near the headstock end because was is not hardened and is difficult to keep lubricated and clean. The surplus material sits in the gap when you are working close to the chuck.

Happy waiting.....
Chris.

[SteveW]

Guys,

I second Chris' suggestion to add something to keep the crude off the bed. However, I've gone for something far simpler/cheaper. I use a piece of scrap A4 from my other hobby held on the saddle under the tool by a small rubberised magnet. Anything loose near something spinning has a way of becoming far too interesting. My hope with the paper is that it'll simply shred on contact. Generally it's stiff enough to take chuck strikes without anything happening. Cutting oil soaks into it and helps stick the crud down and can be discarded when full. Result is a clean bed.