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Considering either a LU15-M or LU-15. Thoughts pls

sophtayl

Cast Iron
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Location
Thirlmere, NSW, Australia
Hi all,

I recently visited an auction with around 90 cnc lathes up for sale. Im looking for something with a tailstock and at least 350mm z.

Note I have not operated a cnc lathe so learning as I go.

I had a look at the mazaks and a lot of them would not power up and had looked like they had reasonably worked hard.

I then looked at several Okumas.

A couple were 1997 LU15, and a couple were 1997LU 15-M. Both with the OSP7000L control

These machines appeared to be in good condition and the controls powered up and were able to get things that werent interlocked to move.

The machines were mainly used for finishing at a gear manufacturer.

The LU15-M's have a floating chuck and centre (I think thats the correct term- basically the jaws wont centre without a centre in the chuck. Think turning between centres with jaws used only to clamp part to rotate, similar to a lathe dog) which means either buying a std chuck or pre-opping in my manual lathe to face and centre drill which defeats the purpose. The LU15's have a std 3 jaw.

I understand the LU15-Ms are live tooling... not sure I have a need at tge momeny but might be useful down the track

The machines got passed in at auction but I have the opportunity to make an offer that meets the reserve price place admin and removal fee.

Can anyone advise on pros and cons of either machine or controller?

For context, I run an old manual lathe and mill, along with a mazak VQC20/50B mill that I mainly use Cam to drip feed (mostly various 3D surfaces and unique shapes)

Goal is produce small to medium scale production for motorsport industries. Materials will be aluminium, steel and SS. Aiming for quality parts with consistent repeatability and surfaces...

For those in australia, what do you figure is a reasonable value of these machines?

Cheers

Mick


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A quick search turned up an LU15-M having sold for around 20k in a Grays auction a while back.

I was considering picking up a CNC lathe from this auction as well, but too much going on at the time to manage an inspection or to go pick it up. Couldn't say what I'd pay for the LU-15 without an inspection- some of the equipment looked pretty beat up in photos. Interesting that they also kept a stock of their own ballscrews etc for a lot of machines.

If you've got no further stake in this I'd be interested in knowing what $ it was passed in at. I didn't watch the end but I assume the average price for the machines was pretty low and the more specialised ones went to scrap merchants. The machines were advertised by some used machinery dealer for a while before the auction too.
 
A quick search turned up an LU15-M having sold for around 20k in a Grays auction a while back.

I was considering picking up a CNC lathe from this auction as well, but too much going on at the time to manage an inspection or to go pick it up. Couldn't say what I'd pay for the LU-15 without an inspection- some of the equipment looked pretty beat up in photos. Interesting that they also kept a stock of their own ballscrews etc for a lot of machines.

If you've got no further stake in this I'd be interested in knowing what $ it was passed in at. I didn't watch the end but I assume the average price for the machines was pretty low and the more specialised ones went to scrap merchants. The machines were advertised by some used machinery dealer for a while before the auction too.
Drew
Im still in the process but will know more in a couple of days.

Will advise where I get to.

Cheers

Mick

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Hi sophtayl,

It might be too late by now but just FYI; I bought one of the LU-15's for $7k (+ their removal fee & buyer premium).
Haven't seen it under power or anything, so bit of a risk really, but at least gives you an idea what sort of price they're willing to let them go for.

Goood luck
 
Hi sophtayl,

It might be too late by now but just FYI; I bought one of the LU-15's for $7k (+ their removal fee & buyer premium).
Haven't seen it under power or anything, so bit of a risk really, but at least gives you an idea what sort of price they're willing to let them go for.

Goood luck
Thanks mate

It helps. I take it that not the lu-15m?
I saw some of the lu15's under power but no air so couldnt get all motions going due to interlocks.

Almost all the Mazaks I looked at were unresponsive...

Will see what comes in next couple of days. I have put an offer forward on the LU15-M so hopefully it flies.

The LU15's were passed in at $6000 or so you did great to snag it for $7k

Cheers

Mick

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Thanks mate

It helps. I take it that not the lu-15m?
I saw some of the lu15's under power but no air so couldnt get all motions going due to interlocks.

Almost all the Mazaks I looked at were unresponsive...

Will see what comes in next couple of days. I have put an offer forward on the LU15-M so hopefully it flies.

The LU15's were passed in at $6000 or so you did great to snag it for $7k

Cheers

Mick

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Update for thse interested.

My offer on the LU15-M was declined and the machine is no longer available... the highest bid was $9150 plus all the charges...the reserve was apparantly $14k LU-15M and $12k on the LU-15 machines (plus charges of around $3k loaded onto your transport).

I suspect they used my offer to bring the highest bidder up as he had the highest bid on both machines that were available.

Onward and upward.....

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