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Advise on selling machines and tooling

VermontGuy54

Plastic
Joined
Jul 31, 2021
I am trying to figure out how to sell a number of machine tools and tooling my dad has. He passed away earlier this year and my sisters and I are trying to clear out his house and shop. He lived in Vermont and has an old Bridgeport, 3 metal lathes (Southbend C8-10 JR and a couple of old Sears and Roebuck units, a Meteor CH1 drill sharpener, a Central Machinery 6" X 12" Surface Grinder and a Linley Jig Borer. I know they had been used over the past several years without issues. Since I don't know much about the tools and their value I'd appreciate any advice from the forum. See attache photos. Thank you, BrianView attachment 325813View attachment 325814View attachment 325816View attachment 325818View attachment 325819
 
First, condolences on the loss of your dad, that's always tough.

We have a number of members who live in VT, perhaps one or two could help with suggestions on how to market the machines and tooling in the local area. There's also a pretty good market on Facebook, but I've not used it myself.

Cleaning and organizing the tools is usually helpful for getting best price. Making sure that accessories that belong to a specific machine stay with that machine is another plus for a buyer. This is where a local expert can be valuable, "normal" folks won't likely know what goes with what.

You can also offer things for sale here, we have forum subsections specially for tools and one for machines. The rules do state you need to include a price, they don't like "auctions" in the thread.

Good luck!
 
Sorry about you dad.

If he had any 'co-conspirators' that are local, do involve them and see if they can help you sort out the tools and tooling that should be together.

Other than that, clear away the things that are obviously 'in storage' like spare motors and the like. As seen in the pictures. Those have value too, but they are an impediment to selling the lathe, for example.

Take as good pictures as you can of the stuff that is lumped together, use a bed sheet or the like to separate the various lots.
Try not to get too tied up in to getting absolute max value, unless you have a lot of time. Try to get fair value, reasonably fast.

It really does help to have some folks that are both sympathetic and knowledgeable, to go through the "smalls", which are all the various pieces that may belong to a certain tool or other, so as to present the best value both for the buyer and seller. It helps if you can find some knowledgeable help.

Knowledgeable folk can also go a LONG ways in separating out things that belong together, which can make a huge difference in value.
 
Sorry about you dad.

If he had any 'co-conspirators' that are local, do involve them and see if they can help you sort out the tools and tooling that should be together.

Other than that, clear away the things that are obviously 'in storage' like spare motors and the like. As seen in the pictures. Those have value too, but they are an impediment to selling the lathe, for example.

Take as good pictures as you can of the stuff that is lumped together, use a bed sheet or the like to separate the various lots.
Try not to get too tied up in to getting absolute max value, unless you have a lot of time. Try to get fair value, reasonably fast.

It really does help to have some folks that are both sympathetic and knowledgeable, to go through the "smalls", which are all the various pieces that may belong to a certain tool or other, so as to present the best value both for the buyer and seller. It helps if you can find some knowledgeable help.

Knowledgeable folk can also go a LONG ways in separating out things that belong together, which can make a huge difference in value.

Thanks for the advice. I know things are cluttered and we can get that cleared up. That was my dad! If there are some forum members in central Vermont that would be willing to take a look that would be really helpful. He had quite an assortment of tooling. I have asked my sister to get better pictures of the data plates and I'll see if I can come up with some fair value pricing as we're not looking to make a lot but we also want to be fairly treated, as would anyone. I'll keep plugging away at it. I'm going back in late September and we are hoping to get as much taken care of as we can then. My dad was quite a loner so unfortunately we don't have a known local that could advise. Appreciate the condolences, he was 93. Hope I can match him.
 
Jeebus! 93 was a good run!
I'd hope for the same, to be honest!

I have found that going through stuff like this, has been for me, a last opportunity to 'visit' with an old friend.

If you recognize tools or tooling that goes together, so much the better. If you need an idea of what something is, post a picture. We'll either be as baffled as you are, or we might know. :)
 
Sorry to hear about your Dad.

I'm in Vershire, 40 miles or so from Montpelier. We could possibly meet when you come back in Sept. PM me through the control panel if that interests you.

Craigslist (VT, NH, MA) is what I look at for tools. I've no experience with Facebook marketplace - could be that works, too.

Neil
 
It was said the things are in central Vermont. Windsor, VT is probably not very far away, and is the home of the American Precision Museum, devoted to machine tool history. The museum is staffed by people who love machine tools and can give advice on who can help sort and perhaps some leads to buyers.

The Linley is a small home shop size machine of good industrial quality that should sell readily. The Meteor is a precision industrial grinder for very small drill bits, so a good machine, but not of wide interest. The old South Bend lathe has fans, so probably it will be easy to sell. The Craftsman 12" lathe is a circa 1975 (not long before they stopped making them) machine that should be easy to sell, even though it was not a great lathe when new. No picture of the other Sears lathe. No picture of the Bridgeport, but there are buyers for them, even though they are big and heavy to move. Central Machinery is a Harbor Freight Tools brand that is not associated with industrial or even good quality. In general, condition is important and sorting before selling is important Cleaning is less important. There is bound to be some good stuff in that pile, so worth at least a few thousand bucks.

Larry
 
Looking for advice on selling machine tools

Thanks all for the suggestions and comments. I'll reach out to the Precision Machining Museum and see what they might know of. I've been there a couple of times on visits back there. I wondered what some of the accessories should be included with the lathe, the Bridgeport or the jig borer. My dad wasn't very organized and tended to use any horizontal space to place stuff so the parts laying around on the machines could belong to anything. Are there lists of what would be a normal set of accessories? Appreciate you all taking time to respond and I'm hoping the machines will go to good homes.
 
Hello, just wanted to tell you that I have been going through the same situation, and have been amazed by how helpful this community has been.
 
I'm still looking up information and getting pricing ideas on the machines. The Bridgeport is from 1970 and I saw some videos on using the Linley as a mill too. I've got some pictures of tooling and a better shot of the Bridgeport. There also is a Rockwell Delta table saw that I'm not sure of the age yet but I have the data plate from it. The one picture I'm not sure as to it's purpose was under the Bridgeport and may have nothing to do with the machine.View attachment 326588View attachment 326589View attachment 326590View attachment 326591View attachment 326592
 
Here's some more parts my sisters have found in my dad's shop. Should they go with the machines or go separately? I noticed some cutter holders that were by the Linley along with some HSS cutters that I think are pretty pricy. (Marked in red). I'm going to get together some ads to get them out for sale pretty soon. Thanks! Brian

BTW, I belong to the Experimental Aircraft Association and one of the member benefits is they offer Solid Works free for members to use in building experimental aircraft. Annual membership is $40 and I was thinking there might be interest in this group to access a program like Solid Works. Thought it worth bring up.




View attachment 327718View attachment 327719View attachment 327720View attachment 327721View attachment 327722
 
Here's some more parts my sisters have found in my dad's shop. Should they go with the machines or go separately? I noticed some cutter holders that were by the Linley along with some HSS cutters that I think are pretty pricy. (Marked in red). I'm going to get together some ads to get them out for sale pretty soon. Thanks! Brian

BTW, I belong to the Experimental Aircraft Association and one of the member benefits is they offer Solid Works free for members to use in building experimental aircraft. Annual membership is $40 and I was thinking there might be interest in this group to access a program like Solid Works. Thought it worth bring up.




View attachment 327718View attachment 327719View attachment 327720View attachment 327721View attachment 327722

Item picture 1, appears to be part of a vise swivel base or perhaps a swivelling table.

Item 2, appears to be part of a vertical slide, aka: milling attachment, for the lathe. It should fit over the stub left when the compound is removed, by slacking the two securing bolts. It should stand vertically, with the crank at the top. Cannot tell by the picture, but there may be a small vise on the face that is 'down' in the picture.

Picture 3, appears to all be parts for the same milling machine, unless the Linley also takes R8 style collets (R8, is the style of collet or spindle fitting taper, one of many). The circled items are (top left) a straight shank Boring Head, the other two are both Carbide Insert Milling Cutters, also for an R8 spindle.

Picture 4 shows several used lathe tools and lathe tool tips (I think), as well as some parts that are likely missing from at least one of the machines (the crank handles, with screws)
 
#1 looks like a base of a swivel vise, pictured from the bottom- does it fit on the Linley or Bridgeport table?

#2 looks like an Atlas lathe accessory, perhaps a milling slide attachment for one of the Sears lathes

#3 and #4 agree with above.
 
Linleys had a smaller spindle than the Bridgeport, with collets of about 1/2" max capacity. See the Linley accessories at Tony's UK site.

Compare them to pic 3, which are R8 collets and fit the Bridgeport.

Linley collets are rare as hen's teeth, therefore worth quite a bit more than R8 collets. The value of the Linley would be considerably enhanced by a few Linley collets, even more by a full set.

It would be worth looking very carefully for those collets. While there are two different possibilities (see Tony's site), they're pretty distinctive, visually very different from R8 collets.

Maybe it's been mentioned, but the R8 collets are showing some rust. It would be well worth putting a dehumidifier in that space and keeping RH at below 60%, if that hasn't been done already.
 
Thanks again for the advice. I'm goin to try and get best quality pictures I can and will put together an ad. Maybe at that time you all can see the pieces together with their machine and do a reality check on what the prices are. Brian
 
I have some additional tools that my sisters have found in my dad's shop. I'm attaching pictures plus they have cleaned up the dust and such from the machines so they look much more presentable. Hope to do some ads soon.View attachment 328007View attachment 328008View attachment 328009View attachment 328010View attachment 328009View attachment 328011

Your mystery tool appears to be either an indexer or perhaps a grinding/milling spindle to fit a instrument makers lathe. A measure of the nose end (near end visible in the picture) and a picture of the opposite side would go some ways. It does appear to be missing it's elevating mechanism, I would start by keeping an eye out for another crank similar to the one on the cross slide feed.

Typically, I would expect to see a spindle that fits a 8mm or 10mm collet. May be almost any other collet out there, as it does have the look of a very well, shop made piece to it.

For the two Bison chucks (a decent Brand!) the mounting, or lack of, would go a long ways towards getting a decent idea what they are worth.

The Palmgren X-Y Rotary table is a nice little rig too.
 








 
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