Best way to get rid of a small machine shop?

nickg140143 · Oct 9, 2020

My father passed away last year and left me with a small machine shop in Riverside,Ca.
COVID killed what little work we had this year and I'm looking to cut my losses and let it all go.

No employees, just me, so no complex issues there. I'm just not sure how to go about selling/junking
the machines in this shop (how do you go about moving heavy machinery?)

These are my main machines:

Any ideas on how to get a start on getting rid of all this? At this point, it's simply eating into my saving
due to rent and electricity of this little shop.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

2outof3 · Oct 9, 2020

nickg140143 said:
My father passed away last year and left me with a small machine shop in Riverside,Ca.
COVID killed what little work we had this year and I'm looking to cut my losses and let it all go.

No employees, just me, so no complex issues there. I'm just not sure how to go about selling/junking
the machines in this shop (how do you go about moving heavy machinery?)

These are my main machines:
View attachment 301562
View attachment 301563
View attachment 301564
View attachment 301565
View attachment 301566

Any ideas on how to get a start on getting rid of all this? At this point, it's simply eating into my saving
due to rent and electricity of this little shop.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

You can try Ebay. The saw may find a home but the reality is, that is a group of machines that have little to no value. Rent a trailer and scrapping most of it, might actually be the winning economic move.

If the shop is over off of Indiana in that group of shops. Walk about the complex and see if anyone will come offer cash for anything.

vanguard machine · Oct 9, 2020

2outof3 said:
The saw may find a home but the reality is, that is a group of machines that have little to no value. .

what!? if sold individually that's easily 15-20k anywhere on the east coast.
plus you have tooling that would likely do well on fleabay

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Rob F. · Oct 9, 2020

I would do craigslist, name and model of each with good pics of CLEAN machines.List any and all tooling that can go with it separatly . As mentioned it will sell on ebay if small enough to ship. If someone wants to buy machine and tools then you work a package deal. Depending on what tooling you have it can be worth more than the machine.

triumph406 · Oct 9, 2020

Ebay/Craigslist/Offerup/FB market place

I would spend a day or two with some cleaning solution and rags and make them look as clean as possible.

As for moving machinery I would recommend GMC in West Covina. He has a Monorail, best mover there is, and very reasonable on price.

dalmatiangirl61 · Oct 9, 2020

vanguard machine said:
what!? if sold individually that's easily 15-20k anywhere on the east coast.
plus you have tooling that would likely do well on fleabay

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I'm not seeing that, although not really sure of the value of the Hardinge? 2 mills, 2 bandsaws, 1 finger brake and a small air compressor is not going to bring much, if there is tooling that is not shown, maybe that will change things a bit.

Craigslist and FB marketplace would be my suggestion. Not enough there for an auction, maybe add it to a larger auction, but auctions are somewhat of a crap shoot right now.

triumph406 · Oct 9, 2020

Lagun mills are popular.

The Bridgeport might be attaractive to somebody who wants to retrofit a mill with LinuxCNC or similar.

The Hardinge would be a hard sell. You actually might more money parting that out.

davehud · Oct 9, 2020

triumph406 said:
The Hardinge would be a hard sell. You actually might more money parting that out.

How does that Hardinge work? Is it cam operated? How do you "program" it?

CarbideBob · Oct 9, 2020

I do not want to say this.

Given rent prices in Ca I'd be looking at calling in a scrap yard.
Maybe put the package on Craigs for 5000 and the buyer has to rig?
Nice stuff but the selling costs and time vs rent?

I have much more that this. Orders to the wife are if I go deep six this the scrap dealer who will pay the most.
A) call my friends and have them take toolboxes, gauges, special tools and any. B) scrap all that is left per pound and do not look back.
Bob

Delw · Oct 9, 2020

triumph406 said:
The Hardinge would be a hard sell. You actually might more money parting that out.

thats an old AHC with a Thread attachment I had 3 of them then converted 2 to omniturns. I loved those old things made me lots of money back in the day.
in all honestly youll be lucky to get 1k if its working and some guy wants to start amking easy parts he might swing more. if you part it out you might get alot more as that thread attachement if you have dies are hard to find. that cut off assembly might sell for 200-500 bucks.
the machine machine are good for cnc conversions ie base spindle etc etc. thats another thing youd probably get 1k+ for that spindle hear if its good, guys running omnis tend to need them from time to time.

EmGo · Oct 9, 2020

For convenience, auction. For a small lot like this many smaller auction houses will come in and grab it all, then put it together with another bunch of stuff to sell later.

Yeah, auctioneers .... he'll take a bit of a bath. But it will be over with quick and no hassle.

p.s. Delw - AHC - I had one of the later ones, with all the buttons and switches over the lathe. It was pretty cool, but not too useful for what I did. They are neat machines, someone should buy it ....

john.k · Oct 9, 2020

I was going to save all my stuff,.....until a couple of guys offered me current heavy scrap price ..$325 a ton ,and electric motors $890 a ton.Now I dont know....as I have a big shed on the way in the back yard at home ...already paid $20k in non returnable progress payments,with $25k more to come......big shed and nothing in it?

Mike1974 · Oct 9, 2020

I don't know, but it seems the Lagun BP clone would sell easily for 1k? How many threads are on here looking for a BP... Craigslist and FB marketplace is where I would start. Offer a price for all (rigging responsible of buyer, no liability), or offer make offer on lot or one piece. If you end up with a leftover, and rent is really a problem, offer for scrap price right here, someone will take it!

Delw · Oct 10, 2020

EmanuelGoldstein said:
p.s. Delw - AHC - I had one of the later ones, with all the buttons and switches over the lathe. It was pretty cool, but not too useful for what I did. They are neat machines, someone should buy it ....

cool

The ones I had were the early models like pictured. I bought one (1st machine I bought) and the guy had cut the wires off between the control box( that big ass thing on the left) and the machine with a Hacksaw so he could move it. figured I could rewire it LMAO. 2 months later it was up and running. there was hundreds of wires in those 2 loops good thing most were color coordinated. was a cool machine worked great held size once the hydraulics warmed up. noisy though. did one job (boeing) like 500 pcs 9310 gear steel stress relieved hardend and tempered 1" bars, .0005 tols od 32 finish and .002 tol thickness with a bored hole of +.001.
took me a while but it worked. Customer was happy with the job and got another order for 1000 pcs. 1/4 the way through the job said screw it and bought a hitachi sekie 20sIII rented a small shop and started my business. ended up doing the job 2 more times on that one AHC cause the hitachi got buried with bigger work, then converted them to omniturns.
only problems I had with them is the turret and that micro switch carousel that ran the lengths for the turret. Amazing what we did on old machines like that back in the day. oh the good old days

john.k · Oct 10, 2020

There is nothing in the shop a Hyster H 80 fork wouldnt load out onto a truck outside....Most industrial complexes you can borrow a fork ,for an hour or so....At most a carton of beer.......The auto s were the wonder of the age 50 years ago,scrap long since.The manual hobby size machines will sell OK ,they will be 3 phase for sure ,cuts the appeal a little.

EmGo · Oct 10, 2020

Delw said:
The ones I had were the early models like pictured.

I bet yours were easier to maintain. The late ones look cool but what a bitch to clean and work on.

I don't envy you the re-wire

Machines used to come as separate machine, control, and magnetics cabinets, all interwired. It'd take a day just to reconnect, and that's with everything tagged and labeled.

upm2019 · Oct 10, 2020

That’s an automatic chucker it is a PIA you have to set trip dogs and switch’s then because the feeds are hydraulic you have to constantly adjust them as the machine warms up . They were great machines back in the day not so much anymore . We converted ours to Omniturn years ago still going today . I agree with the others there’s not a lot there dollar wise maybe post to home shop machinist or a hobby forum
Good luck
Pete

Alloy Mcgraw · Oct 10, 2020

vanguard machine said:
what!? if sold individually that's easily 15-20k anywhere on the east coast.
plus you have tooling that would likely do well on fleabay

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Speak for yourself. I'm on the east coast, and I don't see $20k there.

Not to insult....But I see a bunch of older machines that would go for short money.

It would surely all have to go to hobby guys...To get any money, it would all have to be broken up, properly listed online, deal with emails/questions galore, lots of tire kickers, low offers, etc.

Easily $15-$20k? Maybe I'm in the wrong business.

gustafson · Oct 10, 2020

AS mentioned, pretty old stuff, not a lot of value.

I would add, put very specific model information in your ads, imagine running that lathe and needing parts, someone will buy it as a spare.

Lagun is a solid undervalued machine

Someone who also runs a BOSS might want a spare

sorry about your dad, hope he made hay while the sun shined and this is just wrapping up a good life

guest · Oct 10, 2020

Nothing in those pics should be hard to move. I would do craigslist on everything.

I don't know about the Hardinge, but the step-pulley Lagun should bring $2500, the CNC BP the same or a little more. The band saws and compressor should each go in the ~$500 ea. range easy enough.

Not a lot of value there, but it's all stuff that a hobbyist would be interested in. Nothing requiring a rigger, just a small forklift to load. Might have a neighbor that would help.

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