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What's new

I have a new Web-site on Rebuilding

Richard King

Diamond
Joined
Jul 12, 2005
Location
Cottage Grove, MN 55016
I've been working on getting a new one for years....Finally have one close...I have a few typo's and the class dates are off....I will be updating it soon.....Just giving you a sneak peak. Oh I will be doing a class in MN Oct. 20 - 24, 2021....I have 4, so I have room for a few more. Rich
Power Scraping in Cottage Grove, MN | KING-WAY Scraping Consultants

I also have had a young friend working on drawings how to build and kits for the King-Way. He caught Covid and is better now. I hope to have them ready to sell around Jan 1, 2022.
Rich
 
I've been working on getting a new one for years....Finally have one close...I have a few typo's and the class dates are off....I will be updating it soon.....Just giving you a sneak peak. Oh I will be doing a class in MN Oct. 20 - 24, 2021....I have 4, so I have room for a few more. Rich
Power Scraping in Cottage Grove, MN | KING-WAY Scraping Consultants

I also have had a young friend working on drawings how to build and kits for the King-Way. He caught Covid and is better now. I hope to have them ready to sell around Jan 1, 2022.
Rich

Great looking site!
 
I believe this is OK too. I have a Facebook forum on rebuilding under my company name. King-Way Scraping Consultants. We have close to 1000 members. 12 or so are professional rebuilders in the USA, Europe, South America, the Ukraine, Vietnam and Australia. Currently one of our USA rookie members is rebuilding a Myford Cyl grinder. Please join. I do ask you to answer 3 questions so we can stop spammers who try to join.

Also, we do not allow rookies to give guess advice. Rookies ask for help from a pro and we answer them. The site has been up approx. 2 years and many Practical Machinist members are members of the forum. Also friends and students are. You can scroll back for months and learn a lot or just ask a new question.
 
The website and forum sound great, Richard. I will certainly look at the website, but I've never signed up with Facebook and won't be starting now, despite the attractive content.
 
mail [email protected] I am going to sell a drawing on parts and place to buy thm. Also how to make the specialized parts. I will sell kits too. I should have things ready by Jan 1. I could make a sell complete units, but I won't loose money on them as I did for years because hobby people wouldn't pay what they were worth. Most factories use optics or lasers now. Most hobbyists are cheap, so prints and parts is a cheap way to make them.
 
It's sad to say all of that and I suppose I ticked off a few, but it's the truth. I stopped making them years ago when I quoted them to people and that would say...That's to expensive, I can make one for that much" That's why I now bought a Mill, lathe and small cyl grinder to make parts now that I am semi retired. When my Dad was alive and we had a shop, we could make them and make a few dollars. But when I sold all my machines and subbed making the parts that got expensive. I have a lot to keep me busy, I just bought a 8N tractor to plow my field up to rent out to some hobby veggie farmers, have a cabin....plus teach my classes.... plus go fishing....lol Hopefully the KW drawings will help folks plus I can make a few dollars more....
 
That's the real pisser about low volume products. The volume can't justify specialized fixtures or machines. So by the time you have materials, setup, machine time and assembly, even minimum wage makes it look expensive. And subbing it out makes it even worse. That shop has the same fixture and setup issues and they want to make their regular shop rate or they wouldn't even touch it. Then you add a few bucks for the idea, the trouble, the order management and packing and shipping and it gets clear out of hand.

So how do we bring that kind of manufacturing back on shore and be able to compete? I'm sure I don't know. Just saying "we've got to do it" doesn't eliminate all the issues it faced in the first place. I used to rant privately when the mfg I worked for started sending molds to Taiwan to be built. But the dept mgr, the plant mgr, the division mgr, and the president all wanted to make a buck and retire with a big pension and they didn't ask my opinion.
 
When I taught in Taiwan in the late 80's I was assured no one would copy the King-Way ( I took one) because even in the good old days, We my Dad & (Sheer Tumico who had a license to make 200, and they never made that many) only maybe made 20 a year.. The President of Kent Grinders (Taiwan) told me they want to make copies of tools that sell millions not 20. lol....I also asked them how much they would charge me to make some over there. I had to order 50 and the price was about the same as it would cost me to make them here....so I never did it. I now have some machines in my home shop so I can make parts again cheaper
 
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