Subject: Was: WTB Small used lathe, Now: used machinery

From: [email-masked] (Paul Amaranth)
Date: 2 Nov 1995 16:09:07 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Robert Lorenz) writes:
>North Bay Machinery in Warren Michigan has a very good to excellent 
>condition 9"X30" SouthBend Lathe, with the change gears, 3 and 4 jaw 
>chuck, collet closer, collets and other tooling. There asking price is 
>$1250.00 but they deal, it also has a metal stand if you don't want to 
>put the lathe on a bench top,  I ran this lathe a few days ago and it was 
>quiet, with very little back lash most all the scraping on the ways is 
>still visiable. Tel number of North Bay is 810-759-6014  and they will 
>ship but prefer to have the customer  pick up.
>

Yeah, I walked through that place last Saturday.  I must say it was
one of the cleanest, most organized used machinery dealers I have
ever walked through.  Most of the time, I can't even recognize a place
as a used machinery shop unless the roof leaks and there's a big
puddle of water on the floor somewhere.

You didn't mention the Chinese lathe that they're dealers for.  The
brand is Hercules and the one on display was a 14x40, I think.  Three
& four jaw chucks, steady & follow rest, coolant, inch/metric etc.
etc.  All for around $7000.  I was asking the owner about it and he
said that particular company has been making lathes for 50 years and
the quality is pretty good.  Still, you have to wonder, the factory
selling price must be around 3500 before shipping and the dealer
margins.  I think I'll stick to American iron.  I'd be interested
in hearing about any experiences with this brand, though.

If you look hard, you can get better deals than going through a dealer.
I picked up a DoAll 16" vertical the other day for $900 (ok, it was a
'57, but it's complete, variable speed and it does have the blade welder).  
I think NorthBay had an 18" Grob going for around $2600.  The machinery
liquidator I bought the saw from was telling me a story how they got
a bunch (4, I think) late model Bridgeports from a shop for around
$2200 apiece, even though they had to take a couple of horizontal
mills as well.  And the shop was happy they did it!  Anyone want
a nice KT horizontal mill for $400?  I think they moved the Bridgeports
already, but the others are gathering dust before eventually going to the
scrap yards.

Oh, BTW, I saw a North Bay truck at the liquidator's warehouse so I have
an idea of where he gets some of his inventory.

The moral of the story is to get to know as many people in the
machining/machinery business as you can and be patient.  Eventually
that gem will come across your way; you just have to be ready to
grab it, maybe on very short notice.  I've been looking for a bandsaw
on and off for most of a year and when I found this one on Tuesday
I had 2 days to get it out of the warehouse.  I've also met some very
interesting people; everyone's got a good story or two to relate.  Most
people are pretty friendly and receptive when I tell them I'm a hobbiest
and I do this stuff for fun.

I know this is off topic, but moving the bandsaw was a snap.  They
dropped it onto the bed of my pickup with a forklift (and it was
probably a little over the load limit; thank goodness for safety
margins) and once I got it home, I had my friendly local towing
service come over.  They were able to use the boom to pick it out
of the bed and move it up my driveway right to the garage.  The
driver and I were able to swing it under the garage door as it
was being lowered.  The whole deal took maybe 20 minutes and was
painless (not to mention injury-free).  The $40 price tag was
worth every cent.
--
Paul Amaranth  Manager User Services - office: (810) 370 4541 (also voicemail)
               (e-mail)     [email-masked]         
   Mosaic page: http://www.acs.oakland.edu/links/amaranth/amaranth.html

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From: [email-masked] (Robert Lorenz)
Date: 5 Nov 1995 11:34:40 GMT

Yes, North Bay is also a dealer for ENCO and other Chinese tools like 
Hercules, I hang around there enough that Sam and Ray, the owners let me 
help clean up the machines and I make some repair parts for them off and 
on.  That particular 14X40 Hercules is sold we put the drive belts on, 
filled the oil sumps an ran the lathe a few days ago. They will probably 
get another Hercules in, in a few weeks. I too still prefer to buy 
American, that Hercules is one of the better finished Chinese lathes I 
have seen in the shop, and they do sell a lot of that particular brand of 
lathe.  You suprised me a bit by saying that you saw their truck at a 
liquidators shop, they don't own a truck, but I bet they do obtain some 
of there mechandise at a Liquidators.  Where is this Liquidator so I can 
check this place out too?.  I am also looking for a good  metal band saw. 
 The place with the leaky roof sounds like Sara Lil  down by Wyoming 
street, what a junk place, get this, the owner of Sara Lil is the brother 
of Sam at Northbay, seems like all the used tool dealers in the metro 
Detroit area know each other real well.  Have you been down to Bobby 
Hargrove's  used machinery shop in Highland Park? Lots of perishable 
tooling and tool room machinery, but nothing is priced and you do have to 
do some searching to find things he is not real organized.  Well , I have 
to get to work now. Bob

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From: [email-masked] (Kevin Pinkerton)
Date: 6 Nov 1995 18:10:42 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]% 
says...
>...
>.... 
>do some searching to find things he is not real organized....

I am drooling with envy. Oh to have access to used machinery places like 
that... Count your blessings. I live in the sticks about 60 miles from any 
city of any size and if I went there I wouldn't have a clue what existed.

kp

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From: [email-masked] (Paul Amaranth)
Date: 7 Nov 1995 15:21:10 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Robert Lorenz) writes:
>You suprised me a bit by saying that you saw their truck at a 

Interesting, it was a big flatbet and it had North Bay Machinery in
neat lettering on the cab.  Seemed like a reasonable assumption.
The liquidator was Robert F Brown.  Charley Lynch has been in the business
for 40 some odd years; a couple of his relatives work for him too.
Nice folks.  They have an 18" Grob with welder and step-pulley drive they
would probably let go cheap.  It was a pretty nice saw if you didn't
need variable speed.

>Detroit area know each other real well.  

Harold is Sam's brother?  What a small world.  I bought my mill off of
Harold, had a great time doing it and made sure I counted my fingers
afterwards ;-)  They condemned and demolished Harold's place on Warren,
I haven't been to his other place on Central yet.

Have you been down to Bobby 
>do some searching to find things he is not real organized. 

Not yet, but I see a lot of Bobby at the auctions that I can get to.  I
actually beat him on a bid on a precision level at a small auction lately.