Used CNC on ebay

I'm curious if that is Joe Porper's old machine. Many years ago Joe asked me to teach him how to run it, so I created all kinds of charts and "quick start" sheets to make it easy for him. Ultimately he couldn't do it because he had zero interest in learning how.

Joe was in love with the idea of using a CNC machine, but he couldn't stay focused long enough to learn even the rudimentary steps to fire it up. He was very clever and very inventive, but at the end of the day he was a terrible "student".

I don't know if he bought the machine new or used, but I can tell you that if he bought it new then this machine never cut a single cue. (if this is the machine I think it is)

TW

 
Thomas Wayne said:
I'm curious if that is Joe Porper's old machine. Many years ago Joe asked me to teach him how to run it, so I created all kinds of charts and "quick start" sheets to make it easy for him. Ultimately he couldn't do it because he had zero interest in learning how.

Joe was in love with the idea of using a CNC machine, but he couldn't stay focused long enough to learn even the rudimentary steps to fire it up. He was very clever and very inventive, but at the end of the day he was a terrible "student".

I don't know if he bought the machine new or used, but I can tell you that if he bought it new then this machine never cut a single cue. (if this is the machine I think it is)

TW
Click to expand...

It's an Align Rite CNC.
http://alignritetool.com/
They don't show that model there , but they make it .

I'm still wondering whose shop closed here .
 
I didn't buy it. I saw it before it was posted here and it was already pulled..

It's the same one Barringer has I believe and, according to him, they no longer make it.
 
Done deal

Well, I put on my road warrior hat yesterday and drove ~375 miles to look at it. Seems OK to my mostly untrained eye.

For better or worse the deal is done and I'll return in a day or two to pick it up.

It comes with a nice pile of wood.

It seems like it's hardly been used.

The same guy has a nice Baldor buffer that someone should buy. A couple lathes too including a Logan set up for tapering.

Robin

PS- Jim, thanks for the input.
 
That should make a good machine. First thing I would do is change the control box out for a gecko G540 box. Maybe a smoothstepper ESS. Let me know if you have any questions.
 
carguy said:
Well, I put on my road warrior hat yesterday and drove ~375 miles to look at it. Seems OK to my mostly untrained eye.

For better or worse the deal is done and I'll return in a day or two to pick it up.

It comes with a nice pile of wood.

It seems like it's hardly been used.

The same guy has a nice Baldor buffer that someone should buy. A couple lathes too including a Logan set up for tapering.

Robin

PS- Jim, thanks for the input.
Click to expand...

You can sell it to me when you don't like it:thumbup:

If it has a Xylotec box, will you mail it to my address so I can kill it with my sledge?

I have Flashcut and I think it's fine. Pretty simple and I can be of some help with it.

HONESTLY THOUGH. Why didn't you call me????!!! I am literally 3 minutes from Oxnard. No way I would have bought it out from under you. Besides I'm not interested in a cue specific CNC. I intend on buying something with much more latitude that will be work all the time.

I have the same buffer that he has listed BTW and love it. It's not as pretty, as McWorter left it outside for God knows how long:-(, but after I replaced the bearings it purrs right along. That isn't a great price, but it looks to be in great condition. I'd offer him 300.00 and see if he countered. The stand is expensive, but nice. I tested it after sanding to 600 and my finish glowed. I didn't find the speed too fast at all and the cue was easily managed.
 
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Here is another "cue" lathe the guy has. Maybe it will be a clue as to where the stuff came from. There is another pic of the bench that the CNC was sitting on in the listings.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logan-2557-...od-Router-5C-Collet-Closer-Rare-/371264411509

I went through everything that guy is selling and, as is TYPICALLY the norm with a dealer, nothing is a bargain. He has some Guhring endmills that are within a couple bucks of MSC prices.

The 1440 Sharp he has is nice, but Sharp is a real pain in the ass in my experience and much too proud of their stuff. That's a 3 phase/2 speed motor on it BTW. The majority of the headache was dealing with the woman who manned the phones. Parts? Stupid expensive. I ordered a manual for 50 bucks once, expecting it to be..well....somewhat nice? It had a color Xerox copy on the front and all the pages inside were Xerox's. Essentially they put an original into a copier and gave me...what I got. The guy's in the warehouse were nice to deal with, but the 3 hour drive was not.
 
Randy, I was going to call you but I thought you were goin' fishin'.

I'll probably be back down tomorrow or Saturday with my truck to pick it up.

Wow, now I have buffer envy! Perhaps I should buy that too. But I have the same Makita one I've had for 15 years or so and it works just fine.

I'm going to try the 'ol deep-end-of-the-pool technique before I ask anyone for help, but I appreciate all the offers of assistance. I think I'll learn a lot just letting it try to kick my ass for a while though.

Jim the machinery detective, again, thanks for the steer.

Robin Snyder
 
This was the steal of the century! And, you did it without a gun. :D

This was the best AlignRite model ever made. It was too costly for them to continue to market it and so they changed designs where they now do it on a lathe platform.
 
Joe Barringer said:
This was the steal of the century! And, you did it without a gun. :D

This was the best AlignRite model ever made. It was too costly for them to continue to market it and so they changed designs where they now do it on a lathe platform.
Click to expand...

Joe-
That's good to hear. It looked like it had all the right stuff.
Now I get to learn to use it!


Robin Snyder
 
I too think it was a hell of a deal.

Like Jim said, it doesn't look like it was used much at all.

Did anyone find out if this was Joe Porper's machine like Thomas thought?

Royce
 
carguy said:
Joe-
That's good to hear. It looked like it had all the right stuff.
Now I get to learn to use it!

Robin Snyder
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You got that machine for nothing; it was a gift @ $5k. You can easily sell it for around $10k. They don't make that one anymore, it was their best machine as previously stated. They then went to a lathe platform and finally scrapped the whole thing as it's too costly to manufacture. Others tried to copy it and came in for less money with inferior parts. So there you have it.
 
pescadoman said:
Here is another "cue" lathe the guy has. Maybe it will be a clue as to where the stuff came from. There is another pic of the bench that the CNC was sitting on in the listings.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logan-2557-...od-Router-5C-Collet-Closer-Rare-/371264411509

I went through everything that guy is selling and, as is TYPICALLY the norm with a dealer, nothing is a bargain. He has some Guhring endmills that are within a couple bucks of MSC prices.

The 1440 Sharp he has is nice, but Sharp is a real pain in the ass in my experience and much too proud of their stuff. That's a 3 phase/2 speed motor on it BTW. The majority of the headache was dealing with the woman who manned the phones. Parts? Stupid expensive. I ordered a manual for 50 bucks once, expecting it to be..well....somewhat nice? It had a color Xerox copy on the front and all the pages inside were Xerox's. Essentially they put an original into a copier and gave me...what I got. The guy's in the warehouse were nice to deal with, but the 3 hour drive was not.
Click to expand...

1440's are too wide in the headstock and too heavy to work with .
This guy must be the new Reliable .
 
carguy said:
Randy, I was going to call you but I thought you were goin' fishin'.

I'll probably be back down tomorrow or Saturday with my truck to pick it up.

Wow, now I have buffer envy! Perhaps I should buy that too. But I have the same Makita one I've had for 15 years or so and it works just fine.

I'm going to try the 'ol deep-end-of-the-pool technique before I ask anyone for help, but I appreciate all the offers of assistance. I think I'll learn a lot just letting it try to kick my ass for a while though.

Jim the machinery detective, again, thanks for the steer.

Robin Snyder
Click to expand...

Flaschcut uses Fanuc G code. The newer stuff uses lookahead and a few other codes, which Flashcut doesn't recognize. That is what the latest version of Mastercam generates. Older might be generate and play. Aspire spits out the code and you can just start cutting. I won't be around until the evenings for the next three days, but if you are around I'll buy you dinner.

I'm somewhat jealous because I am a deal whore and that seems like a good deal to everyone who knows about it. The only reason I would have bought it was for resale. What really makes me sick is how much that dealer probably paid for it and why nobody in the cuemaking community knew...
 
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