Used US industrial vs New import....

Like most others here, I went thru this debate. I'll toss my hat in the ring here. If you (the buyer) is relatively new to the machine you're buying or you don't have enough knowledge to NOT buy a junker or have someone knowledgeable to bring along, or you can't trust the seller the answer's not that hard. Buy new, preferably from a reputable dealer. Less chance of getting screwed, you get a warranty, and the machine should be ready to plug and pray...I mean play. Flustered The time eaten up by waiting for a great used machine is another very important factor. I have old American and new(ish) Asian machines. I got very lucky finding my Johansson mill and the Grizzly G4003G. I'm not the most patient of fellows.
 
Hello everyone,

I have been asking the same question about new vs. used equipment, found this thread very helpful. I have been looking at the new PM-1236 lathe, have heard good things about Precision Matthews and there equipment. But availability is a problem (there 1236 just went out of stock).

I have been looking on Craigslist for used lathes, but not much there. What other sources of used equipment are there?

Thanks
 
Tim Hoffman said:
What other sources of used equipment are there?
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Machinery dealers (may have to include freight in the cost but gives you a good selection), auction houses, estate sales... The good deals are off the beaten path. I practically stole my milling machine at a local school district auction that only about 50 people showed up for. Estate sales take patience, but they can be goldmines. Getting good used equipment may take patience, but there are deals to be had if you're willing to turn over enough stones. You can get a decent machine by being opportunistic, and you can get that unicorn of a dream lathe if you search diligently and you're willing to make a road trip with a trailer.
 
For used, it's all about patience and ability to jump when you see something you like. Have the money available so you can be ready. Then just watch whatever sources are available near you. Craigslist isn't that useful near me, we have a local newspaper that went to online classified ads a long time back and managed to get more traffic before Craigslist became big, so most things get listed there first. Auctions, estate and yard sales, etc.. Government and other public sector auctions and such can also be good sources.

I own a PM1127, and have been quite happy with it. If I had the budget, I probably would go with the 1236T/1440T.
 
Tim Hoffman said:
Hello everyone,

I have been asking the same question about new vs. used equipment, found this thread very helpful. I have been looking at the new PM-1236 lathe, have heard good things about Precision Matthews and there equipment. But availability is a problem (there 1236 just went out of stock).

I have been looking on Craigslist for used lathes, but not much there. What other sources of used equipment are there?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Where I live is a veritable desert for machine tools.
I had the most luck by creating alerts in my local classified sites and by posting “Wanted” ads.
When I was looking for a lathe my wanted ad turned up four responses in less than an hour.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Places to look for machinery besides Craigslist, Facebook Market Place, Auctionzip, govdeals, municibid, and even the for sale ads in the local news paper (Yes they still print them for us FOG's). Tell people your looking for machine tools. That's how I found my first lathe someone told me about one for sale.
 
The best leads are incidental, in other words, they come from some side channel other than Craigslist. The problem about Craigslist is that people around here just mob the deals, and you end up fighting for scraps. One of the best deals I saw was a moving sale. The Craigslist advertisement said machinist tools, and I went there. There was a whole garage full of pushy old men and the stuff was selling fast and cheap. I asked the fellow in charge what was going on. He said that Apple had bought this house for one of its key players, and they offered $400K extra to get the house empty by the end of the month, which was rapidly approaching. He pointed to the side of the garage and said he's going to have a hard time unloading the large mill and lathe pushed up against the wall. He asked if I had a spare few hundred bucks. I said, no space, and he said that's what those pushy men said too. If he had put photos on Craigslist along with that price, it would be gone in a matter of days. He did and it was.

Don't be worried about getting the best deal. If you get something good, and it is fulfilling, it will amortize out to a very good return. If you think you might lose interest after a little while, get an import mini lathe, doesn't matter if it is new or used, and you can sell it in a few months with little wear, some rust patina, and a couple of stripped/missing plastic gears.
 
Wow, Five responses in under an hour!

ericc said:
He asked if I had a spare few hundred bucks. I said, no space...
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This is the problem I have had with a lot of used equipment, a 1200 LB 12x36 is probably the biggest lathe we could handle/have space for.
A new PM lathe looks good, yet somthing used for good bit less would leave a lot more room for other equipment (PM-30MV?).

I guess the "wanted section" it is!
 
Another vote for patience, perseverance, and Old American Iron. When I was looking for a milling machine some 20+ years ago I knew what I wanted. We had over a dozen Tree brand machines at work and I loved them. I spent over 2 years looking for "just the right machine" with no luck. I must have looked at over a dozen. All were either worn beyond repair, had little or no tooling, or were overpriced.

I kept looking and happened on a Bridgeport machine from a high school. It was in decent shape and the price was right. I kept looking for other machines and found many from shops that were downsizing, upgrading to CNC, or going out of business. The last several machines found me rather than me going to look for them. Word got around the local shops as to what I was interested in and in time owners were calling me asking if I was interested in a particular machine. There are now about 2 dozen machines in the shop. I'm still keeping my eyes open for a couple more, but not actively perusing them. I'm sure in time what I'm looking for will appear at the right price.

As a side note all but 2 drill presses in my shop are American iron. Almost everything was purchased used rather than new, and none have needed major repairs. A few needed a good cleaning, but that's about the extent of it. Over the years I've spent far more on tooling than I have on repairs. I'm guessing that the machines themselves are between 40% and 50% of the cost of setting up the shop. I've probably spent as much or more on tooling than I have on the machines themselves.
 
Don't think it's been mentioned previously, but Offer Up will **sometimes** have something worthwhile. It's a bit flakey, and it often looks like the sellers forget to remove their ads - I've seen some as old as 3 years! Might be worth a try.
 
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