General Workshop Disposal Advice

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Soapy62

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Greetings All. A new member but I have only joined to ask for some advice. My Mothers partner sadly died and we're now getting around to clearing out some of his property. He was an enthusiastic collector of workshop equipment and loved equipping his workshop. My mother initially approached a firm to clear his lathes, tools (wood and metal working) as well as CNC Mills and the like. She was given an offer that she fortunately refused (some £4k). I'm unsighted on the cost of much of his workshop but a brief search revealed that his Myford Super 7B lathe (unused) is alone worth more than the offer. There are may other band saws, lathes, CNC machines, boxes of Proxxon mills and tools and then drawers and drawers of wood (in Axminster cases) and model, metal working tools. Another machine that I managed to find on the web is a Wabeko CC F1210. So the request.... is there a reputable firm or buiness that anyone is aware of that won't take the micky but will see a sensible offer being made to clear a workshop in an honest fashion. The workshop is in SW Scotland. Grateful if anyone can recommend such a company.
 
Hello mate
Just an idea, but....
Why not try to id the machines as best you can, Google is your friend but if you need to take pics and post here as we all love a 'What is it?' thread. Then put them up for sale at a reasonable price in the for sale section here and see what they do. After a week or two, if they have not sold, put the item(s) on ebay with a reserve, but most importantly with a GOOD description, using keywords and such, with no spelling mistakes, and sit back and wait. Do it all collection only so the buyer can see the goods, and you can see the buyer.

This is what I think I would do.

Hope this helps

Neil
 
There was a similar request a couple of months back - might be worth a search to get some ideas. But the gist of the posts was that ther's going to be a trade-off between hassle/risk of advertising and selling yourself for maximum price or getting professionals (probably auction house) to do it for you and paying for the privilege.
It was definitely right to refuse the first offer, but your estimate of £4k for a Super 7, even "as new", is possibly a bit optimistic.

As someone has suggested, post pix on here - we love being "machinery twitchers"
 
@Soapy62:

As somone has suggested, the homeworkshop site is a good place look for typical prices (or even to advertise items yourself).

Otherwise there are "professionals"around who claim to be straight & honest - I wouldn't know myself, but as far as metalworking tooling & machinery goes, nip into WH Smiths and buy a copy of either/both "Model Engineer" and/or "Model Engineer's Workshop" magazines. You'll see several ads on the back pages there for "people" who seem to specialise in such clear outs. As said, I have no personal experience of these but the word will soon get around on the Model Engineer forum, etc (and sometimes has in the past) on any of these people who are a bit dodgy.

A couple of typicals (from my latest copy of the above "MEW") are:

Dave Anchell (just a Nottingham phone number - send me a PM and I'll send his numbers to you if you wish)

and

[email protected] (they're a shop in E. Devon).

Alternatively, as someone said, at the very least, try and make a list of at least the bigger machines (with model/type numbers, etc - look on the data plates) and publish that here. From what I've found on this site, there are MANY very straightforward, honest, helpful, and knowledgeable individuals here who could soon put you right on at least some parts of such a list.

A last word of caution - you mention the Myford lathe as possibly being worth more than the 4K pounds quoted, and you may very well be quite correct. BUT as someone who's been following the SH prices of such machines for quite some time now, such a lathe COULD also be worth only about 500 quid - so much depends on model, age, condition, and tooling etc included - as is so often the case, this is a pretty specialised market.

Anyway, good luck.

AES
 
Soapy 62:

Sorry, I forgot to welcome you.

Also, sorry there's a typo in the E-mail address for "the Tool Box" shop in my post above. It is actually just as I've written it here.

Sorry about that.

Krgds
AES
 
All.

VMT for the advice and feedback. Sadly, whilst I can see the potential interest a series of descriptions, bids and photos would provide you all, the distance between me and the workshop combined with that precious commodity "time" probably makes such a course untenable. I have kindly been put in touch with both Myford and another metal and model tools company further South. A visit from one or both of them in the NY is probably in order.
Thanks again for the warm welcome and salient advice. Thank you also for the warning over the amounts items may fetch – I’m certain that those I’ve looked at to date will exceed the 4k bid by a substantial amount. Yrs Aye Iain
 
Just a thought, if the stuff is in SW Scotland and not too far into that corner - pretty sure Penrith Farmers and Kidds auctioneers (in Penrith!) have sales where there is machinery included. Could be worth contacting them?
 
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