Used machines in Long Island, NY?

I'm looking to buy a used lathe and possibly a mill. I live in Long Island NY, and was wondering if anyone knew of any reputable people selling used machines. I know there is someone in Farmingdale, but cant seem to find his location. Any help would be appreciated!!

john

Meridian (Dave Ficken) used to be in NY somewhere but was moving to Pennsylvania. He's been conservative in descriptions of the small stuff I've bought from him and he's one of the few dealers I'd buy something like a lathe from without being able to look at it. It wouldn't hurt to ask if he's willing to deliver to NY.

His web site is at:

http://www.mermac.com/

Mike, near Chicago

Machinery Values used to be in Hicksville but now they are across the river in Harrison NJ. They have a website with all there stuff www.machineryvalues.com I have dealt with them in the past and have good dealings. A little further away in is Action Machinery (www.actionmachinery.com) in Bethlehem PA. I am going there on the 3rd to look a CNC machines. I will let you know how the trip goes. You will want to check out www.wantaddigest.com This is a real good want ad paper here in New York. There are usually quite a few machines located in the lower hudson valley. If you do not have much experience with machines you will want to take someone with you that is knowlegable. Make sure that you can try out the machine. Don't be afraid to take some material with you to make some test cuts.

Take care
ARB

Update on the trip to Action Machinery. Those of you that live in the northeast know what a wonderful day it turned out to be on friday the 3rd. Well we left the house here in uspstate New York at 6:00 Am with light snow falling. We made our way to Action by 10:30 AM. Tom Khoury the owner made us feel right at home and as promised had 4 machines wired and ready for me to inspect. Their machinery seems to be of above average quality and very clean but not "cleaned". Their facility is first rate all the way and I would recomend that anyone interested in used machinery check them out. As for the rest of the day we had to make 2 more stops and by the time we made it back home at 1:00 AM on Saturday we had covered 700 miles in one of the bigger snow storms in quite a while. It was quite the adventure.

Take Care

ARB

u still looking?????

you can also try Sobel machinery in Closter
NJ,Dave Sobel is the owner and is a trip to deal with,lathes in the 6 to 10 inch range is his speciality,and has parts and tooling,of all shapes and descriptions,he is definatley one of the last of the
""old man who knows his s$%#"",you have to see the place to believe it,small and jam packed with all of the goodies that 35 years of auctions have to offer.

good luck

Tino

I like Dave. He can be a bit crusty at first, but if he decides your not a total idiot, he'll bend your ear a bit. Once I started talking wooden boats to him he lightened up. Great place to go browsing for tooling on a Staturday AM. Also, a while back (2+years?)he had a bunch of new aftermarket crossfeed screws (telescopic taper type) for 9" and 10" Southbends, plus nuts, for a reaosnable price as compared to what South Bend wanted. I've never been able to haggle very much with him though.

[This message has been edited by BillSct (edited 03-21-2003).]

Go see Dave Sobel......It's worth the trip....he's got some really neat stuff in there however the best of he likes to keep for himself....don't we all...can't blame him for that

All of the places that have been mentioned above are excellent. Especially Sobel!

If you are willing to drive a little bit, I have a number of machines for sale that might fit your bill. I don't know how far out you are on Long Island, but I am located in Wallingford, CT. Its about 10 minutes north of New Haven. I have a number of lathes that range from 10" up to 16". I also have a whole host of Bridgeports and a bunch of surface grinders.

E-mail me with what you need and I can try to help you out. [email protected]

Chuck

I am upstate, Syracuse, and have a alot in stock.

Allen Blvd. off route 110 north sspkwy on left like 5 properties, forgot name

I notice a mention of machinery values in nj. I talked with them about several machines... the guy in charge of the tool room equipment is a horses butt....his prices are as high as you will see...he is arogant, and rude.....I simply asked if he was negotiable on a 25 year old drill press that he wanted $1800 for...BEFORE i drove all the way from CT to look at it..his respon was

"what you want to pay $100 for it!!!!!".........does anyone else hear interpret a question like "are you negotiable".........the same way!!!!!......even when the market has fallen through the floor and machines sitting on the floor have lost half their value in 2 years...he asks top dollar and it rude........go figure......good luck.....I know a few dealers in CT........if you still need sources let me know....bob

"what you want to pay $100 for it!!!!!".........does anyone else hear interpret a question like "are you negotiable".........the same way!!!!!......even when the market has fallen through the floor and machines sitting on the floor have lost half their value in 2 years...he asks top dollar and it rude........go figure......good luck.....I know a few dealers in CT........if you still need sources let me know....bob"

Bob, I too think they're high in price, but none the less I really have been meaning to make a trip there. Especially since it is on the way to the college I'll be attending next year. However, I think that you probablly are not the type of customer that they want to deal with. It seems to me, they have every type of machine under the sun, and the customer they want is the one who needs the machine tomorrow to make a product and make money. An ok import will run you close to $1800, and depending on the machine, the old American iron'll probablly last longer. Us little hobbiests and even many small machine shops probablly aren't worth their time . None the less, the idea of visiting what equates to a living museam/catalog of some of the finest American iron ever made still impresses me, and since I'll pass by it alot in the next four years I've just ought to be in there atleast once. Anyone else here ever visted there?

Adam

adamill....its always good to get into as many places as possible. If they were a little closer I would have made the trip any way.....because I can bite my tounge to get what I want or need....our shop has bought 4 machines in the last year....and 3 years ago I offered 10 machines out of our shop to him......he offered about 1/4 of what i eventually got...but hey I m not offended, yet....If i need him and its in my interest I'll be there....but I think he is a jerk of a buisnessman....I bought the same mosle clausing drill from a CT dealer as he had....his were fair to good condition just in description....and he was asking the same price as what I bought in mint condition....plus the machine I did buy was a 1995....about 18 years NEWER than his models.....I told him I was interested inthe drill and a surface grinder when i talked to hi, but wanted to see the drill right away....the grinder was in the budget for the next quarter.....hey...keep sitting on your iron, buddy....is all I can say......since i have seen 2 new to me dealers and I am treated like a royal ambassador...not that I think I need to be.......enjoy.....bob

Hey Adam, i went to machinery values. I 've been to many dealers. I can't say their "tour" was a highlight. I bought a small sensitive drillpress from them on ebay. Not much to remember, lots of stuff really crowded, their specialty however is not really stuff that interests me- they just do not have a huge selection of what I consider sexy machines- lots of big things that you have no idea what they do. They are too big for me and it was pretty damn crowded, dirty, and packed in.

The most impressive part of the trip was upon leaving. Earlier I had noticed but not grasped many twisted steel plates in the parking lot. As I was leaving I realized they were Richard Serra's "Torqued Elipses". Serra is an artist I have admired for some time and seeing his sculptures in an industrial environment was a very cool thing. I believe they are now housed up at the new Dia center of the arts in Beacon, NY- a museum built from an old nabisco factory.

Perhaps the coolest dealer I have been to in recent years is gallery of machines in marathon NY- I helped a friend pick up a woodworking planer he had bought. they are actively rebuilding machines to tight tolerances and that is a cool thing to witness. Other than that I would rather go to an acution and see machines in situ- much more interesting than dealers.

As luck would have it, and since my words do not really do my stories justice..... Ihad my digital camera at mv, so here are a couple of pics. also The galleryofmachines.com website is a good look into what they do.

enjoy- pete.

Hey Don, check out the building....


Parts of Richard Serra's sculpture- i believe it is 2" thick plate

Pete, is that what MV actually looks like, or is the photo distorted ? Just that the building looks narrower than I would have expected...or is it just that the ceiling height is insanely high ? (ex Zepplin hangar ??)

And is that the only building or do they have multiple buildings on same property ?

Do they make any attempt to heat the place ?

Hey Don, not too much distortion- shot from the second floor parapet looking down. That is one bay of a building with a number of bays- the building is behind the sculptures in the second photo. The scale of the sculptures may be deceiving- look at the jersey barrier in front of them- they are big pieces of steel.

That was the only building I made it into. I didn't know if there wee more or what. I seem to remember a manufacturing operation in the same building, perhaps the place that made the sculptures- I heard that there were not many slip rolls in the country big enough to build them.

I can't remember about the heat part, it was a long time ago i chcked my ebay feedback and it was february of 2001. I remember the office was a second building and impressive as well.

I looked for more pics but i guess i wasn't snap happy that day, didn't even know where i was going- what to expect- small time dealer or what. they had one person selling odds and ends on ebay at the time under the badge we-sell-surplus, couldn't tell exactly how he was affiliated with them- said he was only there a couple days a week, and now seems to be running his own ebay operation elsewhere.

sorry I don't have more, but if I ever go again, I will certainly be more prepared for my full report.

Pete

I uploaded a bigger version of the pic so anyone interested can hunt through some details

http://www.peterharrison.com/ebay/mvalueslarge.jpg