How many are out there?

[TT350]

Any one have any idea how many have been sold?

Whats your serial#?

[zephyr9900]

An interesting question, TT350. My serial number is 128.

Per the Tormach website and literature:

The new Y-axis waycover was introduced on serial 149

The Z-axis brake was implemented at serial 275.

The serial changed to 4 digits when the new axis drive (TorDrive 6A) was introduced.

Series II with the new spindle drive began at 1326.

Of course, there's no indication on what the starting number for each series was. If the 3-digit machines began at 1 and the 4-digit began at 1000 there would be at least 601 machines out there.

Randy

[BlueFin]

Originally Posted by zephyr9900 Series II with the new spindle drive began at 1326. Randy

I ended up with #1320 back in September 08'

[zephyr9900]

Poking around in this forum, MikeAber has #13 and Keen has #286, which are the "outer bounds" of the 3-digit machines for which I've actually seen numbers.

Randy

[keen]

Can we not go direct? Greg asks us in his chinese factory information post if we have any questions..........would it be impolite to ask how many the factory have made?

[zephyr9900]

keen, I don't think it would be impolite to ask, but I personally would not expect an answer. In companies I have worked for, sales figures are generally closely guarded, unless the company wants to boast about a specific milestone being reached.

Besides, I think the detective work of sifting through publicly-available clues is fun!

I like to describe my Tormach as serial 10000000 (binary, of course)...

Randy

[zephyr9900]

Originally Posted by BlueFin I ended up with #1320 back in September 08'

That is a good idea, BlueFin, listing the sales date along with the serial number.

My 10000000b machine was delivered in October of 2006.

With enough of these datapoints, we could even plot a rough sales vs. time curve.

Randy

[sharpshooter90]

Originally Posted by zephyr9900 That is a good idea, BlueFin, listing the sales date along with the serial number. With enough of these datapoints, we could even plot a rough sales vs. time curve. Randy

Trying to find out by plotting serial #'s and dates is near impossible. Most manufacturers do not start at # 1 and progress from there. Usually they pick a larger number like # 125 and then add the year- 12506. Then they simply change the year as things go along, so if # 125 was sold in December, then the next machine out in 07 would be 12607. This makes it difficult to tell if they sold 125 units in 06 and 126 units in 07 etc. If you really want to know exactly how many machines they have sold, go to www.alibaba.com- this is a web site that is tied into the US customs and you can look up exactly how many machines they have imported in any year, from whom, the cost etc. Just as a teaser you will be shocked at the volume in 2008 compared to 2006.

[TT350]

My S# is 3106.

It was invoiced 6/07

[TT350]

Originally Posted by sharpshooter90 Trying to find out by plotting serial #'s and dates is near impossible. Most manufacturers do not start at # 1 and progress from there. Usually they pick a larger number like # 125 and then add the year- 12506. Then they simply change the year as things go along, so if # 125 was sold in December, then the next machine out in 07 would be 12607. This makes it difficult to tell if they sold 125 units in 06 and 126 units in 07 etc. If you really want to know exactly how many machines they have sold, go to www.alibaba.com- this is a web site that is tied into the US customs and you can look up exactly how many machines they have imported in any year, from whom, the cost etc. Just as a teaser you will be shocked at the volume in 2008 compared to 2006.

Please don’t take this the wrong way but you sound
like you’ve done this type of thing before, so why not just post the #’s

[justgary]

Originally Posted by TT350 My S# is 3106. It was invoiced 6/07

I hope you mean 1306, not 3106, because that would make this much harder.

I would ask Greg if you really want to know. He's probably laughing about this right now, and may give you rough numbers if you ask.

Here, I'll do it. Greg, if you happen to read this, would you please give us a rough number of Series I machines sold, and maybe a monthly rate of Series II machines so far? We understand if you only give vague numbers or no numbers at all. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. Thanks!

Series II #136x, December 2008.

Regards,

- Just Gary

[TT350]