This isn't a joke, some places used equipment will go for parts or nearly for free because shops need the room and demand is low. Someone with access to a truck and forklift can get full sized machines for under a thousand or for free, because a shop doesn't want to pay to haul something away.
My company sold a pretty nice knee mill for scrap which was only a few hundred. We also scrapped a few hundred pounds of tooling like chucks, vices and other holding tools. Sad day.
Seriously? Wow, I should add CNC machines to my bland.is (Icelandic craigslist/ebay) search list. I've always thought it'd be great to own one but the price tag for a new system has always been astronomical.
Prices of even new CNC mills and lathes has recently (last 10 years) come down massively. 20-30k can get a decent small working volume machine new these days. Even the extras, like end mills are way cheaper now. It is already at the point where it can be cheaper to get your own for small volume rather than outsource it to machine shops. Assuming you have the in house expertise.
My problem is space. My last mill and lathe was in the inlaws garage which is now full of junk.
There's a big difference betseen $20-30k (which I don't have) and a few hundred dollars + a pickup (which I do have).;) I don't have personal experience with CNC mills but I am the sort of person who regularly takes up projects building / modifying things (often metal) by hand, and I'm a programmer, so given the two I doubt I'd have trouble learning.
If it fits in a pickup truck, you're not getting it for free and probably not cheap. The whole reason some machines go cheap is they are hard to move, and not worth the cost of paying someone to move them. The emphasis of the other poster should be on the forklift part, or a truck with a serious liftgate. Loading and unloading is the hard part, plus it helps to have some experience with rigging. The easier stuff otherwise involves competition from a scrap dealer and used equipment places.
I can a get a 15 ton (metric) truck with crane from anywhere in this city to anywhere else for about $500, including pickup and delivery. The problem is here is not moving it. It is the space on the factory floor.
Hmm (Score:0)
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Sadly the used CNC market isn't that great.
Re: Hmm (Score:0)
This isn't a joke, some places used equipment will go for parts or nearly for free because shops need the room and demand is low. Someone with access to a truck and forklift can get full sized machines for under a thousand or for free, because a shop doesn't want to pay to haul something away.
Re: Hmm (Score:2)
My company sold a pretty nice knee mill for scrap which was only a few hundred. We also scrapped a few hundred pounds of tooling like chucks, vices and other holding tools. Sad day.
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Seriously? Wow, I should add CNC machines to my bland.is (Icelandic craigslist/ebay) search list. I've always thought it'd be great to own one but the price tag for a new system has always been astronomical.
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My problem is space. My last mill and lathe was in the inlaws garage which is now full of junk.
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There's a big difference betseen $20-30k (which I don't have) and a few hundred dollars + a pickup (which I do have). ;) I don't have personal experience with CNC mills but I am the sort of person who regularly takes up projects building / modifying things (often metal) by hand, and I'm a programmer, so given the two I doubt I'd have trouble learning.
Re: Hmm (Score:0)
If it fits in a pickup truck, you're not getting it for free and probably not cheap. The whole reason some machines go cheap is they are hard to move, and not worth the cost of paying someone to move them. The emphasis of the other poster should be on the forklift part, or a truck with a serious liftgate. Loading and unloading is the hard part, plus it helps to have some experience with rigging. The easier stuff otherwise involves competition from a scrap dealer and used equipment places.
Re: Hmm (Score:2)