Darn shame

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 :)
 
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 ?.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. :eek: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. o_O
 
How much for the Surface Grinder and can you load?
 
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