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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Uncategorised MetalWorking Machines > Building, convrtg, Home/small shop/ benchtop cnc equipment?. and selling for profit?
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  1. #1

    Building, convrtg, Home/small shop/ benchtop cnc equipment?. and selling for profit?

    Thought this would be a good discussion and a possible venture..... Just wondering who is out there buying old and or used benchtop mills and lathes stripping them down retrofitting them with servos and controllers and Mach 3 and selling them to home shop and or even the light industrial community....
    What are the pros and cons and has it been profitable? what are good cost saving ideas to implement and try and would it be something worth partnering with an investor if you have a fully tooled and equipped machine shop to support the builds....ie brackets, mountings, pulleys, guards etc.. assy and testing.

    I see guys out there selling instruction manuals left and right... who is doing this and how big do you believe the market is out there for the home machinist?

    Looking to hear from experiences and anyone who has considered this venture in some shape or form...
    What has made it work for you or what has deterred you from starting the process?

    Can money be made through the home machine shop community making good small affordable CNC benchtop mills and lathe readily available..... I can't believe Tormach can reach all the community at their prices.... at 35-45% cheaper I believe there can be a good market.

    Hoping to start an open intelligent and creative discussion here to see where it takes us.
    L.S. Tool & Precision Inc.
    Taking machining to the
    next level, combining creativity, ingenuity and the technology of CAD/CAM & CNC Machining
    “When ingenuity makes all the difference”
    http://hometown.aol.com/lstool1/myhomepage/business.html

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    5728

    Re: Building, convrtg, Home/small shop/ benchtop cnc equipment?. and selling for prof

    This doesn't sound like a great business model to me. The trouble with retrofitting old machines is that each one is different. Even if you stick to, say, Bridgeport Series 1 machines, the ones you'll get will all have been used - and abused - in different ways. Shops tend to set up a machine to do one particular operation over and over, which wears them out in certain places. Just diagnosing all the problems of each machine you get in would be a lot of work, not to mention fixing these issues - repacking the ball screws, scraping the ways, replacing bad spindle components - it would be a big nightmare.

    It would be easier if you started with something new, even if it was a cheap Chinese machine, and went through it carefully, regrinding the ways, replacing the screws, and fitting them with better spindle bearings. At least you'd know what needed to be done, and it wouldn't be a new adventure each time. Of course, starting with your own new castings would be best of all; then you'd have something nobody else did, and you could make it the way you (and your customers) really wanted it.

    Andrew Werby
    ComputerSculpture.com ? Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software
    Andrew Werby
    Website

  3. #3

    Re: Building, convrtg, Home/small shop/ benchtop cnc equipment?. and selling for prof

    Yes that is also the thought process. ... new cheep machines upgrading certain components. ..... and understood about dealing with older machines and their issues. ..... thanks
    L.S. Tool & Precision Inc.
    Taking machining to the
    next level, combining creativity, ingenuity and the technology of CAD/CAM & CNC Machining
    “When ingenuity makes all the difference”
    http://hometown.aol.com/lstool1/myhomepage/business.html

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