Possibly Selling My Machines (shop), and Could Use Some Advice

Funny to read these comments from so many perspectives, as we are all of different views and in different places in our lives.

I just acquired what I feel is a very sweet deal on a mill with the help of David Best. And I have a 1340GT on order that will hopefully arrive in September.

Had I been still looking for equipment I would be all over this as a package deal like a "Hobbo on a ham sammich"! (A favorite saying of an Army buddy.)
 
Bill,
I have followed and enjoyed your threads and responses since you lived in Longmount Co. so I am sad to hear your plans and concerns.
I am like many others, older (77) and have many shop machines, tools and gobs of materials. my wife says she wouldn't know what to do with all my stuff if something happened to me. She and I have always prayed that we will have long healthy lives and believe that we have that assurance. I plan to still be machining in my later nineties. my older sister is 97 and just went into an assisted living unit. I have seen too many give up their shops and tools too soon and then are bored just watching tv fully capable of still making and fixing things instead.
I plan on listing and selling items and machines that I know I won't use from now on but my machines and tools and my material I will keep till I am gone. I will list the approx values of Items to help whoever takes over so they will have some idea of what they are worth. it took us a life time to collect things and brought us the ability to use them, and enjoy our shops.
they may be a lot more valuable in twenty years and are a good investment.
Dave
 
I look at my machines every day and night out in the garage and think if I really want them any longer . The garage and 2 basements sure would be cleaner without them . :dunno:
 
Jake P said:
I just acquired what I feel is a very sweet deal on a mill with the help of David Best. And I have a 1340GT on order that will hopefully arrive in September.

Had I been still looking for equipment I would be all over this as a package deal like "a hobo on a ham sammich"! (A favorite saying of an Army buddy.)
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I have to constantly remind myself I'm not married to a machine. I bought it to get it and can sell it to get rid of it and make room and money for the next one. Go for the complete shop and the additional tooling will probably get you up and running whereas the new bare machines will need more major money to tool out.

jack vines
 
Realistically speaking, finding someone to buy a whole shop would be like looking for a unicorn. You might find one, but you would have to offer a significant discount. I have a lot of stuff, a rough estimate of the value of my stuff would be between $50 and $100k, and considerably more at retail prices. I doubt that there are many people on this list that could afford to pay even for a bargain shop. Nearly all experienced persons on this list have accumulated his/her treasures over years. I do a lot of garage and estate sales, and I only bought when I encountered a major deal. Few of the companies that do estate sales, have much knowledge of machine shop equipment. Estate sale and auction companies charge a premium for their services, 30-50%.
For many of us, willing your treasures to a relative probably isn't an answer either. None of my relatives would have any appreciation for my stuff.

It is not a pleasant thought, but We all need to have a plan for disposing of our treasures. Otherwise, someone else is going to get it for pennies on the dollar and the items will end up on eBay or corroding away in some shed.
 
Packard V8 said:
I have to constantly remind myself I'm not married to a machine. I bought it to get it and can sell it to get rid of it and make room and money for the next one. Go for the complete shop and the additional tooling will probably get you up and running whereas the new bare machines will need more major money to tool out.

jack vines
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Hey Jack,

If you’re suggesting that I sell this mill and jump on wrmiller’s setup, that does seem like a great idea on the surface, however it’s more complicated than that at least for my situation.

My 1340GT order is a non-refundable deposit situation unless the order is delayed. And I guess technically the order is delayed, but it’s not the fault of PM, and it goes against my grain to stick something to someone due to things outside of their control. Additionally, I have already had Mr. Mark Jacobs fabricate his VFD conversion for me and I have also had PM send me the VFD so that I could get it all setup in the enclosure in advance. I imagine that I would have no problem selling Mark’s conversion here to another person acquiring a 1340, but again it goes back to the issue of my order with PM. They have spent a great deal of time with me on the phone and in emails with ordering advice and many order changes. They have been great and I value that!

The deal I got on the mill had a fair amount of tooling and other items included. I’ve done a calculation of what the major additions would have cost me at current retail prices and it comes to something in the neighborhood of 5K worth in addition to the mill, for which I paid 5K total. So I’ve already gotten ahead in my estimation a fair bit.
 
My Dad (Age 84) has four buildings full of woodworking tools and lumber. 3 more 70 x 30' buildings he is leasing out will come back to him next year. I suspect he will fill them all (unless I can get some of my stuff in one first). I hate the thought of figuring out what to do with it all when he is gone, but I hate infinitely more the thought of him sitting in a chair in the house without something for him to do. That would be a death sentence in short order.

Keep your stuff as long as using it interests you. Your loved ones want you to!
 
I would shoot a bit higher in the pricing, probably $6500-7000 for the lathe and same for the mill. You have very high quality add ons on both machines, and currently with no new machines available for many months I think there would be a lot more interest. I would sell them separately and just list out the other items you want to sell in aggregates, trying to sell everything in one fell swoop is going to eliminate a lot of potential buyers that are interested in a specific item.
 
The only way to figure it out is to go back and figure what you paid for every item individually, subtract 15% for depreciation, and whatever amount you think is fair for the use you got out of them, and start listing it individually.

But it might not hurt to call a business like Lost Creek Machine and see what they'd give you.
 
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