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What's you guys favorite site/shop to buy machinery?

Philipopito

Philipopito

New Member
Hello fellas, I was wondering what was your favorite site/shop to buy metal machinery (lathe, mill...) I've found the site Travers and Grainger but I can't seem to find any other good supplier that offers something other than King Canada stuff. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
 
In Canada?
KBC Tools (King)
Busy Bee Tools (Craftex)
Modern Tool (Modern)
KMS Tools (King)

Also worth checking out Precision Matthews if you don't mind going cross border.
 
I usually get stuff on auctions, off aliexpress for cheap stuff, off amazon and eBay. For general stuff its princess auto.

I did not buy anything from Busy Bee in few years. I never purchased from KBC. I use KMS once a year or so. I think I used modern tools once and it was not too good.
 
SomeGuy said:
In Canada?
KBC Tools (King)
Busy Bee Tools (Craftex)
Modern Tool (Modern)
KMS Tools (King)

Also worth checking out Precision Matthews if you don't mind going cross border.
Click to expand...

The best stores to get used machines at are:

CHMW Forum
Kijiji
Facebook Marketplace
Craig's List
EBay
Local Classifieds
Machinery Auctions
Google Search

I'm prolly forgetting a few.

I didn't mention the retail outlets cuz I don't use them. Buying new isn't in my hobbiest business plan.

Best to make up your mind what you want and do your research ahead of time, decide what you are willing to spend, put that cash in an envelope in your bolt bin, start the truck and keep it running with trailer hitched up ready to go, and then when something you want shows up, go there yesterday. If you snooze you lose.
 
Hey speaking of busy bee/kms/etc, has anyone noticed the sharp price jump in the machinery they sell lately ? I think those 7z12 Saws go for like 2400$ now !

Like @Susquatch said, keep the car running with the trailer hitched if your looking for a deal (used or not), machinery that is priced well sells like yesterday!
 
Some of the other suppliers I use besides those mentioned already are:

https://accusizetools.com/ Their catalog is definitely worth looking at, as they supply some stuff to KBC and BB.
Mapletools.ca (Mississauga on Tomken), They are a VERTEX distributor. Extremely knowledgeable on tooling.
TriHard Tools (Mississauga on Courtney Park), call to see if they have stock, not all listed on the website is available.
Shars.com (USA, price not bad and a better selection of cutting tools than KBC, smaller items they ship, larger you better have a US address you can ship to).

There are a couple of others in Mississauga that are extremely good, I'll have to dig up their names, better selection than KBC or TriHard.

As to increase in pricing, most of the cost is with regards to shipping costs from Asia which depending on when the shipment comes in can greatly affect your price, for instance, I believe BB still has a lot of CX707's in stock (hence the stable price), when the next shipment comes in, we'll see what the new price will be. My sources tell me final shipping costs are always a surprise and are forced to adjust prices when product is finally in hand, shipping companies quote one thing and then up the price (ie gun in hand if you want your product) when it lands. Unfortunately, it all trickles back down to the end customer with the shipping companies laughing at us all.
 
Now , I buy tooling now and the above list is what I use. I also live 27 blocks off the border and Bellingham (Grizzly) is closer than Vancouver. I don't know if Sharp in North Van is still there.

Yesterday, I got a brush off from Thomas Skinner & Son. They don't do manual machines any more and don't seem to want to do retail either. I remember when they were just up Main street from the big CN station. They had a small showroom. I bought some tools, either Hazet or Record. Then they moved to Richmond. I need a 175mm micrometer standard,Chinese would do, KBC was sold out, Granger was twice as high as a new one on Ebay and Travers was a $100 minimum plus shipping I would guess , so I gave Thomas Skinner a call. Well the salesman said the Mitutoyo micrometer section of their catalogue was 50 pages and told me to find the part number myself. It sure sounded like a brush off to me.
 
Usually helpful salesman will at least steer you in the right direction, provide some links or brand names. I mean that is theoretically how they make money - connecting with the customer. But there are also 'order takers'. It may have been a brush off but personally I think its in your own best interest to check out the offerings & narrow down the field. The Mitutoyo e-catalog is below. I found in the past TS has pretty good prices on Mitutoyo but their website went poof & they have 'been working on it' for 2-3 years now. So its frustratingly difficult to even see what they have, nevermind current price (which is in flux no matter where you go). So unfortunately its a phone in thing.

I suspect Mitutoyo standard might come at a price premium to Chinesium. On that front, I'm reasonably happy with similar stuff I've bought like Fowler gage block set. If its spec'd 1 tenth or 2 tenths probably wont affect bulk of my work. I'm looking at Accusize type gage pin set. I cant justify a big name brand for what I would use it for.

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