Advice on pricing a Myford Super 7 lathe

[Adam CollettParticipant @adamcollett78374]

Hello all,

I'm hoping for some advice. My father passed away last month and one of the many things he left behind in his workshop was a Myford Super 7 Lathe. There are a number of accessories with the lathe and it is in good working order having seen light use for general jobs around the house (he never did manage to build the model traction engine he wanted the lathe for!) and we are looking to sell the lathe as no one else in the family needs it.

I was hoping that some people on here would be able to offer some sensible advice on pricing the lathe reasonably accurately and might even point me in the right direction for the best place to advertise it for sale.

Here are some links to pictures of the lathe and various accessories:

If more pictures or information is needed, please let me know.

If people could suggest a guide price that would be really helpful

Thanks

Adam

[Adam CollettParticipant @adamcollett78374]

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Hi Adam,

Sorry to hear your news. I would give it a good clean up & retake pictures & then stick it on Ebay with a reserve of £750ish.

Tony

[paul 1950Participant @paul1950]

best place is ebay i sell tools on there all the time the whole world is watching, as for price there are a lot on there and else ware listed at silly money. if you want to sell it and not just list it year after year i would start it at £750.00

[paul 1950Participant @paul1950]

tony beat me to it and at the same price

[old AlParticipant @oldal]

I agree with the above comments. It hasn't got a cabinet which usually brings in good money, but it does have a gearbox.

Biggest thing for me is the wood dust. give the whole lathe a quick once over with a brush and then a wipe over with WD40 or similar and all over the bits

best of luck

[Adam CollettParticipant @adamcollett78374]

Thanks chaps, significantly less than we thought from looking about on the internet, but as paul1950 said, those ones won't be selling.

I have hoovered it over, but will give it a thorough clean with a brush and then some old rags and WD40 before putting it up on eBay.

Is it worth selling it with all the bits (live centres, taper cutting tailstock, spare chuck, tool rests, cutting bits etc) or would it be better to post those up separately as individual bids?

Thanks for all your help so far

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Posted by Adam Collett on 26/04/2015 12:12:31:

Thanks chaps, significantly less than we thought from looking about on the internet, but as paul1950 said, those ones won't be selling.

I have hoovered it over, but will give it a thorough clean with a brush and then some old rags and WD40 before putting it up on eBay.

Is it worth selling it with all the bits (live centres, taper cutting tailstock, spare chuck, tool rests, cutting bits etc) or would it be better to post those up separately as individual bids?

Thanks for all your help so far

That's a bit more difficult, it will be easier to sell with the bits & should make more money? If you sell parts separately you may make more overall or you may not, you also have the hassle of multiple auctions & postings etc.

Tony

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

I personally do not favour WD40 as it is not as good as some would have us believe, nothing wrong with a oily rag better if you have some slide way oil (oil used to lubricate the slides/bed).

As for price starting at £750.00 should raise some interest and should reach it's own level.

Best of luck Bob

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

The thing with a green bracket is a "myford swivelling vertical slide" £75.
Photos 4 has a "MT2 revolving center" £10, "bracket for wood turning rest" £10 but measure the hole and list it. "MT2 offset center" £10 is unusual but not much use. The blue box is labelled and £20.
Another picture has a "bracket including wood turning rest" £15 and the blue disc is a "wood turning faceplate -not myford" There is a Dial Test Indicator DTI £10

The chuck on the lathe has 3 jaws. Somewhere there will be 3 nearly identical jaws in a box of loose and must be kept with the chuck. Both chucks and the grey round thing below the cross slide belong with the lathe.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

If you clean it up and lay out all the bits into separate photos and sell it as a job lot it should command a lot more interest and a better price from a single auction

You may get more from multiple sales, but you will spend a lot more time selling those individual bits

It all boils down to yourself and the time you are willing to spend on it

Myford bits are very popular if the price isn't silly

[Adam CollettParticipant @adamcollett78374]

Excellent, thank you so much for all your advice and help chaps, very much appreciated.

I shall get it all cleaned up and then take some pictures with all the bits together as one job lot and whack it up on eBay.

Is it an idea to post the eBay link on here somewhere, if so which section would be best to post it in?

Thanks again

Adam

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

If you include the bits the new owner may never use them and it deprives the rest of the opportunity.. If you sell them seperately the buyer probably wants them and will use them. Remember to cost and list postage for all but the lathe. Though the vertical slide will need a courier if you only list as collection anywhere but London only locals will be interested.

[David LittlewoodParticipant @davidlittlewood51847]

Adam,

Condolences about your father.

To assess the lathe, a few questions. Does it have power cross-feed? Are all the gears sound, with no missing teeth? Does the headstock spindle seem to be in good condition? (In the absence of more sophisticated tests, check that there is no disconcerting noise when running, and that if you chuck a stout bar 6-9" long, you can't feel any movement if you push/pull the unsupported end.) Is there any sign of excessive be wear (this will show up be a marked variation in stiffness as you move the carriage from headstock end to tailstock end)? Ditto for the cross-slide. If the answer to all these things is positive, then IMO £750 is much too low a price – by a factor of 2. Even without power cross-feed (and as best I can see from the photos it doesn't have it) it is too low. The gearbox alone would be worth nearly that much (I bought my gearbox new in the early 80's when I upgraded my S7 to S7B and paid over £400 then!).

Of course, that assumes you put in quite a bit of effort to clean it up. For a decent sale price, appearance is important; it suggest the machine has been well looked after. Sorry if I repeat what has been said, but (1) remove all traces of wood dust (if that's what it is); many kinds of wood can be corrosive. (2) Remove any other crud; use a toothbrush if necessary. (3) Go over all parts with an oily rag until nice and polished-looking. (4) Fill the oil cup on the headstock and oil the oiling nipples with the oil gun. (5) Clean up the acessories – many of them (except the 3-jaw chuck) look rather tarnished.

As to what to include and what to sell separately, then by tradition a second-hand lathe would come with 3-jaw s/c chuck, 4-jaw independent chuck, faceplate, tailstock chuck, two 2MT centres, some form of toolholder (the 4-way one on it will be fine, gruesome though they are IMO) and the basic spanners etc. Anything else would be a free gift to the buyer, who probably wouldn't end up paying any extra for them. Thus the swivelling vertical milling table, the tailstock dieholder set, the wood-turning tool rest and any other extras may as well be sold separately. The tailstock offset device looks so disgusting I'd bin it, but you may feel it would clean up.

As for selling, I don't like eBay, except as a buyer (when I have to go where the stuff is to be found). I'd be inclined to put a free ad in ME/MEW and/or on homeworkshop.org.uk. Stuff I have put on there has sold in a day or two. The only advantage of eBay is that you may – occasionally – get lucky if two bidders get carried away.

And finally, As someone else said, don't use WD40 – it's only uses AFAICS are for drying out damp car plug leads, and helping to loose stuck bolts. Use the slideway oil your father probably had somewhere about; Esso Nuto was the traditional one. And absolutely don't use 3-in-1 oil (yuk); it's only useful for garden tools IMO.

David

 

 

Edited By David Littlewood on 26/04/2015 13:06:12

Edited By David Littlewood on 26/04/2015 13:08:40

[Adam CollettParticipant @adamcollett78374]

The power-cross-slide is the thing that makes the tool move across the bed automatically, yes? It does have this, as well as the screw-cutting gearbox

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Posted by Adam Collett on 26/04/2015 13:09:39:

The power-cross-slide is the thing that makes the tool move across the bed automatically, yes? It does have this, as well as the screw-cutting gearbox

Sorry Adam I don't think it has the power cross feed.

Tony

[Adam CollettParticipant @adamcollett78374]

I know there is a lever at one end that when you engage it the tool in the main rest moves along the bed by itself, powered by the screw thread just under the front of the bed.

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Correct, but that is not cross feed.

Tony

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Realistic price for this machine is around £750 to £1000 tops.

Probably not what you want to hear but it looks neglected and that's not just the wood dust etc.

Chipped paintwork etc. There are many Myford's of this model out there, some like this and some better. The better ones will make the money because the new owner is looking for something that looks cared for.

The Myfords out there with large price tags on them won't sell, there are just too many in the market place and TBH they are not rare.

Ebay is probably your best bet, larger audience although you will only be 'available' to a select audience because of collection by weight but that applies to any Ebay site. Also remember that only this site and homeworkshop.org.uk are free.

Lathes.co.uk and Ebay charge a fee, don't know what lathes.co.uk is but Ebay is 10% minimum so that £1000 will now be £900.

Don't wish to appear negative but I see this type of machine every day.

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Yeah!
I recently looked around that 2 nd hand toolshed north of Worthing and they must have had at least 1/2 doz grey Myfords in various cond. @ prices I wouldnt pay.

Edited By DMB on 26/04/2015 16:04:28

[paul 1950Participant @paul1950]

you could do what i do and brake it for spares, the gearbox will fetch close to what you will get for the lathe

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Depends if he wants to be messing about for the next 4 months listing nuts and bolts ?

That gearbox, tatty paint, scratched plate, bent selector will only fetch £450

[CotswoldsPhilParticipant @cotswoldsphil]

There was a discussion about if this Super 7 had power cross-feed. It was established it has not…looks like it would be worth about 1/2 as much again if it had; last night a Super 7 Power Cross-feed saddle (less cross and top slides sold for £485!

Where will it end?

Phil

[John HickParticipant @johnhick53605]

Hi Adam. Just sen this post. Did you ever sell the lathe?

Kind regards

JohnH

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

Posted by John Hick on 15/04/2018 16:14:10:

Hi Adam. Just sen this post. Did you ever sell the lathe?

Kind regards

JohnH

I'm sure you realised the thread you are responding to was from three years ago, but did you then look at the OP's post dates and realise that he signed up as a newbie three years ago in relation to this lathe, but also then disappeared three years ago?

I'm willing to bet he probably won't respond

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