# Darn shame



## dlane (Jun 6, 2018)

Went to a local CL add for Machinist’s tools and found these out back , the BP sunk in the mud and fell over. 
There was a girl there clearing out her dads estate , didn’t find any other machinist tools but she gave me a good looking toro lawn mower and a antique 3hp boat motor.


Don’t believe the grinder is repairable, the BP ether.


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## Janderso (Jun 6, 2018)

There is a tear running down my cheek 
Breaks my heart


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## markba633csi (Jun 6, 2018)

Looks like they have been out there quite a while- I'm guessing the father was ill for some time and then passed away


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## Silverbullet (Jun 6, 2018)

Pure waste , how dumb can people be. But big companies do the same thing .


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## Mitch Alsup (Jun 6, 2018)

Silverbullet said:


> Pure waste , how dumb can people be. But big companies do the same thing .



Intelligence is limited, stupidity is not.


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## Janderso (Jun 6, 2018)

Silverbullet said:


> Pure waste , how dumb can people be. But big companies do the same thing .


I remember when the High Schools decided the South Bend Lathes and the Bridgeport Mills, wood shop equip etc. was all obsolete scrap and in the way.
Yeah, stupid is as stupid does.


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## wrmiller (Jun 6, 2018)

I think the saying is 'one person's treasure is another person's junk'. Or something like that.


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## Suzuki4evr (Jun 6, 2018)

What a sad site and waste of good machinery


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## RWanke (Jun 6, 2018)

The company I worked for use to do the same thing. They had an area out in the back of the plant they would store old/unused machinery and equipment. I was scrounging around out there one evening and found a brand new still in the crate pump that was bought for another area of the plant that was never used (worth at least $10,000) I knew it was very similar to some of the pumps we used in our department and was good for at least some parts so I grabbed it with a forklift and hid it away in a back corner just in case. Sure enough about 2 months later one of our pumps went down and the boss was crying about how it was going to wreck our maintenance budget. I asked him what it would be worth to him if I happened to find one we could use and no I wasn't stealing it from another department. I had it sitting on the shop floor the next morning and they used the parts out of it to repair ours. I explained to the boss where I found it and how I had stashed it just for an occasion like this. He was so happy he bought steak dinners for the whole department (12 guys).


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## Silverbullet (Jun 6, 2018)

RWanke said:


> The company I worked for use to do the same thing. They had an area out in the back of the plant they would store old/unused machinery and equipment. I was scrounging around out there one evening and found a brand new still in the crate pump that was bought for another area of the plant that was never used (worth at least $10,000) I knew it was very similar to some of the pumps we used in our department and was good for at least some parts so I grabbed it with a forklift and hid it away in a back corner just in case. Sure enough about 2 months later one of our pumps went down and the boss was crying about how it was going to wreck our maintenance budget. I asked him what it would be worth to him if I happened to find one we could use and no I wasn't stealing it from another department. I had it sitting on the shop floor the next morning and they used the parts out of it to repair ours. I explained to the boss where I found it and how I had stashed it just for an occasion like this. He was so happy he bought steak dinners for the whole department (12 guys).


Perfect reason our country is in trouble , we waste to much . If things taken out of service can be used why not take offers and sell . Like your company if they kept track they wouldn't have been in trouble till you saved them.


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## RWanke (Jun 6, 2018)

It was pitiful what they wasted. This was/is a very successful international company so I guess it was cheaper than trying to keep track of every part and piece at each plant. These pumps are used for many of their processes world wide. When they closed down the plant I worked at they filled a warehouse or two with parts and pieces and tooling and machinery. Some was shipped to the new plants they where building to replace ours. They had a pallet with probably 9 Kurt milling vices in good to like new condition sitting on it. They where bigger than I would prefer (at least 6" and especially since I don't even own a mill) but I tried and tried to buy one. They ended up selling them along with everything left in the warehouse to a scrap dealer.


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## bill70j (Jun 6, 2018)

I worked for a company that did the same thing - with plant equipment as well as with maintenance supplies.  

The bone yards were full of discarded motors, pumps, compressors, valves, piping - you name it.  Many built with alloys capable of withstanding high temperature, high pressure and corrosive environments.  Every one of those "old" machines were loaded with useful parts that could have been salvaged with a little time and effort.

And B-8 studs, washers, and nuts were all over the place.  So what did we do?  We allowed the local scrap dealers to take the stuff off our hands for the equivalent of carbon steel value.  And the scrappers sorted out the hastelloy, monel, inconel, stainless, and titanium and sold them for a very nice profit.


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## C-Bag (Jun 6, 2018)

There was a place outside of Santa Margarita here local that some nut had a huge plot of land where it seemed like the OP's post except way worse. There were acres of machinery sitting out in the weather. Mills, lathes, screw machines, CNC machines, lapping stations with all kinds of other crazy stuff. He had the domain bidslo.com where he had the prices and I guess you were supposed to bid. He'd have prices of what the thing might be worth if it hadn't been outside with notes of it just needs a little cleaning up. Yeah, right...... It was beyond sad. It was a little like watching a train wreck, horrified by what I saw but unable to look away. I'd always got suckered in because he'd have something on the CL and it would redirect you to his site. Then curiosity would get the best of me and I'd have to see what else he was ruining. When I went to try the link it doesn't go there anymore and I remember seeing where they had a big fire up there and it destroyed everything I guess.

Every big place I've ever worked had an extensive bone yard or two. We got three containers full of obsolete parts from the mother co and they sat out in the weather. For a junk yard dog like myself it was facinating what they were throwing away, 99% of it new and still in boxes. I think they didn't know what to do with all of it so just pawned it off on us.


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## hermetic (Jun 6, 2018)

Depends on condition, if they are rusty AND worn out, not worth the bother, but if they are just rusty, cast iron does not lose metal to rust appreciably for many years, and as long as the electrics are thoroughly dried out, they will be fine too, I have saved pumps and control gear that has been immersed for a week or two, if they are not worn out, I would buy them (cheap) in a heartbeat!


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## JPMacG (Jun 6, 2018)

When handling an estate there is high pressure on the executor to clean out the property and get it sold.  Property taxes, insurance, utilities, etc can run  a thousand or more a month.  Uninhabited property is an invitation to thieves and vandalism, and is difficult to insure.  Not to mention pressure on the executor from the everyone who stands to benefit from any inheritance.  Sometimes there is no choice but to scrap valuable items.


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## cjtoombs (Jun 6, 2018)

If you could get them cheap enough and you had the time, they are probably repairable if they weren't worn out when they were put out there.  I doubt the grinder has had much water intrusion into the ways, they are designed to keep out grinding dust.  The BP would probably be worse.  I've brought some back that were pretty bad, not that bad but pretty bad.


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## markba633csi (Jun 6, 2018)

The stuff was probably destined to be brought in and restored but life (or death) got in the way. Funny how that happens. As I get older, I feel
more urgency to get stuff up and running, even if it isn't perfect- wait too long and suddenly 10 years gets behind you-like the Pink Floyd song

My brother was always tossing together things fast, but I was the careful one, measuring everything to the n'th degree, planning every project carefully. But I find now I'm becoming more like him.  Get it going now, cause tomorrow is uncertain.  Plus I just discovered I'm developing macular degeneration, so who knows how long I'll be able to see.  Getting old sucks. LOL


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## bill70j (Jun 6, 2018)

C-Bag said:


> There was a place outside of Santa Margarita


Is that the guy off Rocky Cyn Rd?  I wondered if it was worth going there.  Guess not


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## westerner (Jun 6, 2018)

JPMacG said:


> . Sometimes there is no choice but to scrap valuable items.


Ya, I know. I work for the gubmint (county, big one). The "accountability" to the taxpayer, or in the private sector, the "Shareholder", means the accounting dept. CANNOT dispose of assets like an individual would. There is hope, tho- online auctions are becoming very popular, and are recognized as an acceptable way to liquidate these assets to the general public. We have been doing it for a few years, and have had a very good experience with it. Screaming deals, however, are fading, as word spreads about the quality of the items up for sale, and the general "auction" mentality. You would not drive from Texas to Northern Arizona to pick up your Lincoln AC buzzbox won at auction, would you? Before you answer that, run THIS thru your calculator- he paid $400, plus the 10% buyer's fee. I kid you not.


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## C-Bag (Jun 6, 2018)

bill70j said:


> Is that the guy off Rocky Cyn Rd?  I wondered if it was worth going there.  Guess not



I never got far enough to go out there. From my experience things usually look better in photos than in real life. And all the pic's I saw on the bidslo site were more like the poor BP, except not dumped over in the dirt. They had been out there long enough the paint was gone besides the solid rust and that's way beyond "just need a little TLC" in my book. At this point in my machining hobby I don't need a 5,000lb boat anchor. But that's just me.

I spent my early years as a mechanic in two different wrecking yards and there are wrecking yards and there junk yards. Wrecking yards have good useable stuff with the expensive and valuable stuff covered or indoors. Junk yards it's junk. My impression was that stuff was junk. I have to admit I couldn't stand the heartache so never went.


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## C-Bag (Jun 6, 2018)

westerner said:


> Ya, I know. I work for the gubmint (county, big one). The "accountability" to the taxpayer, or in the private sector, the "Shareholder", means the accounting dept. CANNOT dispose of assets like an individual would. There is hope, tho- online auctions are becoming very popular, and are recognized as an acceptable way to liquidate these assets to the general public. We have been doing it for a few years, and have had a very good experience with it. Screaming deals, however, are fading, as word spreads about the quality of the items up for sale, and the general "auction" mentality. You would not drive from Texas to Northern Arizona to pick up your Lincoln AC buzzbox won at auction, would you? Before you answer that, run THIS thru your calculator- he paid $400, plus the 10% buyer's fee. I kid you not.



That may be true about accountability, but I tried to buy stuff from my employers and even the accountants didn't know what to do. Most times the boss would just say get it outta here. It also helped to have a good story as there probably 7 or 8 huge old industrial drafting tables that when they went digital all went to the bone yard. One was hydraulic operated so you could stand or sit. It was junk because it had been outside so long. But one table was under a stack of junk in one of the rooms for storage and I asked the boss for it. He asked what I wanted it for and I told him my son was an artist(which he still is) and he gave it to me. They used to throw away buckets of brand new bolts, washers, nuts and lock washers because they didn't want us "wasting time" picking them up when we dropped them or to pay someone to sort it. Wish I would have grabbed just one of those 5gal buckets.

The whole auction thing is a mystery. People just don't seem to act normal. eBay is a prime example as it didn't used to be that way. I see stuff going for more than new prices all the time. It's why my searches never include auctions.


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## NortonDommi (Jun 7, 2018)

Man if I ever found something like that I would offer to haul it away and go hire a trailer with a hoist immediately. Well worth a few weekends work.


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## JPigg55 (Jun 7, 2018)

NortonDommi said:


> Man if I ever found something like that I would offer to haul it away and go hire a trailer with a hoist immediately. Well worth a few weekends work.


I hear ya !!! Might not be worth repairing, but some of the parts might sure come in handy for one that is. Would be worth the effort to salvage any usable parts.


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## C-Bag (Jun 7, 2018)

I'm very sure the those machine hoarders around here said EXACTLY the same thing. It only takes one of those for those of us with limited space and time to get overwhelmed. I'm with Mark, I have too many projects to take on basket cases. Ive had totally insane deals stare me in the face that were cheaper and not covered in rust and walked because if just moving them is a huge logistical I knew better. To each his own but I keep my TAS in check by having a small shop and a wife who doesn't want her yard turned into a junk yard. I am proud for those who actually save these old machines but don't want to turn into somebody who's the cause of a thread like this


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## dlane (Jun 7, 2018)

Not sure of the sg model # , she said her cousin might trade a SW 9mm for both for them , what’s that $400 ?.
I wouldn’t give her that for them , on the BP the motor was missing it looked pretty sad . 
What’s the chances of the KO LEE sg being repairable? 
Seems the guy would get stuff from factories that were upgrading or closing, there were all sorts of capacitors, tubes, Test equipment, scopes, circuit board router. Any how if I was to consider the sg which I don’t have room for what is it worth, sounds like a long expensive project.  Thoughts ?.


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## C-Bag (Jun 7, 2018)

FWIW ive been contemplating a SG for a while and the my take away is the most expensive weakness is the spindle bearings and to me the fact that thing has been out in the weather all this time would almost guarantee a problem there. Not to mention the motor.


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## cjtoombs (Jun 7, 2018)

What those machines are worth, whether you pan to try to restore them, use them for parts or take them to the scrap yard is scrap metal price.  Considering the time to load them and fuel cost, any offer above free would be more than fair for those machines.


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## Bob Korves (Jun 7, 2018)

dlane said:


> What’s the chances of the KO LEE sg being repairable?


Just about anything is repairable/restorable on some level.  The real question is whether it is worth it.  Rare and desirable antiques can be worth putting a lot of effort into if there is a large market and demand for them.  Properly restoring a clapped out and heavily rusted Bridgeport is a labor of love and you will probably will get paid zero or less for your labor of restoring it after factoring in all the monetary costs of parts, supplies, and tooling needed to do the job right.  The hundreds of hours invested in restoring it could have been used instead for enjoying and using a decent used machine bought at a good price.

Edit:  Sometimes money is not a factor.  If it was your great grandad's planer, money or time spent might be no object at all.


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## Cadillac (Jun 7, 2018)

I have a friend that works for a National rental company. Colors are green and has a sun and belt in its name. Every year when they do inventory he stops by with presents. They THROW OUT EVERYTHING that doesn’t match inventory count. Thousands of dollars of consumables,grinding wheels, chainsaw bars, chains, diamond blades,etc.
I guess it’s to hard to adjust the inventory count in the red.


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## MattM (Jun 9, 2018)

How much for the Surface Grinder and can you load?


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## dlane (Jun 10, 2018)

Cad, every big co dose that at our expense
I’m going to look again , I’ll pull the table and look, spin the spindle
Kant let it go to make disposable Chinese razors, I’ll park it on top of other projects.
If cheep enough, she likes me


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## TakeDeadAim (Jun 10, 2018)

I found boxes of new tooling, drills, taps, end mills tool holders and inserts in a building bought by a company.  The stuff was left by the previous owner and became theirs upon purchase.  After my offer to purchase they came back and said no because they had "no line item in their accounting system to sell something they did not produce and had no cost for.  They demolished the building to build a new one and Im sure the guy who took the building down made some serious cash off the sales of all that new boxed tooling.  Crazy rules for stuff;  Im sure there are tax rules for things that effect these decisions but you would think they would have taken my cash offer.

Same thing one day at a place I worked, they re-modeled an area and took down a bunch of cubicle type dividers with desks, shelving units and files.  I had a friend with a start up business that really could have used it.   They said it had to be thrown away and could not even be taken from the dumpster for "liability reasons".  Stupid, when a guy who lost his job and some former co workers were trying to get back to work on their own.


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## dlane (Jun 10, 2018)

Insurance companies,


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## mws (Jun 11, 2018)

If the castings arent cracked it's probably all able to be salvaged. Might be worth someone's time for a startup on a budget. I hate to see folks ruin equipment just because they don't know, or don't care, what it is.  Happens with a lot of "estate" situations.


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## mws (Jun 11, 2018)

I have to share this story on surplus equipment:
I have a relative that works for a large government contractor. They used to auction off all the surplus tools and materials periodically. Win-win right? 
It seems that someone got the idea that if they ordered a little more they'd build a surplus of unused (premium) goods. Then, take a kickback from a willing bidder for info on the high bid and on what pallet was buried the primo goods.  Higher ups figured this out. Long story short... everything leftover now gets cut-up, crushed and is under guard until the dumpster gets hauled away.  Shameful waste.


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## cjtoombs (Jun 11, 2018)

mws said:


> I have to share this story on surplus equipment:
> I have a relative that works for a large government contractor. They used to auction off all the surplus tools and materials periodically. Win-win right?
> It seems that someone got the idea that if they ordered a little more they'd build a surplus of unused (premium) goods. Then, take a kickback from a willing bidder for info on the high bid and on what pallet was buried the primo goods.  Higher ups figured this out. Long story short... everything leftover now gets cut-up, crushed and is under guard until the dumpster gets hauled away.  Shameful waste.



This happens all to often in many organizations.  Change the system to prevent fraud, but make the system worse for everyone who has to use it.  The proper response is to make an example of the perpertrators through firing and prosecution and ensure everyone in the organization knows it happened.


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## jdedmon91 (Jun 13, 2018)

cjtoombs said:


> mws said:
> 
> 
> > I have to share this story on surplus equipment:
> ...



Yes we used to get passes to take out scrap or unwanted material. They cut that out but now we could bid on items. I bid and got these fixtures from Eaton I’m fact I bid on them before I retired but had to pick them up after I retired. The material is mid way through this video. 





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ch2co (Jun 14, 2018)

I was fortunate enough to have lived in a time when state surplus depots and several local manufacturers bone yards were free to roam and pickup just about anything that I wanted for a price that was basically a handling fee. From a 5ton knuckle boom truck to microscopes and vacuum pumps to just about any shape or size pieces of stainless steel, aluminum, brass etc. that I needed for projects, saving the university tons of bucks. The way things are run today is a disgrace for our nation. Just because of the jerks that try to play the system.


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## dlane (Jun 14, 2018)

Ya , all it takes is one fool to screw it up for everyone.


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## Lordbeezer (Jun 14, 2018)

There's one in every crowd....


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