Advice on buying a machine from Switzerland or Germany

I've been looking for a quality compact milling machine with a quill head for months now. I'm beginning to conclude that the best machines are to be found on the continent. Most of the machines I see listed look very well maintained but the virus restrictions rule out being able to travel and see them for myself.

So - does anyone have experience of buying a machine from dealers in Switzerland or Germany ? One of them is quoting 900 Euros to transport from Switzerland to the UK. Sounds like a lot to me but there again I have no experience in doing this. I know the sensible thing is to wait until we've had the vaccine and then take a continental road trip but a. that could be a year off and b. I could use the retail therapy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

R

Buy a machine from Peter Veltman (Peter from Holland in this group). Peter knows his machines well, has an outstanding reputation, and is experienced with shipping around Europe and the UK. I think his prices are also quite reasonable, look here: Veltman Machines | In&Verkoop metaalbewerkingsmachines

Plus 1 on Peter.
Cheers Ross

900 euros: im surprised its so cheap. do you know what that price includes? we are talking about 1-2 tons right? remember, when you ship out of switzerland you pay "swiss prices".

I've just bought a machine from Germany, sight unseen.
I'm on the lowest edge of budget, so travel cost alone would have been 1/2 the price of the machine.

I'm in southern rural Portugal.

The lowest transport quote was from DB Shenker [thanks to users of this forum for the tip], at 420 euros door to door.
However, they insist that the machine is strapped + wrapped, and I can't arrange that from here.
Next higher quote from a smaller family firm, BP Sped, 520 euros.
They're willing to give me the extra few minutes to secure the machine.
It's 1.3 tons and on a europallet, but is wider than the pallet.

In both cases, it's been specified that there is a forklift at each end for loading / unloading.
That's important.

I tested my loader to be sure it can handle the load [it can], otherwise I would have arranged a larger machine from the neighborhood. It's much cheaper for me to do that then have the movers figure something out.

If you do want to import anything into the UK, you'd better move fast.
You'll probably have to pay import duty if it crosses the border after Dec 31, 2020.

Another thing about EU / UK machinery; imperial or metric screws + dials?
I suppose if it has [or will have] DRO on it there is little consequence, but as many UK machines are imperial I assume [some] UK machinists like to work in inches like the Americans.

Horizontal milling arbors + cutter bore in the UK are generally inch denominated too, EU is [as far as I know] 100% metric.

2 years ago we sold an ELB SW6VAi surfacegrinder to the UK, the transport of the 2.5 ton machine from Austria to the UK cost 600.-.
What type of machine are you looking for exactly?
We could offer you an INTOS FNGP40 in a almost as good as new condition.
Werkzeugfrasmaschine - Universal INTOS FNGP 40 (ahnl. FNGJ 40) - Preis: 17.500 EUR - Maschinenangebot auf Maschinensucher.de

900€ for transport is still dirt cheap.


European transport is about 2500-3500€ for small typical VMCs and lathes.
Just unloading and placing a modern machine tool, on-site, is about 400-600€.
On top.

I did about a hundred, and had the discounts as the largest machine tool seller in the world (Hitech, nr 1 HAAS HFO dealer).

As was said, Peter will sell top-knotch stuff with zero hidden gotchas.
And be very nice to deal with, with excellent communication and support.
Imho.

Not a client of Peter, know him through years of excellent, helpful, polite, thoughtful posts and pics in a large variety of environments.

I´ve bought hundreds of thousands in stuff, per lot, from china sight unseen for 100+ times, past 28 years.
Results were all good to excellent, with some adventure on the way (no financial losses).

Well for what its worth I bought a Deckel FP2 from a Dutch machine dealer 18 months or so ago. What was advertised was not what I got. There are a number of threads about the table jamming, end castings cracking and more. My advise go and look! COVID is not going to hold you back too much longer.

Packing wise the machine was well prepared for shipping. Beware aware about weight as well. Over 500kgs and lot of haulage companies won't touch you if you've not got fork lift facilities (New rules!). I ended up using a dutch hauler with a "Moffett" fork lift fitted to the lorry ... Brilliant!

As for Peter Veltman ... First met Peter many years ago and went home with a lovely Schaublin 13 ... wish he had what I wanted Deckel wise.

Stay safe