Machine Tools have become Uglier

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Anonymous Poster	Machine Tools have become Uglier 03/26/2010 12:26 AM
	Why is it that no one can build a manual machine tool anymore that has some character and grace? Everything new I've seen lately is stark, cold junk, just barely good enough to do the job. Are we just too cheap to pay what it costs for a good machine tool anymore? Has the market responded to that fact and stopped making good machines? Or am I missing something? Why have many of the good makers like Leblond or DS&G or Lodge & Shipley gone out of business? Or like VDF boehringer just given themselves almost fully over to building soul-less CNC machines. Don't get me wrong, we need CNC machines but there should still be a place for high quality manual machine tools that are not made in asia.
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Anonymous Poster	#1 Re: Machine Tools have become Uglier 03/26/2010 3:36 AM
	Same old same old - make one of the same or better quality at the same price as the Asian one and you are in business.
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phoenix911 Guru Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 23647 Good Answers: 420	#2 Re: Machine Tools have become Uglier 03/26/2010 9:20 AM
	they are out there, but you have to pay for it. __________________ “ When people get what they want, they are often surprised when they get what they deserve " - James Wood
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suresh sharma Guru Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 1983 Good Answers: 25	#3 Re: Machine Tools have become Uglier 03/27/2010 7:20 AM
	I would like to inform you that M/S Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd.India a quality machine tools mfr of Machine Tools are still mfg. manual Lathes.They have already exported machine tools to many countries through out the world. In my factory from where I have retired we have been using their many machines for 30 years without any serious problems. I have been trained on Leblond lathes in my engineering college way back in sixties. They are very good quality lathes may be still in use. __________________ "Engineers should not look for jobs but should create jobs for others" by Dr.Radhakrishnan Ex President of India during my college graduation day
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munch Power-User Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: The Canyons of the Ancients Posts: 356 Good Answers: 2	#4 Re: Machine Tools have become Uglier 03/27/2010 12:12 PM
	along the same lines, gas appliances have gone the way of the machine tools. The are built as cheep as they can get away with. And their owners/service/installation manuals are even cheeper, totaly loaded up with leagal disclamers. It falls completly in the hands of the "installers" of these appliances to make them work properly. Does anybody know anymore? As a long time master technition, I have installed appliances by their book, but have added efficiency of the appliance to the mix. All gas burning appliances used to be optimized at installation and tested using adequate instrumentation. AS energy costs increase and system efficiency becomes more critical, the need for accurate measurements becomes more important. __________________ " looking for conscience in the brain is like looking for the band in the radio" N. H.
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HIRE ME! HIRE ME! Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Lower Michigan - former Arsenal of Democracy Posts: 7	#5 Re: Machine Tools have become Uglier 03/29/2010 1:33 PM
	The graceful organic looking machines of the past were made of grey cast iron in patterns hand built by skilled tradesmen with decades of experience. Properly maintained and rebuilt when necessary they would last practically forever. Designing and building such machines is practically a lost art, primarily because there was not enough market demand for them. Get used to the junky looking tools made from welded fabrications, or find an older machine in good (or rebuildable) condition. __________________ My theory of uniform incompetence: As jobs get harder skills required become greater, leading to a fairly constant ratio of incompetent employees at all levels of an organization.
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Anonymous Poster (1); HIRE ME! HIRE ME! (1); munch (1); phoenix911 (1); suresh sharma (1)

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