someone offered to buy my Craftsman lathe

[ARC-170]

Someone offered to buy my Craftsman 101. 07403 lathe. I texted him one picture. What should I ask for it? I want to make him a reasonable offer that I can't refuse. Comes with 3 and 4 jaw chucks, live and dead centers and some other misc tooling. The bearings need lube and the machine is dirty, but otherwise it seems to have been gently used.
I don't need to sell it; I just bought it! But I wouldn't mind selling it for the right price and getting something a little newer.

Thoughts?

 

[Ulma Doctor]

$600

 

[mickri]

First of all you don't want to bid against yourself. Since you were approached the buyer should make the first offer. I would ask what he is offering before I would give a price. If he is not willing to do that he is not a serious buyer. He will be willing to pay more than his original offer. Then based on his offer I would counter. And just because you purchased your lathe at a very good price doesn't mean that you should sell for a cheap price. Another thing to consider is what do you want to replace it with. What will that cost you. How long will you have to search to find the replacement. What repairs might the replacement need that your current lathe doesn't need. Just because the replacement may be newer doesn't mean that it will be in better condition.

From what I recall your current lathe came with a fair amount of chucks and other stuff and is just lacking change gears. Change gears are not expensive compared to chucks, etc. Your current lathe is in very good condition and will give you years of service in a home shop environment. You will never wear it out.

Often the bird in the hand is better than the unseen birds in the bushes on the other side of the fence.

 

[ARC-170]

First of all you don't want to bid against yourself. Since you were approached the buyer should make the first offer. I would ask what he is offering before I would give a price. If he is not willing to do that he is not a serious buyer. He will be willing to pay more than his original offer. Then based on his offer I would counter. And just because you purchased your lathe at a very good price doesn't mean that you should sell for a cheap price. Another thing to consider is what do you want to replace it with. What will that cost you. How long will you have to search to find the replacement. What repairs might the replacement need that your current lathe doesn't need. Just because the replacement may be newer doesn't mean that it will be in better condition.

From what I recall your current lathe came with a fair amount of chucks and other stuff and is just lacking change gears. Change gears are not expensive compared to chucks, etc. Your current lathe is in very good condition and will give you years of service in a home shop environment. You will never wear it out.

Often the bird in the hand is better than the unseen birds in the bushes on the other side of the fence.

All good points! I thought the exact same thing! But, I thought I'd see what it was worth. If I make a little money on it I can plow that into a "better" machine. That said, I think I have a pretty good one that will be fun to restore and relatively inexpensive (compared to a new, "better" one) to get running. I put "better" in quotes because better is debatable/arguable.
I texted the buyer and asked him to make me an offer. He's probably reading this forum! Ha!

 

[westsailpat]

I vote keep it , paint it gray . Get running , with those stock legs it could be a show piece . A while back a guy was selling a pair of those legs for $400. , I think he sold them . If you must sell the machine (I can't believe I'm going to say this) and you want to maximize profit IMO you should sell the legs separate .

 

[ARC-170]

I vote keep it , paint it gray . Get running , with those stock legs it could be a show piece . A while back a guy was selling a pair of those legs for $400. , I think he sold them . If you must sell the machine (I can't believe I'm going to say this) and you want to maximize profit IMO you should sell the legs separate .

Funny you mention the legs; when I bought the machine, the seller told me some guy sold the same set of legs for $400. IF I decide to sell (I'm strongly leaning toward not selling), I'd probably try to sell them separate for the reason you state.

My machine is an aqua green color. Anyone know anything about the various colors of these machines? I've seen gray, red, green, aqua green, what looked like bare metal...

 

[wa5cab]

Except for the later 10100 and 10200 (MK-II 6"), the Atlas badged machines from start to finish came in only two colors, dark machinery gray and machinery gray. The Craftsman ones came in all of the colors you've mentioned except maybe bare metal and I think red, plus one year they were gold, And I think some shaes of blue. I don't know of anyone ever attempting to date the colors. For one thing, I suspect that they may have cycled through all of those colors.

 

[ARC-170]

Except for the later 10100 and 10200 (MK-II 6"), the Atlas badged machines from start to finish came in only two colors, dark machinery gray and machinery gray. The Craftsman ones came in all of the colors you've mentioned except maybe bare metal and I think red, plus one year they were gold, And I think some shaes of blue. I don't know of anyone ever attempting to date the colors. For one thing, I suspect that they may have cycled through all of those colors.

What kind of paint was it? Brush-on, spray, water-based, lacquer... Mine is in pretty good shape, but I may want to touch it up. I seriously doubt I will find a rattle can that matches, but I might be able to mix some up if I know what type of paint it is. Is there a color spec, or other color info? For example, what exactly is "machinery gray"? Is there some book that has this exact color? Just curious.

 

[ARC-170]

I vote keep it , paint it gray . Get running , with those stock legs it could be a show piece . A while back a guy was selling a pair of those legs for $400. , I think he sold them . If you must sell the machine (I can't believe I'm going to say this) and you want to maximize profit IMO you should sell the legs separate .

What, you don't like the aqua?

 

[mickri]

Take a small piece into an automotive paint supplier and have them scan it. They can give you an exact match on the paint color. A local auto body shop might also be able to match it.