Groton Size No. 3-Z Pantograph

T

toolman_ar

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Today I found a shop full of stuff for sale.

When I asked the guy how much he said... don't know. The shop was his dads and he passed at age 85, 5 years ago. He and his brother are now trying to sell off his equipment.

So my question today is... how much is a Groton 3-Z worth?

There is a cabinet full of faunt for with the machine and cool little collets and other things that go with it.

I want to be fair and not give them a low ball offer, but I also don't have room for the little guy.

Please educate me on Pantographs...

toolman_arGroton 3V.jpg Groton name badge.jpg Cincinati T&G.jpg
 
I doubt that the 3-Z is worth very much, but the fonts go for between $75 and $125 roughly, on e bay, depending what they are so far as rarity. The 3-U is the most common and is desirable because it is smaller and does not take up much space. I think the 3-Z is more of a die sinking machine with much larger capacity and power; I don't think I'd offer more than a few hundred dollars for it.
The cutter grinder is another matter entirely; they were designed for radius work and are desirable; I would advise you to Google the model designation and look at used machinery listings to get an idea about value, bearing in mind that asking prices are one thing and selling (buying) can be quite another.
 
This machine is called the Monoset type or model; I could not remember that when I responded above. I think that they also generate spirals.
 
Benmychree,
Thank you for the information!

I like the grinder also, after looking around a bit, they go for big money.

toolman_ar
 
IMG_4040.JPG New tool followed me home today.

The book says this has a weight of 1200 lbs. I believe it was much more.

Came with a fair amount of tooling.

toolman_ar
 
Congratulations! I have two 3-U engravers, would like to have one of each thing they made! ---- I'd like to sell one of the two that I have, bought it just for the accessories that came with it.
york@napanet.net
 
Benmychree,
I still need to unload all the tooling from my truck.

Lots of cool stuff! Including factory manuals and service book. I will post some pictures.

Maybe you can explain some of the items...

I think this will be a fun new tool. Already dreaming of things to make.

toolman_ar
 
I've got a 3U without a table and no fonts.
If anyone has duplicates you'd like to sell or trade for??
Please let me know.

Daryl
MN
 
The Gortons are very heavy duty machines and as benmychree suggested above, many were used for die sinking and mold making in the pre-CNC era. It can be difficult to wrap your head around the capabilities of these machines as they're quite specialized and (in my experience) the full scope of said capabilities involved a lot of tribal knowledge that may be a bit difficult to tap into nowadays. Just for reference, here's a P1-2 for sale fairly close to me listed for $500. Definitely needs some TLC, but I would've already bought it if I had the floorspace: https://bloomington.craigslist.org/tls/6198793080.html
 
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