Howard Jones
Supporter
I have been wanting to have my own lathe and mill forever but I just never could either come up with the extra dollars or find the deal I could afford so I just kept putting off the idea. It was always "I really don't need those and I can't spend the money on that because I want to spend the money on the other thing". This went on for years until I found this equipment on Craig's list, pretty much just what I wanted, really good price, and it was about 15 miles away from home.
No more excuses........so I went for it. The guy was really a mess, the garage was really a mess, and anybody else would have walked away. The garage was completely FULL of garbage. Not junk GARBAGE! Beer cans, old dried-up dinners, and jack-in-the-box wrappers! I mean it took both of us three hours to make room for the engine hoist to see if it would even work. Then I had to see if it all worked and afterward take it all apart to move it. Wow..............but in the end (10 hours later), everything worked, I got it all home in two trips, and it was ALL only 3500 bucks. Lathe, mill, all the stands, and all the stuff in the rollaway. There is at least 5K in end mills, collets, and measuring instruments. An extra 4-jaw chuck, even a 500 dollar machinist level, and a pile of tool posts and cutting tools. I figure it would cost me at least $20K to buy everything new today. So far I haven't found anything I needed to buy other than the electrical plugs and some cable for power to hook it all up at home.
He was selling everything to buy out his ex for her half of the house...............
So now I got some learning to do.
No more excuses........so I went for it. The guy was really a mess, the garage was really a mess, and anybody else would have walked away. The garage was completely FULL of garbage. Not junk GARBAGE! Beer cans, old dried-up dinners, and jack-in-the-box wrappers! I mean it took both of us three hours to make room for the engine hoist to see if it would even work. Then I had to see if it all worked and afterward take it all apart to move it. Wow..............but in the end (10 hours later), everything worked, I got it all home in two trips, and it was ALL only 3500 bucks. Lathe, mill, all the stands, and all the stuff in the rollaway. There is at least 5K in end mills, collets, and measuring instruments. An extra 4-jaw chuck, even a 500 dollar machinist level, and a pile of tool posts and cutting tools. I figure it would cost me at least $20K to buy everything new today. So far I haven't found anything I needed to buy other than the electrical plugs and some cable for power to hook it all up at home.
He was selling everything to buy out his ex for her half of the house...............
So now I got some learning to do.
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