I've needed a machine shop before and couldn't find one that was closed than 2 hours. I have trust issues with used machines. Maybe if I could use the machine a little bit and then check make sure it's within .0005 at least
If you don't have another shop within 2 hours, even if you buy a NEW machine... How the heck are you
going to get service for it??? You're going to be waiting forever.. And then after the year warranty is
up, you are paying HUGE!!!! travel time, and its not cheap.. Travel time costs as much as 'work' time****.
Part of owning a machine shop is being a MACHINE MECHANIC.. If you are in the middle of Bum Fuck Nowhere,
you better know how to fix your machine, or at least you better know how to find people that can tell you
how to FIX your machine.. This is really a good place to find people who know how to FIX machines.. IF
you have a common machine that lots of other folks have...
Common machines.. A Haas, yep, lots of people got 'em...
I'm essentially in the middle of nowhere also. The only incorporated "village" within 35 miles, population
of 1100 (last I checked).. The county is almost as big as CT, with the population of a small city.
There is another shop right down the street, 4/10's of a mile, there is another guy about 20 miles up
the road.. There is little to no chance you would ever know any of us is here with a google search,
and especially not looking in the yellow pages...
Anyways, when you are out in the boondocks and before you can even think about having a tech come out you
are 6 hours of travel in the hole, you learn to do your own fixing... The things that make that
easier are
1) COMMON machines that everybody knows how to work on.. Its awesome to come on THIS message
board with a problem at 2am on a Sunday, get some advice, and be back up and running by 2:30.
2) COMMON machines that you can easily get parts for..
3) Buy multiples.. Do I have a bad board??? Grab one out of the other machine... If that LED is
lit, is that good or bad?? Go look at the other machine..
My other 2 cents.. Repair work for farmers.. PAIN IN THE ASS!!!! And automotive stuff, cheapest
bunch of idiots there ever was... You'd be money ahead getting a loan for $40k and flushing it
down the toilet, you'd be better off, mentally and financially.. You don't even let those guys
know you exist.
**** Travel time $$$.. I was talking to the previous owner of one of the dealerships out here years
ago.. I asked him why the travel time cost $95 an hour.. And he told me he was losing money on it..
$28+ to the tech (straight time).. PLUS the other half of social security, plus the extra bit per hour
the guy needs to earn per hour to cover vaca and sick time, plus the insurance...
plus the 56 cents a mile at 75 miles an hour, and the guy was traveling mostly on OT, which made
it worse.. He was going to $115, and that was over 10 years ago.