Professional rebuild ! (££££???)

[NooNooParticipant @noonoo22307]

Anyone ever had a quote?

[NooNooParticipant @noonoo22307]

Greetings people …

i have bought a colchester bantam, metric 20”. It belonged to a recently deceased gentleman whose son was clearing out his workshop to raise funds for his mum.

lovely machine in good mechanical condition but exceptionally cosmetically challenged. The chap who owned it had been ill a long time & it had basically sat unused in a damp garage for a good few years til it came to me.

here’s the killer …. The pallet company that were delivering it DROPPED IT! …. Only from pallet to floor …. Then again when it fell backwards onto the forklift when picked up! … devastated to say the least.

they have thankfully agreed to pay towards repairs and what have you.

i am genuinely thinking of treating myself (& it! Lol) to a professional rebuild …. Maybe not “fully”, but upto a budget perhaps …. Maybe saying i have £1500 or whatever & asking them to continue til my budget is used …. This is only a theory as it’s only been on my mind today to perhaps get quotes.

anyone have experience of having a rebuild professionally done? Or a quote? Or even a partial rebuild?

im not after “mint” but a repaint/full check over etc …. Like i say, i have put next to no thought into this & im hoping for your experiences.

will maybe ring TE-Bar as they are nearest me in south wales, Blue Diamond, Style Machine Tools, Unislide etc.

know any private individuals that do this? Any small independants? Deleted by Mods

 

anyways, just thinking out loud & hoping for some advice/poking in the right direction, or even personal experience really.

the pics are from yesterday after i’d cleaned it up a bit & unbent some levers …& before it was sent when in its original home

 

Edited By NooNoo on 23/05/2021 15:30:18

Edited By JasonB on 23/05/2021 15:44:13

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

A professional rebuild likely very expensive. I used to work in the machine tool industry and typical costs at the time for rebuilds to new condition but better accuracy, difference between mass manufacture and individual build, was in the region of 2/3rds list price. With hourly rates north side of £100/hour plus parts you want get much done if the machine has to be stripped, repaired, and rebuilt with paint. You may find someone with the skills but not the tools to do a sympathetic rebuild without major refurbishment. Perhaps take the insurance money and do what you can yourself.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Unfortunately for you, all Colchester parts on ebay, for instance seem to be extremely expensive. The price for a refurbish on an old lathe is so much that it could run into 5 figures.

[NooNooParticipant @noonoo22307]

Which bit did you delete JasonB ? Cant even remember which bit is missing lol, old age doesnt come alone so i hear …Best i learn to not make this mistake again ….

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Commiserations! Awful experience. Lathes are dreadful top-heavy. No consolation that you aren't the first to be caught out. And won't be the last.

I agree with Howard – having anything done professionally will be ouch costly. Wouldn't be difficult to run up a bill bigger than the cost of a replacement machine. Is it worth it? Dunno how much Bantams go for these days but Home and Workshop Machinery have a Student with collet chuck and Hydraulic copy attachment for £2950.

Far cheaper to do it yourself if you can, especially if the work is mostly cosmetic. Your labour is free and second-hand spares can be hunted down rather than bought at premium rate. I personally prefer to cut metal rather than restore damaged tools, but many enjoy fixing machines themselves. Needs must when the devil drives.

Much depends on the damage. The two falls described could be something or nothing. Can you publish photos as described here of the lathe and damage . (The forum's software is picky about how photos are inserted into posts.) I recommend a careful survey before doing anything. (Apart from howling at the moon or indulging in a stiff drink!)

Dave

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by NooNoo on 23/05/2021 15:55:40:

Which bit did you delete JasonB ? Cant even remember which bit is missing lol, old age doesnt come alone so i hear …Best i learn to not make this mistake again ….

The inappropriate language

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

How much has the pallet courier agreed to pay out?

How much did the lathe cost you?

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

[This posting has been removed]

[NooNooParticipant @noonoo22307]

Booked an appointment for a lathe repair engineer from TE-Bar engineering to come & visit the lathe to give me a quote for repairing only the damage caused, 10th July, wish me luck lol.

hoping the insurance of the pallet company will pay for it.

also getting him to quote separately for a work over/check/setup & possibly a repaint, that id then pay myself on top

[NooNooParticipant @noonoo22307]

To answer a few posted questions ….

lathe cost me £1250

pallet company said if its 5 or 6 hundred, they’d pay out of the coffers, if more then insurance job.

i did initially intend reworking it myself over time, but am so livid with them for causing this, i said to them “if i did my job as badly as you’ve done yours, id not have a job”. I fix electronic tools & devices within the electricity supply industry, I also maintain all our machine tools & started my career as an electrical fitter building substations, so i do have the hand-skills & patience to do it ….. but i want them to pay for at least what they’ve done. It wasnt in this state when they picked it up, so i want it put right.

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

In the past when using a pallet company, I remember looking at the insurance in the small print and seeing something to do with price per unit of weight, I can't remember what it was but remember thinking that's not very much if you were moving something quite expensive.

If your repair quote is more than the purchase cost, surely insurance would class that as a write off, and reimburse you the purchase cost?

I'd take the money, put some of it towards the repair doing it myself, have yourself a very cheap lathe.

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

£1,300 per tonne, 250 kilo's = £325 so I wouldn't get too excited.

Robert Butler

Edited By Robert Butler on 29/05/2021 16:39:57

[Swarf, Mostly!Participant @swarfmostly]

Hi there, Noonoo,

I believe that it's generally the case that if an insurance comopany pay out for a damaged item, that damaged item becomes their property?

I did once negotiate us out of such a situation (involving a 'dinged' motor car) but at the cost of a greatly reduced pay-out.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

[Dan ShillingParticipant @danshilling]

that's terrible bad luck they should pay you the full £1250.

If you find somebody that can fix that then perhaps you could give me their details because mine needs a metric leadscrew and half nut See my post.

If you decide to break it…. well more than it is, then I need a metric leadscrew and half nut.

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

In this instance if the Carriers Insurers pay up to the limit per tonne and using the previous example they have no right to take possession of the salvage as they have not paid full value.

Robert Butler

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

In this instance if the Carriers Insurers pay up to the limit per tonne and using the previous example they have no right to take possession of the salvage as they have not paid full value.

Robert Butler

Double posted can't delete

Edited By Robert Butler on 30/05/2021 21:34:45

[NooNooParticipant @noonoo22307]

Had TE-Bar come & inspect it, their quote for picking it up, repairing only the damage caused, rewiring & truing it all up with adjustments, checking all operations fully, checking accuracy (which they thought would be fine as there is so little wear) & dropping it back off is £746 + vat. They were lovely guys too, family owned !, made me feel a whole lot better about it, they said their only concern was if one of the oil holding gearboxes had a crack, they said highly unlikely but possible. Work would take 2 or 3 weeks & they could pick it up anytime once the nod is given.
so, Anyways, sent the quote to the pallet company …. “Because of cost, we have sent this to our insurance company, we will be in touch in due course”. It is what it is, will just have to wait now.

Edited By NooNoo on 16/06/2021 20:59:16

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

That sounds a very decent price

… You don’t get much skilled labour for £746 these days !

MichaelG.

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

That's about £900, if someone else is paying, suppose it doesn't matter, what exactly are they fixing?

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

Not allot! Considering time spent collecting, loading, return to works, off loading, repair, re-load, return to customer, off-load and position. Parts?????? VAT @ 20%

Robert Butler

Edited By Robert Butler on 16/06/2021 22:56:21

[NooNooParticipant @noonoo22307]

The bantam was picked up by TE-Bar Eng. at 10am this morning.

being fixed … bent levers, crushed splashguard, motor check, rewire, dings stoned on slideways, new bed wipers, weld a broken mounting tab, legs straightened, re-true adjusting of head & tail alignment, a good spuce up & make sure ALL is working ready for service. about 2-3 weeks they say. They were wonderful chaps & so far i cannot recommend them enough.
pallet Co admitting liability, their NFU Mutual rep has contacted me & agreed with you guys that they’ll only pay up to £1300 a ton, but assured me that the company will make up the couple of hundred quid diff from petty cash.

stressful affair, but light at the end of the tunnel.

i have rewired the workshop ready for it & wired in new capacitors in the 3 phase converter to get it running again.

prepping for it’s return really….

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Sounds like a good result.

Hopefully before too long, you will have it back, and ready to run.

That will give you time to prepare power supply and location. Once set up, all systems go!

Howard

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

[This posting has been removed]

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

That's an excellent result – I'm surprised TE-Bar Eng are doing all that for so little. Well worth knowing a firm who does this sort of work at reasonable prices.

Dave

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