give me the lowdown on industrial machines. How do feable peasants like myself get hold of one? Where do industrial machines even go when they are no longer in service?
give me the lowdown on industrial machines. How do feable peasants like myself get hold of one?
>Where do industrial machines even go when they are no longer in service?
auctions, then to the scrap yard, and finally wind up as chink rebar
This, basically. There's also resellers everywhere. Some are auction style, like ebay or whatever, and some are just
>we have six of these lathes please buy one 4 grand
A search engine would have gotten you farther than this stupid thread.
Post machine resellers.
>we have six of these lathes please buy one 4 grand
Do sellers generally allow inspections before purchase?
picrel
whats with both pulleys and gears
In a metal lathe the gear train is how you select feeds and cut threads.
>Do sellers generally allow inspections before purchase?
Yeah but unless you're incredibly experienced in general with those machines, or know that specific model well, it's of no use.
An experienced operator who is smart and has seen a service tech fix "his" machine over a period of 10-20 years and taken notes can evaluate a machine in a few minutes, but you have basically zero chance.
>it's of no use.
Couldn't they let you take some cuts and check the runout?
Yes. Visit the Practical Machinist forum (it's for pros and packed with wisdom) and do some reading to find out what to buy and what to avoid.
>Do sellers generally allow inspections before purchase?
Of course. Auctions also specify inspection days.
Self and bro are as fast as riggers and unlike using riggers we can leave our outrigger dollies etc attached and resume a move once back home. Our system fits indoors where forkifts cannot including our shipping container shops & track width fits our trailers. Low garages stop forklifts but not us.
For example we move mills by bolting our pair of heavy downward-facing angle sections to the base using the stock mounting holes. (He's short so removes those. I'm tall so I leave them in place also enjoying instant pallet jack repositioning.) Then we drop two vertical sections of allthread through predrilled holes in that angle (which extends fore and aft of the mill base. We place predrilled sections of channel (chosen because we scored a shitload of it) over the allthread then install and tighten nuts on the allthread which safely raises the machine base clear of the floor until the angles are tight against the channel. The outboard portions of the beams decisively prevent tipping while the casters on the ends roll easily. I've moved plenty of machinery with skates (which I detest because they do not control tipping) and forklifts.
Two pair shown in pic. We add holes as needed since the web is not critical to bending resistance in this use. I also have some angles with pipe sockets for scaffolding casters which I prefer but those are at my bros ATM.
Pipe sockets permit use of a few scaffolding casters on a variety of steel components. I also fab plain pipe skids to drag on earth or soft floors (like my other bros rotting trailer deck) where point loading would punch holes. I use sections of old mobile home frame to support the wheels when I need to traverse soft ground.
All easy, simple, fast, dirt cheap because used steel and casters and most important SAFE and very fricking stable. We've done lathes, mills, grinders, compressors etc.
52% hard
Scrapyards (I mean scrapyards that take the time to put usable machinery under cover) The SMALLEST of that shit is 3-phase, 240V. You can get major deals, because no one has 3phase (in the US). That's why phase converters have become so popular - you can pick up lathes, drill presses, etc cheap as shit.
>You can get major deals, because no one has 3phase (in the US). That's why phase converters have become so popular - you can pick up lathes, drill presses, etc cheap as shit.
There is 3-phase almost everywhere industry matters in north america. My office has two 3ph breakers 20 feet from my desk. Apartment buildings are often 3 phase.
The shops selling those machines would also have had 3phase.
You're saying this equipment is cheap because there's no demand due to lack of 3ph, except for all the popular demand from people who use phase converters. Makes no sense.
Jesus, I don't mean in a commercial building - I mean IN A PRIVATE HOME. Unless you are right near a main line, you will pay a shit-ton to have 3-phase run to your RESIDENTIAL home/workshop. This is not a commercial thread.
Just run a rotary phase converter like I do or a VFD for smaller stuff like most mills and lathes.
How do you not know about these? The Practical Machinist forum has a good section worth study. Three phase is not a problem, it's an advantage. Since I ran it for my dual compressors (for sand blasting) and sized a RPC appropriately I'm hooking up the 450A MIG I bartered for (another way to get machinery) so I can run FCAW in my Hobart Hefty (more auction joy) suitcase feeder out in my shop yard.
Study. Exhaustively. That's fun. Then buy at auction and be ready to move it without a rigger which is easy to do safely if you're smart but dangerous if you're stupid. Self and bro use my system of steel channel, allthread and industrial casters (bolt those on to remove or relocate if needed) to move machine tools because it does not permit them to tip over.
I didn't have shop insurance to drive into one closed factory so I used snatch blocks and winched out the steel racks (greats source of common shapes most machine buyers do not want to pay to move) and other heavy shit. Have a plan and tools and gear ready in advance. Google "Moving a Bridgeport" to see how various people move them. You can rent hydraulic drop deck trailers.
back in the day I moved a lot of stuff, including my bridgeport a few times without a rigger. Now after having used a rigger for several machinery moves, I am more willing to use them. Spending $1k+ for a couple guys for a few hours seems nuts, but they will have the experience and the equipment to get the job done fast. Get multiple quotes, plan everything, and send them pictures.
>Apartment buildings 3p
But it's not going to your apartment. The building has switchgear and transformers stepping down to 120V split-phase.
>But it's not going to your apartment.
Correct, and it's not going to. The cost would be enormous, and the landlord would not allow it in almost every instance. The only way americans can get 3-phase in a shop for a relatively affordable cost is if they have pic-related near their shop - three lines at the top of the pole. If your service is in the ground it is unlikely to be 3 phase, and even if it is the cost is going to be even higher.
In the best case you have to pay the power company to bring the three lines to your shop, and then an electrician to do the rest, with permits and inspections. You can do some of the work yourself, but you still need an electrician to sign off before the inspector will pass it.
And this is why nobody has 3 phase in their home or garage or shop, and why they use a converter.
Also it would not make sense for a thousand residents to each own their step-down transformer. That would be a lot of redundant costs, plus the risks involved of having low voltage (as opposed to ELV) all the way to a house.
Fricking electric company started charging me.commercial rates for my personal farm shop. Should i raise hell and make them bring me 3 phase power since they want to charge me for commercial power?
3 phase is always listed as commercial use so frick you
.t electrical designer
That's custom not law.
But the customer gets a discounted rate when they have their own transformer. Now, cost of transformer plus labor might offset the gains, but it usually makes sense for shops that use a lot of power, especially if it lets them avoid being charged demand rate.
I'd pay them a visit in person and require to SEE the applicable policy in print to be sure some frickstick didn't arbitrarily charge you. I don't pay commercial rates for my private shop nor know anyone who does.
I'd determine what's required to UNqualify your "shop" for commercial rates.
Search on ebay, contact seller directly
Well make sure you can power whatever you're looking at first.
Most is 3 phase and usually more than 240 volts.
So I have a bunch of knowledge on this shit. But part time I was able to make the cost of the machine back in a single month. Its not getting the machine. Its getting the person to sell the thing to. I just saw large presses and newspaper printers go for scrap because the lack of buyer of the products coming off them. You have a very real chicken vs egg problem with industrial equipment. I have an american rotary phase converter and its rock solid.
what do you make with your machines?
Its a haas cnc mill over 20 years old but i just repair it regularly. it makes good parts with in 0.001 easy even tho its old as fuk. mild steel widgets.
Same we have one that drops tool holders, needs a new vector drive and dropped the tool carousel on its own ways before
It’s an old vf-0
You’d be surprised at how many alarms you can clear by just shutting off the power and turning her back on again
Error 118 Spindle transmission FUCTUP alarm huh? Turn her off browse YouTube for a few mins turn her back on
Settings door hold overide and hood as new!
>be interested in some machinery
>it's some overcomplicated industrial bs
>look up a more victorian rudimentary version of this machine
>also happens to be purely mechanical and lot of times human powered
>diy this machine
>it replicates most of the functionality
take the neo luddite pill
Give examples pls.
another thing to remember is there's not enough people to buy all the boomer shit. tons of old tools available at estate sales (if you can beat out the fricking antique shop owner's entire fricking family throwing sold stickers on every fricking thing you came to buy). they'll resale it & it'll still be a deal, just not the deal it is at the estate sale.
They get sold extremely cheap, usually for scrap value. Sometimes they even just give it away to any (fully insured and competent) rigging company thats willing to remove it from the building. But machines very rarely get replaced unless there’s really no value left in it so whatever you buy is going to be old and/or a maintenance nightmare. Its not like cars where you have good used ones, plenty of really advanced factories still have equipment from the 60s because its still working well.
If you somehow find one, best use is stripping it for parts and selling the parts on ebay.
Drive around industrial areas until you find a shop that’s not super busy and doesn’t have a huge number of employees
Back your truck into the shop, grab a clipboard andddone safety glasses
And tell them you’re the millwright here to pick up the machine
Auctions
You could have had the TCO machine I worked with a couple years ago.
Little downside is it requires about 250kw of power.
>Where do industrial machines even go when they are no longer in service?
While searching for information on an old printing press I used to work with, a Toko 4750, I found out where they go: to 3rd world countries, apparently.