Lathe pricing question

[Cuda]

I have obtained an older Atlas metal lathe that I want to sell. The problem is I have not a clue what it might be worth. It's in good working order.
How would you go about fixing a price on an older piece of equipment like this?

 

[930dreamer]

I'd look on ebay and check the Practical Machinist Forum.

 

[Steve from Socal]

Unless you are in a machine tool wasteland not much, a couple hundred bucks. The Atlas lathe is a banishable subject on PM, you would do far better on some home shop sites like Chaski.

Steve

 

[spongerich]

I see them on CL once in a while. They seem to range from $500-$1200 depending on condition and accessories/tooling included.

 

[A_Pmech]

Unless you are in a machine tool wasteland not much, a couple hundred bucks. The Atlas lathe is a banishable subject on PM, you would do far better on some home shop sites like Chaski.

Steve

Agree with Steve, a couple hundred bucks would be about average. HOWEVER, some people will pay much more. Usually those who have never touched a lathe before.

X2, don't dare bring up that lathe on PM, it will get you banned.

 

[Case IH]

There junk just send it to me and I will deal with it

 

[toolman1967]

$500-$1000. I have bought several used ones to resell. Thats what they go for.

 

[Daddy_Rabbit]

just out of curiosity, why is the Atlas lathe a taboo subject on PM?

 

[Cuda]

just out of curiosity, why is the Atlas lathe a taboo subject on PM?

Yea, I'm curious about that also.
Thanks for the responses guys. At least gives me a place to start.

 

[DocsMachine]

just out of curiosity, why is the Atlas lathe a taboo subject on PM?

-The owner of the site makes money selling ad-space to industrial tool suppliers like HAAS and Kennemetal. He wants to try to keep the board looking "professional" to justify his ad-rates, so any inquiry about cheap hobby-grade machines, especially imports, tends to get locked or deleted.

There's a lot of "what I say goes", though- you can talk about making model engine parts with a 9" Southbend all day long, but asking about your 13"x40" Grizzly is basically verboten, even if you're using it to make parts under contract to Boeing.

The owner is also something of a grumpy old fart, so there's a strong measure of "no Chinese tool is any good, period, and nobody worth two sh*ts would ever consider using them, and I don't like them, therefore we're not going to talk about them!"

But hey, it's his site, he makes the rules.

The Home Shop Machinist board is considerably more friendly for- naturally enough- the home and garage hobbyist.

Doc.

 

[tool_scrounge]

It depends a lot on the model and if you are willing to ship it. A late model 12" with the integral stand with the motor below in nice shape with chuck, etc: $1200 (no shipping). If you are willing to ship, they can go for more if in nice shape. If it is a small 6" version, they sell for less. The included tooling also makes a difference.

 

[Cuda]

Forgive my ignorance tool scrounge but how are they measured when you say 6" or 12".
(sorry, I know nothing much about lathes as you can see)

 

[ibedayank]

Cuda center of the chuck to the top of the rails the tool holder and tailstock slide on...otherwise known as the BED

 

[ibedayank]

WWW.cnczone.com has an import section

 

[Steve from Socal]

-The owner of the site makes money selling ad-space to industrial tool suppliers like HAAS and Kennemetal. He wants to try to keep the board looking "professional" to justify his ad-rates, so any inquiry about cheap hobby-grade machines, especially imports, tends to get locked or deleted.

There's a lot of "what I say goes", though- you can talk about making model engine parts with a 9" Southbend all day long, but asking about your 13"x40" Grizzly is basically verboten, even if you're using it to make parts under contract to Boeing.

The owner is also something of a grumpy old fart, so there's a strong measure of "no Chinese tool is any good, period, and nobody worth two sh*ts would ever consider using them, and I don't like them, therefore we're not going to talk about them!"

But hey, it's his site, he makes the rules.

The Home Shop Machinist board is considerably more friendly for- naturally enough- the home and garage hobbyist.

Doc.

Doc,

The ban over there is small "hobby" machines, plenty of larger Asian machinery is OK. PM is a great resource for machinist and aspiring machinist of all skill levels, it is not geared to or populated by many novices but, an eager student is always welcome. It is a site dedicated to precision machine tools and the snobs that use them!

It really is the most comprehensive machining and manufacturing forum on the net. It is also very opinionated and biased but in a good way IMHO.

Steve

 

[DocsMachine]

The ban over there is small "hobby" machines[...]

-Except it's not. As noted, the 9" Southbend, which basically defines a hobby lathe, is perfectly acceptable. Plenty of teeny watchmakers' lathes are also quite welcome, despite being even smaller, and even more hobby oriented (no one makes production watches or production watch parts with them.)

It's only the import hobby lathes that Don hates, which is to some degree simple jingoism, but mostly that Don himself is a used machinery reseller, and personally hates the Chinese encroachment on the machine market.

In any case, NONE of the locked or deleted "hobby" threads inquired about the machine's use before locking. I used a "hobby" Grizzly 9x20" to make short-run production parts in my shop early on. I probably made $50K on that machine alone.

Lots of gunsmiths use the larger "hobby" lathes- like the 12" x 32"- and those threads get locked too. A gunsmith local to me uses a 12" Craftsman- if he asked about it on PM, his thread would get locked within minutes, yet he uses it to turn down $500 barrel blanks destined to be fitted to $5,000 rifles.

Doc.

 

[Weps]

I have obtained an older Atlas metal lathe that I want to sell. The problem is I have not a clue what it might be worth. It's in good working order.
How would you go about fixing a price on an older piece of equipment like this?

it's kind of a catch 22. you really can't fix an accurate price unless you actually know how to set-up and run a lathe. sure, you can come up with a range based on what similar models have sold for, but that puts you at a huge disadvantage as a seller because you have no way of justifying or refuting anything a buyer may tell you.

you also need to be careful if you claim it is in "good working order." if you don't know how to run a lathe, what do you really know? that it looks good, that parts move freely, and that the motor turns on and sounds ok? do you have any idea how accurate it is and what tolerances it will hold in its current condition? is the bed heavily worn or maybe even twisted?

you could be sitting on a near pristine example or something worth slightly above scrap value.

eta. this doesn't even get into the value of any tooling and accessories that you may have with it. they may be far more valuable than the lathe.