Buying second Hand Stone equipment

Second-hand home electronics may be bad value in many cases but with professional equipment that is designed to last second-hand can simply be good value: especially if the previous owners have looked after it. It may be ideal if you buy second-hand equipment locally from a business you know and trust but often you just can't do this if you need certain, perhaps niche equipment, at a certain point.

You may have to look nationwide and it is worth having a look online. An auction may be the best place to get a bargain, often companies want to get rid of equipment quickly to make space for new equipment or need the money, this means they may put equipment in an auction to make sure it sells and if few or no other people bid you could get a great deal. This is especially the case with more niche equipment and also with equipment that may be located in the middle of nowhere, sold as seen and which you have to arrange collection of.

Buying second hand stone equipment at an auctions or second-hand at all of course has many potential problems so there are some things to consider. Firstly is the equipment from a good well known manufacturer who build machines to last? Also is the manufacturer still around so you can get parts easily. The more popular the make and model the easier it should be to get parts: some equipment though is built to be easy to repair and fit new parts to: others you will need to replace large sections if one seal goes and you will need an engineer from the manufacturer to do this. Equipment that is known to be easy to work on could save you a lot in the long run even if it is more expensive to begin with.

If you are setting up for the first time to work on stone then there are a few basic things you will need. You will of course need a saw to shape stone unless you are buying pre cut blocks that you just need to carve. A good bridge saw though can cut and mill meaning you can do edging and shaping of stone. A CNC bridge saw especially can do a lot that a router would do so may save you from needing both depending on what you are working stone for: if it is shape and edging that is important then a CNC bridge saw may be enough.

A router though can do a lot more and add a lot more detail: this includes lettering and patterns and other intricate designs. A CNC router may be a good idea as stone routers can be cumbersome and difficult to get good results from. A CNC router is also great for bulk jobs with a repeat of the same design or for lettering than can easily be entered into the console and then added in a variety of fonts.
You will then also need to polish stone in many cases or sand it and though CNC options are available this is one job where there is little advantage for someone running a small workshop with a fairly low throughput. If you have an especially small workshop of course you could be limited on space: a CNC stone center can do all of the jobs of these other tools and is easy to set up to create a finished product from a piece of unshaped stone in one go. Even in a bigger workshop or factory several CNC stone centers may increase your capacity and lower your costs.

You can buy quality second hand stone machinery like diamond saw and water jet from usedstoneequipment.com.