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Just Cleared Space for...(first cnc)

DanASM

Hot Rolled
Joined
Mar 11, 2019
So some of you know already that I had come across a bunch of older Brown and Sharpes that were given to me to keep from the scrapyards. I ended up scrapping 5 of them at the time and saved 11 of them.

Of the 11 that I had stored in my shop, I only had time to get one of them wired up and running. No job on it yet but it has the lead cam and is tooled up for a 5/64 hex 00-90 nut (brass) at a 3.5 sec cycle time. I can have this job as soon as I get the time to get it dialed back in.

Of the 11 machines 3 of them were American made and wired for 208v. I can wire these ones right up to current busway. One of them has a collet open and close issue, already found problem and its easily fixed.

The rest of the machines were made in the UK, Plymouth. For the U.S. market (wired up for 460v/230).

Time is not on my side and these machine are/were taking up space. I called the scrap guy to take 6 of them and get them out of here. My dad was so butt hurt about seeing the machines get melted away that he got off his ass and found some storage spcace for them.

I came in to work this morning and I had my whole back room wide open (so much room for activities!). I have taken on lots of new work and I have 7-8 machines with dedicated jobs on them. I can run 2-3 machines at the same time without chips piling up too fast. I can easily triple-quadruple my workload if I had the ability to produce more.

I now have the space needed to bring in 2-3 cnc machines to compliment my Brownies. I put an ad up looking for a Hardinge GT 27 a few weeks back and I will be looking to get one in here promptly at this point.

Also needed in the near future is something to cover the 1.625" - 2.5" range. I am seeing 1.750" jobs that I just cant squeeze into my 2G's correctly. Most of my work is $40-$45 /hr. I dont need a machine that is way overkill for this reason. Just something that I can keep running longer hours.

My real need right now would be something I can put a magazine bar loader on, chip conveyor. Something that can be used as a 2nd op machine when needed. Possibly a 32mm Swiss would work (if cheap enough).

I am realizing now that I dont have much experience with shipping machinery either. I was hoping someone on the other end of the line would be familiar with it.

If anyone knows or has anything I might need feel free to get in touch.

-Dan
 
I know a guy selling a low hour Citizen M32 with barfeeder for $125K, rigged anywhere in the US. It's a good deal, but I don't think it's the deal you're looking for. Just figured I'd toss it out there, just in case. (I don't think a used 32mm Swiss machine is going to fall into your definition of "cheap"... They never do :D)
 
I know a guy selling a low hour Citizen M32 with barfeeder for $125K, rigged anywhere in the US. It's a good deal, but I don't think it's the deal you're looking for. Just figured I'd toss it out there, just in case. (I don't think a used 32mm Swiss machine is going to fall into your definition of "cheap"... They never do :D)

Well the ones on ebay are 20k and 25k each. The L25 just got pulled so it prob just sold for 20k. Those are the prices I am looking at.
 
Just be careful you don't buy someone else's problem. An otherwise well planned purchase can go south quickly if there's hidden issues or you find that it takes longer to program/set up than you anticipated.
 
When I bought my first I thought a long time about whether to get one I could buy outright but was a project or get one I had to get a loan for that was ready to go. I ended up getting one ready to go as I was not willing to gamble that I could get the project running anytime soon. Now that I have had one and had to diagnose a few things on it, I'd be interested in a project if one came along that I could get into cheap and was close enough I could haul it etc.

There is merit to getting the first one that you probably spend too much on, but have a higher probability that it will be making chips very soon and you can get your processes figured out, then if you want another you can gamble a little more on it.
 
When I bought my first I thought a long time about whether to get one I could buy outright but was a project or get one I had to get a loan for that was ready to go. I ended up getting one ready to go as I was not willing to gamble that I could get the project running anytime soon. Now that I have had one and had to diagnose a few things on it, I'd be interested in a project if one came along that I could get into cheap and was close enough I could haul it etc.

There is merit to getting the first one that you probably spend too much on, but have a higher probability that it will be making chips very soon and you can get your processes figured out, then if you want another you can gamble a little more on it.

I have been fixing my machines over the years. I can wire up most anything and repair any vehicle. Fixing things does not scare me. I diagnose and solve problems for a living.

The downside is "TIME". I do not have time to be fixing things just because I can. I am sure a hardinge gt27 2 ax will not give me many problems if something is wrong. Its too simple of a machine to not be able to fix it.

The bigger machines will be a little more intimidating due to size.

What I really need is a machine that will cut down on setup times and allow me to not spend as much on form tools, etc. A simple magazine bar feeder with a chip conveyor and parts conveyor that I can run 12 hours a day (min), will make the world of difference here. I then can save up and buy something much bigger and better within 4-6 months.
 








 
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