Bits and pieces...

A seller 2 hrs from me told me he'd have a small truckload of tools and machines available to sell at about 9:30 Saturday. I hit the road at 6:00 and got here at 8:00 to find his other customers had mostly stripped anything decent out of the truck, leaving nothing I could use. Not the first time that's happened, to make sure and get there early enough to get anything good I have to drive the day prior and either stay in motel or with inlaws. Anyway here's what I got from his regular inventory after the unproductive (for me) truck sale. I was tired and had a bad cold, didn't take the time to secure the 500-lb. load against quick stops, intending to avoid those, but yes had to make one quick stop and now those drills etc. are all over the truck. The 5-gal. Buckets are about 12 inches across the tops, for scale. Most of the drills have been resharpened many times, and now much shorter than originally. The drills go up to about 2" diameter but I rarely use drills that big so I'll be thinking of non-traditional uses for them, or maybe sell or trade some. I wonder if steampunk buy them?

 

That sucks, but at least you didn't come away empty handed.

 

Much like going to some event that's supposed to end at a certain time and arriving about an hour or so before it is supposed to end and many vendors have left. THAT makes me nuttier than I already am...

 

Just now saw this on eBidet>
~

 

I've got great stuff from this vendor but his sales are really hard to guess-I wasted another day on the estate tool sale-several of us were let into the owners machine shop and collected stuff in our buckets, then the wife came in crying saying she just couldn't let the stuff go yet. So we put it all back and went home. 0wner has advanced Alzheimer's but still at home. Tough situation for all involved.

 

i'm sorry to hear you were involved in both those failed deals.

 

It is definitely hit or miss with that vendor, but when I hit, his prices are very reasonable for small items. The usable machines that are in some demand are closer to "2nd hand retail" prices at his place. I got a Bridgeport milling machine there that was in that category, good working condition with an added digital readout, for $2200. It fit in my truck after we cranked the head from vertical to horizontal position.

 

Bridgeport milling machine loaded in truck, and after arrival at biz. The nylon strap connects the top of the load to the trailer hitch to prevent top-heavy mill from falling over in case of a quick stop. One interesting part of that trip was seller's test run/demo of the machine. It growled when running at high speed so he installed a gear replacement kit he already had, as that particular plastic gear is a known failure point. There were 3 0r 4 other broken/missing parts he found during the demo, so he and a customer removed those parts from other Bridgeport mills in the shop and put them in mine. This is the advantage of buying complex machines from a very knowledgeable dealer-the assurance everything works at time of purchase.