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HELP Need--Inherited Machine Shop Tools

thanajon

Plastic
Joined
Nov 30, 2020
Hello Practical Machinist Forum Community,

I am new to the community and this is my first post. I don't know if this the right place for this, so my apologies in advance.

I have inherited a small machine shop from my brother located in Silver Spring, MD. He retired as a machinist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and also ran his own machinist business. I am not a machinist and know next to nothing about his tools or machines. In his basement he had about a dozen machines, including some drill presses, lathes, grinders, polishers, bandsaws, metal brakes, drills bits, sandblaster etc. The companies are Bridgeport, Hardhenge, DoALL, i think.

I've attached some pictures of some of the machines and tools.

Can anyone tell what would be a reasonable value for these machines and tools if anything? Or how I can determine a reasonable value? Would they be considered scrap metal?

If they have some reasonable value, how can I sell these machines? Are there machine shop brokers who will buy some or all of the machines in my area: Maryland? A local sale/auction?

The machine shop is located in walk-in basement in a single family house, so in my guess it would take some serious muscle to move them out, but he got them in there somehow.

All advice and guidance would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Jonathan W.
 

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My sympathies for the loss of your brother.

If the pictures you posted are representative of all that's in the basement, $5K wouldn't be a bad return. But if there's more, and if the lathe and (complete) mill are in good shape, if you're patient you might do better.

I'd suggest some caution if dealing with Craigslist, there's some real oddballs who sometimes come by without intent to buy. Others might be casing the place for a later return.

You can actually do reasonably well here, but you need good pictures and descriptions to help a sale along. Sometimes a PM member who's close by can offer help in exchange for deals (or just out of kindness), but that's a little more complicated these days.
 
What city are you at in Maryland? Quite possible a PM member with some spare time can give you a hand. Sorry for your loss. If you post on CL make sure to include pictures that show the difficulty of removal.
 
Thank you for the info. Can you recommend any website(s) where I could research the machines so I could describe them better. Is Bridgeport well-known and if I can locate a serial or model number search that way?. Thank you.
 
another added note:
When you doo get someone to purchase everything, have them pay 100% before moving, and also
have them post a $1000 bond (simply write this all up, and you both get a signed copy)
in case they break the house moving the stuff out.

When all is moved out safely, refund the bond.
 
Thank you for the info. Can you recommend any website(s) where I could research the machines so I could describe them better. Is Bridgeport well-known and if I can locate a serial or model number search that way?. Thank you.

You can search eBay for completed sales of similar items, that will give you some idea of pricing "out the door". As for serial number searches and whatnot, there's others here with experience in such matters, but I'm not one of them.

As I said, you're welcome to post "for sale" items in this forum, although it's generally recommended that you be a participant in the forum too. But given your circumstances, I think that could be set aside.
 
Agreed, completed E-bay sales is a good place to look, but bear in mind there can be regional differences in worth, also ease of rigging can effect price. The mill you have would be worth more sitting next to a garage door next to a cement driveway then down in a basement. As for regional differences I used to live in California and bought a CNC Lathe on the East coast as the Cali dealers wanted almost double what the East coast dealers wanted. Even with an extra $2k for rigging I saved a bunch of money.
 
The value of machine like that greatly influenced by tooling that comes with them, so pay attention to that. Also check out what he had for inspection equipment - that can add up fast too if he was well stocked with Starrett and Mitutoyo.

But agree with other posters that with what is shown you will be in the $4-5K range depending on location.

Also pay attention to the skill level and experience of the people coming to pick up. You want to verbally quiz them if they have moved stuff like this before and have the proper equipment. The last thing you want is someone unexperienced getting crushed on your property- Those machine are of a size that could kill if they toppled over. (Bridgeport assembled is around 2000#)
 
My condolences on the loss of your brother.

When you research ebey, make sure you use the advanced and look at completed sales. Anybody can put anything up with any price, the site is full of dreamers. Expired listings are only valuable to show at what price it DIDN'T sell.
 
The condition and the tooling that comes with the tools will play a big factor in the price. Its hard to tell from the small pictures, but I'd agree with the $5k ballpark. It could be alot more though depending on the specifics of the lathe and the condition as well as the tooling (as well as what else isn't pictured).

Best place to sell it would be craigslist or facebook marketplace. You will get alot of tire kickers though. To get the most money you want to sell everything individually, if you try to sell it all as one package you'll get alot less money.
 
Sorry for your loss - losing a brother would be tough.
The lathe looks to be a Hardinge HLV-H and the mill is a Bridgeport Mill, probably a 2J
It looks like there are a couple of chucks for the lathe and possibly some other goodies in the cabinet, but the pics are so small it is really hard to see what is there. Given your lack of familiarity, you will need the right names to be able to search out pricing. If you post good pics on here, I'm sure that members will chime in with the correct model names and numbers.
If I was in your shoes and didn't have the skillset to put the tooling with the correct machines and list it accordingly, and/or deal with the rigging and moving, I would contact three machinery dealers in my area and get them to give you a price to buy it all, or discuss taking everything on consignment.
When I die, my wife will find an envelope in my desk drawer with the name of three dealers to contact and a listing of what I have and what it is realistically worth wholesale.
Good luck with the task ahead - settling an estate is no fun.
 
Some questions that will help get appropriate advice:

How much time do you have to get this stuff out of the basement?

How much time and effort are you personally able to put into this?

Is maximizing monetary return your top priority, or do you just want it out with minimal aggravation?
 
Since they are in a "Walk in" basement it's a lot easier. Pipe rollers to the door and a flatbed wrecker could move them.

If they were in a hole like this one it would be a little more of an issue.
 

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Hello,

Thank you to everyone who responded. This was all very helpful information for me. I now have some idea where and how to start to deal with all his stuff. I appreciate the advice to contact some local machinist companies who may be interested in purchasing the lot. I also appreciate the advice to take better pictures for seeking opinions as to values if I go the individual or smaller lot sale route. Several people inquired about purchasing items. I am not able to sell anything at this time as his estate is just starting the probate process here in MD. I have some time and I can spend some time sorting through it as needed to get a better sense of the value.

Some of the stuff scares me a little though, he has these canisters for welding I guess, oxygen, maybe, I don't know they are not labeled that I could tell. He has an air compressor about 6 ft tall that is still under pressure according to the gauge--150 psi, should I be concerned? I have no idea when it was last used. Its connected to copper tubes like plumbing. Thank you again for all your kind words and helpful advice.
 
The compressor is fine - it is meant to hold that. But you may want to make sure it is turned off (breaker switched to off if there is no switch at the compressor. No use wasting electricity.

I bought a friend's shop and paid $5K for everything except the lathe which I had purchased earlier. I already had all of it but being his equipment meant more to me even though some of it was not as nice as what I already had. I suspect you can get more than $5K if you have the time.

Ken
 








 
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