What would you pay?

[DiscoDan]

Someone is offering me two lathes, an older Craftsman 12" with gearbox and a Central Machinery with gearbox. Both look like 12x36 or thereabouts. Looks like both have been used to turn wood, which I know creates a lot of dust that gets everywhere and it looks like they didn't worry too much about cleaning the lathes. I don't yet know what tooling comes with them but I do see steady and follow rests for the CM and some drill chucks near the Craftsman. We haven't talked price yet. Assuming the condition is as seen and some tooling, what would you think each is worth? Looks like in a basement too. These would be for cleaning up and passing on to someone else.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Just a guess, about $800 each, (plus or minus one of those little lines).

 

[Al 1]

Dan, Looks like they should be completely dismantled and cleaned. There may be broken / worn parts. I personally would not pay too much.
Quite a bit of time will have to go into cleaning etc. Not to mention parts if needed. 200.00 to 300 ea. would be my limit. Al

 

[MontanaLon]

I'd be more inclined toward MrWhoopee's estimate as there appears to be quite a bit of tooling in the background of the photos. I see a complete set of accessories for the gear head and would be willing to bet there is more in the bins behind the Atlas.

3 jaw chucks would be important, faceplates less so. Turning wood the thing to look for is wear on the ways. The sawdust doesn't wear the metal but it soaks up the oil and lets the metal wear on the metal unless they were anal about oiling frequently.

 

[Aaron_W]

I like vintage machinery, but I think the Central Machinery is probably a better lathe. It has a separate drive shaft for running the power feed. If you check the spindle bore I bet it is also larger. It is also probably a couple decades newer. Parts may be an issue though, with a few exceptions parts, manuals etc for older imports can be hard to find. Just looking at the photos, it looks like the Central Machinery is also less covered in gunk.

Old Atlas machines have an active user community where you can get info, manuals etc and they seem to have pretty good parts availability considering they haven't been made for decades. Even if you have to make a replacement part there are a lot of drawings out there and people who have done so.

I'm not even going to guess on prices there. Out here (California) I'd expect to see something like this (cleaned up) asking $500-1500. Maryland seems to have a lot more machinery available so prices could be significantly lower. Somebody closer to your location could give you a more accurate price.

 

[Cadillac]

Idk I guess it’s all location. I wouldn’t pay more than 300 for each and that’s pushing it 500 for both. You said you want to flip them. Guessing you have to get out of basement, dismantle, clean, and hopefully they work as they should. What’s the end price. You’ll have acouple hours in each one just cleaning up plus the time moving. End price might be 800 if lucky I think that’s pushing it for those. Could be wrong but might just be my location. Check CL in your area for guesstamits.

 

[Aaron_W]

Idk I guess it’s all location. I wouldn’t pay more than 300 for each and that’s pushing it 500 for both. You said you want to flip them. Guessing you have to get out of basement, dismantle, clean, and hopefully they work as they should. What’s the end price. You’ll have acouple hours in each one just cleaning up plus the time moving. End price might be 800 if lucky I think that’s pushing it for those. Could be wrong but might just be my location. Check CL in your area for guesstamits.

I didn't see the part about re-selling them. He would have to get them at a pretty good price to make the time and effort of cleaning them up worthwhile unless it was just about saving some old machines.

 

[Cadillac]

I didn't see the part about re-selling them. He would have to get them at a pretty good price to make the time and effort of cleaning them up worthwhile unless it was just about saving some old machines.

Last sentence

 

[Aaron_W]

Last sentence

Yeah, I re-read it after your post, just missed it the first time through. I was distracted by the photos. Those poor lathes need a good bath.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

IMHO, the Central Machinery is the better of the 2, it may be worth $1000 to the right person.