Nardini Lathe update

[outback]

Well, the deal turned bad.

I looked at this lathe a week ago. A private party had it stored in a barn for the past 15 years and it was offered to me for sale for scrap price or $225. I called the guy a couple of days later, (left a message) and told him I wanted to buy it and take it home on Friday. He called late Thursday and said his fork lift would not run. I told him I would pick up the lathe on Saturday and I would hire a tow truck to lift up the lathe and set it on a trailer. He said he would call me Saturday morning. Saturday, today, turned out to be a miserable day. So when the seller called, I told him Monday would be a better day to move the lathe because of the weather. I told him I would still like to look at the lathe today, take pictures and pay for the lathe. We set up a 2:00PM meeting time.

So I drive 70 miles to see the lathe. I get there, the seller says to me, "bad news, my son wants the lathe, I'm sorry". I asked him, "how bad does your son want lathe"? Seller says, "I don't know, he says he wants it". I told the seller, "after 15 years your son still thinks he is going run the lathe?"

Below is the lathe: No power, No chuck, no tool post or tooling. Tailstock is there but no steady rest or follower rest,



Scrap value on this lathe is about $225. Should I offer his son $400 or $500 for the lathe or just walk away?
Maybe $250 is all the lathe is worth in it's current condition and lack of tooling and no power for a test run?

What do you think?
Jim

[loose nut]

Looks like a lot of rust on they important bits, it might be scrap.

[Peter.]

Dunno about scrap but the following picture in your photobucket shows it in quite nice condition. How long ago was that taken?

[outback]

Dunno about scrap but the following picture in your photobucket shows it in quite nice condition. How long ago was that taken?

Don't go by the other pictures at photobucket, I'm going to delete those. I took the picture of the rusty lathe 2 hours ago.
That is the one I wanted to buy.
Jim

[hoffman]

Pisser I feel your pain...

I'd talk to the son and get a feel for the situation. Maybe you could still score a deal.

[oxford]

It is hard to say without knowing the extend of the rust, it doesn't look good from the picture. I would say scrap value to maybe $50-$100 over scrap would be fair.

[Rustybolt]

My.02
The guy's a flake. Walk away.
There'll be other deals.

[EddyCurr]

Who actually owns the lathe, your contact or the son?

If the father owns it and is responsible for you losing 140 mi
of vehicle fuel/wear and 4-5 hrs of your life you'll never recoup,
I say write him off as the unprincipled sod that he is and walk
away.

If the son owns the lathe and, in a fit of wishful thinking, the father
listed it in hopes the son would come to his senses if presented with
a done deal, I would still walk away. I just wouldn't hold a grudge
against Pop for trying to clear the shed.

FWIW, I gave consideration to buying an ND1540-E Nardini back
in 2012.09. Some discussion and photos appear below. After
considering the absence of support, I opted not to bid.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/photos-nardini-nd1540-e-auction-opinions-requested-252384-print/

.

[outback]

Pisser I feel your pain...

I'd talk to the son and get a feel for the situation. Maybe you could still score a deal.

Is the lathe worth $400 or $500 in its current condition? I actually met his son. Younger guy with a couple of small kids. I'm wondering if he would like to have $400 or $500 in his hand than a rusty lathe in the barn. All they have is 120VAC so the lathe will need to be relocated to be powered up.

I would like to make them a final offer if the lathe is actually worth it. I think the right sales pitch might make a deal.

Another picture of the lathe bed;

Click to enlarge



Jim

[hoffman]

Is the lathe worth $400 or $500 in its current condition? I actually met his son. Younger guy with a couple of small kids. I'm wondering if he would like to have $400 or $500 in his hand than a rusty lathe in the barn. All they have is 120VAC so the lathe will need to be relocated to be powered up.

I would like to make them a final offer if the lathe is actually worth it. I think the right sales pitch might make a deal.
Jim

Depends on how often machines come around for sale in your neck of the woods. Some places stuff is scarce so it's worth chasing.

I'm with rustybolt, sounds a bit flakey but you're not gonna move in with them :O

[_Paul_]

Make an offer your happy with leave your business card and walk away, there are always other deals.

[Zahnrad Kopf]

Jim, I've fairly familiar with those things. I have a sweet spot for them, too. If you can get the thing for $400 or $500 without expending much more, I would say snag it and run. It'll clean up. However, the others are right - the guys sounds like a right sod. Don't waste your time much more. Make the offer. Walk away with it or without it.

[oxford]

How bad is the rust on the lathe. I know sometimes old oil/grease can sometimes look a lot like rust in pictures but with a little elbow grease will clean off pretty well.

[Peter.]

For a £200 lathe that size I wouldn't worry about the rust at all. Scrape it off and get turning.

[RussZHC]

Depends on how often machines come around for sale in your neck of the woods.

took a quick CL look within relatively "easy" driving distance of you and while there is some selection in some places (Indianapolis area e.g.) anything that could be called HSM by most is 2x or greater than say a $400 to $500 offer, often 4x those dollar amounts and most of those are older American laths or the generic Asian import. Another way to look at it could be, IF you get it and it proves too much (rust, cost to return closer to factory condition etc.), what could the parts be worth and could/would you be able to sell them?