Score or Mistake?

[vocatexas]

I've had what I think is a deal fall in my lap, but I'm a bit hesitant. Just looking for a little input...

A guy I know inherited a bunch of stuff when his step-dad passed away a few years ago. It's been sitting in storage ever since. There is a Clausing variable speed drill press missing the variable speed parts. They may be in there somewhere. A sixty gallon Craftsman air compressor, an OLD Craftsman roll-around stack, an OLD Proto roll-around stack, a very large Lista cabinet, a drawer-type parts bin with either 24 or 30 drawers, three Kennedy mid- and top-boxes, a couple of old Snap-on mid-boxes, at least two more metal nut and bolt bins, several metal boxes full of nuts and bolts, two Makita chop saws, and I don't know how many electric hand drills, angle grinders, and other assorted power tools. All of the tool boxes are full of tooling and hand tools. All the parts bins are full of bolts, nuts, washers, pins, etc. There are drill bits up to MT 4 2 inch, reamers, a few Aloris style tool holders, HSS tooling, taps, dies, etc. I'm not into wood-working, but there is also some woodworking equipment there, including an fairly large old Delta table saw and at least two circular saws.

Apparently the step-dad had a pretty decent sized lathe. I think the tool holders are C size, which would work when I get my Lodge and Shipley going. Some of the HSS tooling is 3/4.

I originally just wanted to buy the tool boxes for storage, but now the guy says he wants to sell the whole shebang as a package. All this stuff fills a 10x20 storage unit well over half full. I know it's kind of hard to say without seeing it, but from my description, would anybody say 3k would be a decent deal? I know the Clausing, were it complete, is worth over 1k from what I've seen on Ebay.

 

[Technical Ted]

What I would do in this situation is take a notepad and look everything over making an inventory of the big ticket items (and rough content). Then, go home and do some searching, maybe eBay, and see what the stuff is bringing. On eBay, you can just search on past sales so you can get some actual, as sold, prices. List a rough cost for each of the items on your inventory list and add them up.

This is the best way I know of on how to deal with a big lot of items.

Good luck and have fun!
Ted

 

[brino]

Good advice from Tom above.

other thoughts:
-do you need a "project" drill press?
-be wary if the compressor tank is "old" too........maybe a fluid pressure test is in order?

I would say $3k is a fair deal, if you need more than half the stuff....or there is one "gem" in there you cannot forget about.
Otherwise, it is just a big project to photograph, list, sell, etc.

I originally just wanted to buy the tool boxes for storage

If you do buy it all, you still don't get extra storage........

-brino

 

[mattthemuppet2]

If you feel like that's a good price I'd say go for it. Add a 3ph motor and VFD for the drill press and that'll last you forever. For the tooling and the like, I'd spend some time sorting and cataloging it, then put what you don't want/ need on eBay to make some of your money back. It's more work that way, but if you don't mind doing it I find it a lot of fun.

On a smaller scale I bought an arbor press and a bunch of bits'n'pieces a few weeks ago - just selling a couple of face plates from that paid for all of it and put some money towards the bills. I don't think you're going to get rich off of it, but you'll get an awesome tooling/ storage set up and you'll probably make enough that the final bill is pretty low. If you do get it and are ever down in SA, I'd be happy lighten your load a little

 

[middle.road]

Sounds like the boxes chests, and cabinets might make up the bulk of your estimate.
There's going be some gems hiding in the nooks it sounds like.
Any chance of posting some picts?

 

[4ssss]

Here's what you have to ask yourself.

Is the stuff I need from the pile worth the price and then the hassle of selling the rest of it?

 

[cg285]

sounds like someone else's old Stuff to me. nowhere near 3k in my opinion