Have to vent about Craigslist...

I've had good luck buying and selling on CL.
Snagged a Sherline lathe and mill with some tooling a couple years ago for 100.
Seller was a Dr who used them for some projects 20-30 years ago and wanted them gone.
I was the first guy of many who called him and because my voicemail was the first one (4:30am) he honored that.
 
CL has been a boon for me in this area. Not so much where I used to live. Its fascinating to see differences in areas that sometimes are only hours away. Not states away. Problem for me about this area is the amount of dealers with the same old overpriced ads that cycle every couple of days making the page turn over quickly. I know you can run a filter but often those guys don't list as dealers anyway. So far the only jerks who say I've got it and then sell before we can get there have been cars. One time when trying to get a car for my son we went and looked at this car, drove it and when we got back I asked if she had any flex on the price and she said she's already gotten a deposit and the guy was coming back with the $$$ !!! I asked her so why did we just do this? and she wasn't even apologetic that she would have sold it to us if we'd offered her more! I hope the guy stiffed her. We ended up getting a better deal but it took forever. My no go pet peeve is no price, best offer and don't lo ball, I know what it's worth !?!?
 
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Ive sold a bit on the local equiv.....owned by ebay....still free...............I always say.......sold to the first with the cash.........I know all about no shows ,con artists,hold for me ,etc..........When my aged mother went,I sold her 70s car,calls in 10 mins ,gone in 15,.....flooded with emails for a month......yeah ,reckon it was too cheap.......but ,very nearly sold to the scrappies for $150,but they wouldnt give a time to come,or they would have it.
 
markba633csi said:
Bruce you are an honest guy, maybe too honest. I would have wanted to keep the 50 bucks, or at least half of it :cool:
Flakyness fee!
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Actually thought about it, but the buyer had my address . . . Turned out he was a garage mechanic and was between jobs. He was trying to scrape up the money. If he'd have told me his situation, I'd have waited a little longer. On the other hand, maybe I did him a favor so he'd have rent money instead of the Rockwell lathe.

I originally listed it for $750 which I know it was a smoking deal for a Rockwell 10x36 with a taper attachment, 4C collet closer, BXA tool post, some tool holders, 3-jaw/4-jaw and steady rest. I wanted it out of my shop to clear some space. He was supposed to pick it up in a week. I knew at the time he was light for cash and I didn't need the money for the lathe. I bought it for $25 at a school scrap sale. Replaced a few parts, stripped and painted, had about $200 into the machine. I had forgotten about a 5-gallon bucket of spare parts that came with the lathe, so took photos of those and relisted it for $1000. Sold in about an hour, picked up a day later. Probably could have gotten closer to $1500, but a home machinist in Grand Rapids got a nice lathe for a really good price that he can brag about.

Not to belabor about it (I know, too late . . .) but as nice as that Rockwell lathe was, IMO the power feed design is really crappy. The lead screw had a worm that rides on it for the power feeds, no big deal there. The power transmission for the cross and longitudinal feeds are through a brass worm gear that engages with the worm. One end of the worm gear has a conical shape on it which is pulled into a cup in the apron with a cam lever to engage the power feed. This design requires the worm gear to slide on its central axis, so it's face profile is straight, not a semi-circle to maximize the gear tooth contact surface. As a result, the brass worm gear gets worn pretty quickly when using power feeds. I had visions of a redesign with a proper worm gear with a keyed center shaft to help with the wear. But I ended up buying a G0709 lathe instead.

Bruce
 

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BGHansen said:
Actually thought about it, but the buyer had my address . . . Turned out he was a garage mechanic and was between jobs. He was trying to scrape up the money. If he'd have told me his situation, I'd have waited a little longer. On the other hand, maybe I did him a favor so he'd have rent money instead of the Rockwell lathe.

I originally listed it for $750 which I know it was a smoking deal for a Rockwell 10x36 with a taper attachment, 4C collet closer, BXA tool post, some tool holders, 3-jaw/4-jaw and steady rest. I wanted it out of my shop to clear some space. He was supposed to pick it up in a week. I knew at the time he was light for cash and I didn't need the money for the lathe. I bought it for $25 at a school scrap sale. Replaced a few parts, stripped and painted, had about $200 into the machine. I had forgotten about a 5-gallon bucket of spare parts that came with the lathe, so took photos of those and relisted it for $1000. Sold in about an hour, picked up a day later. Probably could have gotten closer to $1500, but a home machinist in Grand Rapids got a nice lathe for a really good price that he can brag about.

Not to belabor about it (I know, too late . . .) but as nice as that Rockwell lathe was, IMO the power feed design is really crappy. The lead screw had a worm that rides on it for the power feeds, no big deal there. The power transmission for the cross and longitudinal feeds are through a brass worm gear that engages with the worm. One end of the worm gear has a conical shape on it which is pulled into a cup in the apron with a cam lever to engage the power feed. This design requires the worm gear to slide on its central axis, so it's face profile is straight, not a semi-circle to maximize the gear tooth contact surface. As a result, the brass worm gear gets worn pretty quickly when using power feeds. I had visions of a redesign with a proper worm gear with a keyed center shaft to help with the wear. But I ended up buying a G0709 lathe instead.

Bruce
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You are a rare breed Bruce. Like Ulma Doctor mentioned I make sure I do my homework too. Not just looking eBay for prices, but for completed prices, what the things really sold for and possible problems. And when I see something on CL that is a smokin deal like that lathe I always think if something it too good to be true it almost always is. But there are those rare folks who have gotten their use out of it and just want it gone. All too often I see folks trying to gouge the unwary pricing knockoffs for original prices often more than the thing originally sold for years or often decades ago.
 
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It's getting harder and harder to find those good deals, with Ebay everyone is hyper-aware of prices to the penny.
I guess you paid it forward Bruce, several bonus points earned :)
 
markba633csi said:
It's getting harder and harder to find those good deals, with Ebay everyone is hyper-aware of prices to the penny.
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Doesn't it seem like the machinery dealers there add quite a few extra pennies to their prices? I've only been shopping for machinery there for a month or so, so, if not, maybe my sample size isn't large enough...
 
Around here the used machinery dealers only offer selection, not particularly good deals. And it fluctuates pretty wildly. Right now there are some good deals on machines that I'd be interested in which is the range of machines that are bigger than the mini's. Like 10x30 lathes and RF45 mill/drill. That range of machines has been priced pretty stupid for a year or two. Not sure if it's them looking at other stupid prices to get their price or going by similar new price which has been bumped up because of the silly tariff wars. Just takes a lot of patience.
 
Bill_729 said:
Doesn't it seem like the machinery dealers there add quite a few extra pennies to their prices? I've only been shopping for machinery there for a month or so, so, if not, maybe my sample size isn't large enough...
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I've been keeping an eye on shaper prices for quite some time, and there are some dealers who put them on ebay with outrageous prices. Some of them have been on there for years. I think they have a thought that they are worth the price of a milling machine of equivalent size, when in fact the bigger they are the less they are worth.
 
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