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.
That is brand new. So if they can replace the old with something so cheap, it follows the second hand items also get much cheaper. But they typically more work to keep going and to be accurate (if your taking +- 0.01mm). And space is the hard part for most people. The new stuff tends to have a smaller footprint for a given working volume, or can do the work of several machines. But not always.
I am a physics/programmer as well. I got a manual mill and lathe for 2k NZD (about 1200USD) back 10 years ago. I was
I suck at welding too, although I think my 1960s MIG welder is partly to blame. Or at least that's my excuse;) And I have to admit that I too have some amateur rocket concepts myself that I'm really itching to try, though I need to retire a few existing projects first. I've got one rocket concept that I'm working on simulating in OpenFOAM involving a caseless LOX/aluminum/paraffin/polyurethane rocket that burns itself up in its entirity. First the channels of open-cell polyurethane foam saturated with L
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.
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.
It probably wasn't CNC and if it was being scrapped it probably wasn't even DRO equipped either. Not to say it wasn't a good, solid machine, but it was probably large, heavy and awkward to use. That said, CNC retrofits are available for old mills, though they're not cheap. Probably worth it if you've got
This may make you want to hit me. I understand. Let me see if I can type this out properly.
Last spring, I bought an Axiom AutoRoute Pro (8 - I think?) along with the stand and a bunch of stuff to go with it. It's still sitting in its crate with a bunch of boxes of stuff that goes along with it. It comes with a stand, a giant tool box, and a bunch of other stuff.
I understand that there's a kit to do laser cutting and engraving and I think I might have that with it - I've never opened it. I seem to recall tha
I still have to work hard to restrain myself from buying stuff like that. I nearly got myself a $3500 Boxzy.com CNC/3d-printer/laser-engraver, but managed to resist and instead just bought some more cheap electronics project stuff (total ~$100).
Not sure why/what changed in me/life but I don't remember this urge to buy stuff to do projects in the past. In the past I had more time and less money I guess, so I just did the projects I could afford to do, rather than spending small amounts of time and large amo
Yeah, I got extremely lucky and was able to retire at about the age of 50. It's almost as if, "Hey! I couldn't do this when I was a kid! I want this toy, I promise I'll use it!"
They say that when you have the time you don't have the money and when you have the money you don't have the time. Except, well, I have both the time and the money and there doesn't appear to be an adage for that. I'm not sure what happened - I went from being a "maker" (when such wasn't a thing and the resources were far more diffic
That sounds great but I live in a town with 0 kids. I don't even live in a town - I'm in an unincorporated township, about 24 miles from a small village. The village does have a school and I provide them with lots of goodies. They're cute little buggers and invite me to their plays, concerts, and games. In return, well, I've outfitted the entire school with iPads, netbooks before that, and will probably do the Macbook next time around. (Apple gives a pretty decent discount - I've interacted with them before
The fancy is indeed no other than a mode of memory emancipated from the order
of space and time. -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Hmm (Score:0)
Re:Hmm (Score:0)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:3)
My problem is space. My last mill and lathe was in the inlaws garage which is now full of junk.
Re: (Score:2)
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: (Score:0)
That is brand new. So if they can replace the old with something so cheap, it follows the second hand items also get much cheaper. But they typically more work to keep going and to be accurate (if your taking +- 0.01mm). And space is the hard part for most people. The new stuff tends to have a smaller footprint for a given working volume, or can do the work of several machines. But not always.
I am a physics/programmer as well. I got a manual mill and lathe for 2k NZD (about 1200USD) back 10 years ago. I was
Re: (Score:3)
I suck at welding too, although I think my 1960s MIG welder is partly to blame. Or at least that's my excuse ;) And I have to admit that I too have some amateur rocket concepts myself that I'm really itching to try, though I need to retire a few existing projects first. I've got one rocket concept that I'm working on simulating in OpenFOAM involving a caseless LOX/aluminum/paraffin/polyurethane rocket that burns itself up in its entirity. First the channels of open-cell polyurethane foam saturated with L
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: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
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.
It probably wasn't CNC and if it was being scrapped it probably wasn't even DRO equipped either. Not to say it wasn't a good, solid machine, but it was probably large, heavy and awkward to use. That said, CNC retrofits are available for old mills, though they're not cheap. Probably worth it if you've got
Re: (Score:1)
This may make you want to hit me. I understand. Let me see if I can type this out properly.
Last spring, I bought an Axiom AutoRoute Pro (8 - I think?) along with the stand and a bunch of stuff to go with it. It's still sitting in its crate with a bunch of boxes of stuff that goes along with it. It comes with a stand, a giant tool box, and a bunch of other stuff.
I understand that there's a kit to do laser cutting and engraving and I think I might have that with it - I've never opened it. I seem to recall tha
Re: (Score:2)
I still have to work hard to restrain myself from buying stuff like that. I nearly got myself a $3500 Boxzy.com CNC/3d-printer/laser-engraver, but managed to resist and instead just bought some more cheap electronics project stuff (total ~$100).
Not sure why/what changed in me/life but I don't remember this urge to buy stuff to do projects in the past. In the past I had more time and less money I guess, so I just did the projects I could afford to do, rather than spending small amounts of time and large amo
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah, I got extremely lucky and was able to retire at about the age of 50. It's almost as if, "Hey! I couldn't do this when I was a kid! I want this toy, I promise I'll use it!"
They say that when you have the time you don't have the money and when you have the money you don't have the time. Except, well, I have both the time and the money and there doesn't appear to be an adage for that. I'm not sure what happened - I went from being a "maker" (when such wasn't a thing and the resources were far more diffic
Re: (Score:2)
If you are looking for something fulfilling to do, you might think about setting your shop up as a maker space to help educate disadvantaged kids...
Re: (Score:1)
That sounds great but I live in a town with 0 kids. I don't even live in a town - I'm in an unincorporated township, about 24 miles from a small village. The village does have a school and I provide them with lots of goodies. They're cute little buggers and invite me to their plays, concerts, and games. In return, well, I've outfitted the entire school with iPads, netbooks before that, and will probably do the Macbook next time around. (Apple gives a pretty decent discount - I've interacted with them before