A used machine is rarely a bad idea. A used machine bought without asking the right questions is almost always an expensive one. Here is the sequence we would work through ourselves.
1. Start with the job, not the machine
Write down what the machine has to produce: the material, the width, the weight, the speed, the tolerance, and the shifts it has to run. Almost every disappointing purchase we have seen began with somebody buying a machine they liked rather than a machine that matched a specification they had written down first.
2. Establish what is actually included
“Complete” means different things to different sellers. Ask, in writing:
- Is the control system present, and is it the original one?
- Are the drives, motors and gearboxes the ones the machine was built with?
- What tooling, dies, rolls, screens or change parts come with it?
- Are guards, safety circuits and interlocks intact?
- Is there documentation: manuals, electrical schematics, parts lists?
A machine missing its change parts can be a bargain or a paperweight, depending entirely on whether those parts are still made.
3. Ask how it was taken out of service
There is a large difference between a machine that was running on the day the plant closed and a machine that was shut down because it stopped working. Ask directly. Ask when it last ran, what it was making, and why it stopped. A seller who cannot answer that has not been near the machine.
4. Look at the wear items, not the paint
Paint is cheap and tells you nothing. What tells you something:
- Bearings, and any play you can feel by hand.
- Rolls, screws and barrels: scoring, ovality, wear at the edges.
- Frames and beds: cracks, weld repairs, signs of a past impact.
- Hydraulics and pneumatics: staining under fittings is a leak that has been there a while.
- Electrical cabinets: heat marks, patched wiring, and whether the labelling still matches reality.
5. Treat the controls as a separate purchase decision
Older control platforms are frequently the real risk in a used machine. Ask whether the controller is still supported, whether the programming software still runs on a current operating system, and whether anybody can still get spare input and output cards. A mechanically excellent machine with an unsupported control system may need a retrofit, and a retrofit is a project with its own budget and schedule.
6. Cost the whole job, not the machine
The purchase figure is one line in a much longer list. Budget for:
- Disconnection, rigging and removal.
- Transport, including any permits an oversized load needs.
- Electrical conversion, if the machine was built to a different standard from your plant’s.
- Foundations, anchoring and any building work.
- Reassembly, alignment and commissioning.
- Spare parts to hold, and training for the people who will run it.
We have seen every one of these turn a cheap machine into an expensive one, and none of them are surprises if you ask about them first.
7. Decide who is responsible for what
Agree in writing who disconnects, who lifts, who loads, who insures the load, who unloads, who reassembles and who commissions. The gaps between those responsibilities are where projects go wrong. American Plant and Equipment can arrange reassembly and turnkey installation services with its own technicians.
8. Get a second opinion before you commit
An hour with somebody who has bought and sold this class of equipment for decades is the cheapest part of the whole purchase. If you want that, our consulting sessions exist for exactly this, and our inventory is a reasonable place to see what a well documented listing looks like.