- Joined
- Apr 14, 2014
- Messages
- 3,156
I think you not only need to broaden your physical search area, but also the brands and sizes of machines you are looking for. The ones you've mentioned so far are at the top of every hobby machinists list and therefore are harder to find and more expensive.
Personally when looking for a certain type of machine first on my list is condition, second is price, and third is location. Most of the machines in my shop are not the most recognizable brands, but they are all in excellent condition, and have needed few if any repairs or improvements over the years. I looked for over 2 years for a vertical mill before finding one that was acceptable. Originally I was looking for a Tree brand machine. We had several at work and they worked day in and day out with almost no problems whatsoever. During that time I found several machines, but like you I found them to be either too expensive, or in such poor shape they would cost more to refurbish than I was willing to spend.
At a little over the 2 year mark I ran across a Bridgeport J2J. It was way down on my list of machines, but was in good shape at a good price. I made the leap and have never looked back. In the 20 or so years I've had the machine I haven't had to put $500.00 into it for repairs or upgrades. I've probably spent triple that amount or more on tooling. The truth be known I probably have more money in tooling than the machine itself.
Other machines in the shop include a Startrite H175 horizontal bandsaw, a Sanford MG surface grinder, a Seneca Falls Star #20 lathe, a US Machine Tools horizontal mill, a Racine 66W2 power hacksaw, and a Sheldon MW-56-P lathe. There are many other machines in the shop, but very few people are interested in or have ever heard of most of these brands of machine tools. As such they were in excellent condition and came at bargain prices.
Like you I have my shop in the basement. Each and every one of the machines were disassembled in the garage, cleaned, hauled down the stairs piece by piece, and reassembled. The only 2 machines that required any assistance were the Sheldon Lathe and the Bridgeport mill. The column on the mill weighs a bit over 1,000 lbs., and the headstock cabinet for the Sheldon weighs about the same. I hired a local moving company to take those 2 pieces from the garage, through the house, and down the stairs to the shop. Other than that I carried everything else over the same path by myself using an appliance dolly.
I helps a lot to establish a network within the machining community when looking for machines. You might want to visit a few small shops in your area and tell them what you're looking for. Leave them a business card. Over time it's possible they or someone they know will be interested in selling a machine. Most machines coming out of small shops aren't something high production shops would be interested. As such most of these machines go to the hobbyists, or scrappers.
I forgot to mention in my previous post another good source for machine tools is government or military auctions.
Personally when looking for a certain type of machine first on my list is condition, second is price, and third is location. Most of the machines in my shop are not the most recognizable brands, but they are all in excellent condition, and have needed few if any repairs or improvements over the years. I looked for over 2 years for a vertical mill before finding one that was acceptable. Originally I was looking for a Tree brand machine. We had several at work and they worked day in and day out with almost no problems whatsoever. During that time I found several machines, but like you I found them to be either too expensive, or in such poor shape they would cost more to refurbish than I was willing to spend.
At a little over the 2 year mark I ran across a Bridgeport J2J. It was way down on my list of machines, but was in good shape at a good price. I made the leap and have never looked back. In the 20 or so years I've had the machine I haven't had to put $500.00 into it for repairs or upgrades. I've probably spent triple that amount or more on tooling. The truth be known I probably have more money in tooling than the machine itself.
Other machines in the shop include a Startrite H175 horizontal bandsaw, a Sanford MG surface grinder, a Seneca Falls Star #20 lathe, a US Machine Tools horizontal mill, a Racine 66W2 power hacksaw, and a Sheldon MW-56-P lathe. There are many other machines in the shop, but very few people are interested in or have ever heard of most of these brands of machine tools. As such they were in excellent condition and came at bargain prices.
Like you I have my shop in the basement. Each and every one of the machines were disassembled in the garage, cleaned, hauled down the stairs piece by piece, and reassembled. The only 2 machines that required any assistance were the Sheldon Lathe and the Bridgeport mill. The column on the mill weighs a bit over 1,000 lbs., and the headstock cabinet for the Sheldon weighs about the same. I hired a local moving company to take those 2 pieces from the garage, through the house, and down the stairs to the shop. Other than that I carried everything else over the same path by myself using an appliance dolly.
I helps a lot to establish a network within the machining community when looking for machines. You might want to visit a few small shops in your area and tell them what you're looking for. Leave them a business card. Over time it's possible they or someone they know will be interested in selling a machine. Most machines coming out of small shops aren't something high production shops would be interested. As such most of these machines go to the hobbyists, or scrappers.
I forgot to mention in my previous post another good source for machine tools is government or military auctions.
