Going for it - Ironworker

[Joe Jones]

This one popped up. I am bidding on it, but I think it will eventually go for more than I want to offer.

I just heard from the shipper. $500 from New York to my home! What a deal!

Joe

BERNARDO MACH IRONWORKER.jpg

[plasmanewbie]

Good luck Joe, looks like it ends today!

[Joe Jones]

According to the auctioneer, this is a brand new, never used machine.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

I won it! $7,250.00 !!!

I will wire the money tomorrow, and then arrange for delivery to my shop. I am beyond jazzed!

Joe

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[Jason@bc]

Good for you Joe....this is a useful machine in any shop.

[Joe Jones]

I wanted to add one to my shop 12 years ago but they were so expensive. I figured I would get a used one but holy cow! This one is brand spanking new and I got it for $11,000 off!

Joe

[djreiswig]

Uh, oh, Joe. According to your signature, looks like you're debt free again.

[Joe Jones]

Uh, oh, Joe. According to your signature, looks like you're debt free again.

Appearances can be deceiving.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

In anticipation of the iron worker and some other, larger, potentially heavier things, I am trading in my 3,000 lb. Toyota forklift for a 5,000 lb forklift. The replacement has hydraulic side shifting blades, and an auto-spreader for the distance between the blades. I asked about adding these features to my current lift, but it would actually cost LESS to just buy another forklift So I am going to trade mine in for a larger lift.

This is a real back saver. I have been raising the blades and manually shifting them left and right as needed. Those 60" fork blades are heavy. I also have a set of 36" blades for the Toyota, but in five years, I have never swapped for shorter blades. So I am shifting gears, and moving to "bigger and better."

I am not sure which will arrive first, the iron worker, or the lift.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

I won it! $7,250.00 !!!

Joe

$600.00 total shipping from Buffalo, New York. I couldn't drive up there to get it myself for that price!

Joe

[robertspark]

Joe do you get the time to use all this gear?

I appreciate you have a setup I would die for, but I am crap at business (getting paid), but time is also a factor at using everything well and getting to know it all as a skilled tradesman to use the items right first time every time. especially if you are hired to do something.

how do you manage it?

[djreiswig]

As I understand it, Joe is still in the building stage for his grand endeavor. I don't believe he's turned a profit yet. Hopefully he's got several more decades to realize his dreams.

[Joe Jones]

Joe do you get the time to use all this gear?

That is the evil master plan! Most of the machines are not set up or functional right now, and many of them remain in their original shipping boxes. They are in a large shop, stored as you might pile things into a self-storage unit. I have little to no help. and I am realizing that my energy level cannot keep up with my ambitions.

I need to stop ACQUIRING, and begin USING. The lasers are my higher priority right now. I want them all set up on the second floor (and/or attic level) off the FrankenBarn. It is a matter of figuring out what each machine's footprint is, and building (or buying) workbenches to set them upon, as well as setting up a universal dust and smoke removal ducting system, with blast gates, etc.

Now I am bidding on a nice 4x8 1000 Watt fiber laser table. I don't know if I will win that one. I could get back into "metal art" using my Samson 510 table, but I am sort of burned out on what that plasma table can produce. Plasma cutting is plasma cutting, and I don't want to get into a position where I am competing ONLY on price. It will still have its uses, but a fiber laser table will become my GO-TO machine IF I can get it.

The thing is, as this economy collapses, I am finding irresistible deals on things I have avoided buying for a long time. HOW do I pass up a cnc plasma table for only $200 in San Antonio, when it would cost me over $10K to buy it from PlasmaCam? Another for $400, and another for $800? Five or six more for around $2K per ... I do have a way to convert them into something greater, but I have not begun that process yet. The iron worker will save me from needing to DRILL some 800 holes on a drill press. I can PUNCH the holes now, which is far more desirable. Convert (and SELL) one table. Use the proceeds to convert table #2, etc. etc. My mod will basically eliminate the need for the pipe cutting attachment.

I know ... "Set up ONE, and start using it. Then set up #2. Rinse and repeat." I bought the Makerbot Replicator Z18 3D printer from Indiana State University. I was so excited to get this one, because it will sit here in my home next to my main computer work station. The other 3D printers are too large and are all out in the shop, waiting to be put into service.

Sadly ... the printer door was damaged during transport (my fault) and now I am focused on repairing the door with parts that are no longer available. I am looking for parts on eBay and other sources. The printer itself works, but it will not run with the door sensors triggered "open." So I either have to manually override them, or fix the issues, a broken hinge, and a broken latch that holds the door closed.

Meanwhile, I am swapping out my 3,000 lb. Toyota forklift for a larger 5,000 lb. forklift with hydraulic shifting blades, which will save my back, and give me more lifting capability.

Eventually, and probably NOT before January 20th, I will have at least some of these machines working, and I can begin to make things to sell, or give away. I can only do so much, as one person.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

It arrives tomorrow! I am so excited!

The 53 foot trailer cannot get to my property. It unloads off of the rear of the enclosed trailer, and this trailer has no lift gate.

So I am going to scramble tomorrow morning, to find SOMEONE with a forklift who will unload the machine from the semi trailer and load it onto my trailer, perhaps for $100.00 CASH?

I think the local welding shop will do it, but they did not answer their phone on Sunday.

So much going on. No time to rest or sleep now.

Joe