used sliders

[jim mills]

Anyone surf the net for used sliders? (Ebay, Brokers, etc.) I do all the time and rarely do I see one move. With the growing popularity, you would think these would be turning. Are they just overpriced? Non serviceable? Poor design? How does one go about educating himself on what is a good buy or what is a good serviceable machine? Thanks!

[Jamie Buxton]

On the local Craigslist in the past month or so, I've noticed two Felders and two Roblands. So maybe it depends on where you are.

[Mike Wilkins]

May have something to do with the economy. Discretionary income is not exactly free-flowing these days. As for used/pre-owned sliders; I would not have a problem buying one from a home shop, which we all know is normally not used on a production basis everyday. The ones from a busy cabinet shop may have been rode hard and put up wet by a less than sympathetic operator. Having said that; if I had the moolah and a really nice Martin presented itself, I would be all over it.

[johnny means]

I would guess that the biggest problem for most prospective buyers would be the sheer mass of a slider. Moving one is a job for a rigger for most hobbyist or small shop owners. A lot of smaller shops just don't have the room. My saw requires almost 400 sq ft of dedicated floor space. Its nearly impossible to get a full size slider into a basement shop. Throw in the typical 3 ph requirement and sliders just don't work for the average Joe.

[David Hostetler]

By slider, do you mean sliding table saw, or sliding miter saw? There is an ENORMOUS difference...

[David Kumm]

The market for all used table saws has been really bad the past couple of years. Both sliders and older industrial type machines like oliver, tannewitz, and northfield just don't fetch much. More cabinet shops go out of business than start so the equipment is purchased by home shop guys to a larger extent than before. Space, cost of moving, three phase power, all enter into the complications. With all the choices out there for someone who is patient, it is hard to make a case for buying low end new. A minimax, felder, knapp, martin or altendorf might still be more than grizzly but no comparison in what will still be holding its settings in 10 years- particularly if you have to move it around. The past two years have been a real opportunity for used buyers. An oliver 299 planer with an ITCH head can be had for 5000-7000 in really good condition. Five years ago you would pay almost that just for the ITCH head. Dave

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

David H., an interesting point, but I'm fairly sure he's talking about a sliding table saw. Though "some" dough, a sliding miter is a completely different animal and in a different fiscal universe.

As to why sliders are rare on the used market I can only speculate. I've seen used Martins, Felders and other BIG sliders that were once used in a commercial shop on broker websites, but I shied away from them for the very reasons that were mentioned here. I ended up buying a new MM CU300 combo (at the wrong time, by the way -- prices dropped with the economy back in '08 by thousands!) and have been happy with the product and the support. For awhile this past year I thought about selling it because I just don't have that much hobbytime to have a $10K machine just sitting, but found that I would only get about 1/2 of what I paid so I kept it. That could be very well why most hobbyists end up hanging onto theirs -- unless there is a real need to sell, i.e. health, divorce, etc., it just doesn't pencil out financially.

Having said that, Grizzly's 10" slider seems to get good reports now that it's been out awhile and its only a couple thou versus several thou.

Good luck.

[Mike Ruggeri]

I bought my slider used about 18 months ago. While they are not as common as used cabinet saws, I have seen several on the market recently (craigslist and ww forums) that have looked to be good buys. I bought mine from a hobbyist so it was pretty clear that the machine wasn't abused and didn't see hard use. I think buying a used slider is the way to go as I got mine for a good percentage below the price of buying new and it was in very good condition.

Mike

[David Nelson1]

Hi Jim,

You didn't mention your requirements so.... If your desire is to rip mass quanities of full length sheet goods you many not find my suggestion helpful. I would recommend a sliding attachment to a cabinet saw like the Luguna Slider (http://www.lagunatools.com/tablesaws/universal-sliding-table-system). You'll have a 49 in cross cut or rip capacity. Ripping will require an aux fences to support the far side. Sorta like a sled. Footprint is small plus repositioning the saw is easy with only 2 support legs to remove and reinstall.


I added one to my Craftsman (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?161194-Need-Some-Feed-Back-Installing-A-Slider-for-the-T-S&highlight=). I have had more of an oppertunity in the past few weeks to use it and more I do the more I like it. Beats the heck of a sloppy miter gauge.

[Gary Curtis]

There were 11 on eBay when I last checked a few days ago. A couple of things scare away buyers. The larger European models require local pickup. Would you drive from your home in Boston to Tulsa to retrieve it? Do you have the equipment necessary.

The second major drawback is motor voltage. Few home shops are wired for 3-phase to power the motors. The cost of a Phase Convertor puts people off.

If you are a commercial shop, now is a great time to buy this kind of equipment. Out here in California, hardly a week goes by when I don't see either an Altendorf or Martin or Felder or SCMI for sale somewhere along the coast. These are mostly on Craigslist.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Anyone surf the net for used sliders? (Ebay, Brokers, etc.) I do all the time and rarely do I see one move. With the growing popularity, you would think these would be turning. Are they just overpriced? Non serviceable? Poor design? How does one go about educating himself on what is a good buy or what is a good serviceable machine? Thanks!
Why would you buy them used? Many grocery stores sell them in the freezer section, but I buy them directly from white castle hot and ready to eat :-)

Sorry, could not resist.

I don't ever remember seeing one on Craig' list in my area (Columbus, Ohio).

[jim mills]

Maybe the answer is craigslist. Is there a good way to search craigslist nation wide?

I believe most of the eBay listings are brokers, and they know little to nothing about what they are selling, and trying to get top dollar.

oh, and by the way, I'm talkin' sliding table saws, not miter saws, and definitely not choke and puke from the white castle :eek:

[Rod Sheridan]

Anyone surf the net for used sliders? (Ebay, Brokers, etc.) I do all the time and rarely do I see one move. With the growing popularity, you would think these would be turning. Are they just overpriced? Non serviceable? Poor design? How does one go about educating himself on what is a good buy or what is a good serviceable machine? Thanks!

Hi Jim, like all machinery, sliders come on the used equipment market when people upgrade or go out of business.

They are servicable and well designed, with capabilities and capacities that leave cabinet saws at the curb.

There are used sliders on the market, are you looking for a large industrial slider in the $20K range used or a smaller one in the $5 to $10K range?

I have a small slider at home, I presume it will go on the market when I die, as I can't see needing an upgrade, I already upgraded from a General cabinet saw.

If you're in the industrial machine class, Altendorf, Martin, SCM, Felder come to mind

Small shop/home Felder/Hammer, MiniMax are the two that I would look at.

http://www.number-1-mm.com/us/en_US/format-sliding-table-saws-9/felder-k700s-1525.html

There's a used slider on the Felder website at the above link..............regards, Rod.

[Mark Engel]

I had been searching for a used slider for a while. Did not find many available that would work for me. Most of the ones that I did find were either 3 phase, too expensive for my budget, or too far away with no shipping or expensive shipping.

The one that Rod linked to looks like a great machine, but it is $6,900. and located in Sacramento. Great if you live in NorCal, not so good for this North Carolina boy.

I live within reasonable (3-4 hours) driving distance of Asheville/ Charlotte, which used to be a big furniture manufacturing area. I have seen a few sliders come on the used market over the past couple of months from cabinet shops closing down or downsizing, etc., but still, too big, or 3 phase, or ...

I finally decided to give the Grizzly G0623X a try. It sells for $2,895. It may not be the 'best available', but it sure is a lot less than $7k.

[Frank Drew]

www.exfactory.com

That's just one I'm familiar with; I'm sure there are a number of others.

I agree, though, that it doesn't have to be either a full-sized Martin or nothing; I had an excellent sliding table saw that could crosscut 54" and rip to 34" with the fence. Did just about everything I needed and in terms of the accuracy of the work it would do it was an enormous step up from my Powermatic 12". In a not awfully big footprint.

[Stephen Cherry]

Searchtempest lets you check all the craigslist sites. You need to check every day. The best deals are snagged up right away, while others can become a good deal after the add ages for a while.

There are great deals to be had, but you need to be patient.

[David Kumm]

If you really want to go off the deep end, a guy just posted on the felder group that he bought a new Martin t60 and before he took delivery found it wouldn't fit in the garage. Can be yours for $21k. Probably worth it. Dave

[Jeff Monson]

If you really want to go off the deep end, a guy just posted on the felder group that he bought a new Martin t60 and before he took delivery found it wouldn't fit in the garage. Can be yours for $21k. Probably worth it. Dave

Sorry, I'm not buying that story, I read that ad also David. How can you spend $24,000.00 on a saw and not make sure its going to fit in your workspace?????

[jim mills]

Searchtempest is a huge help. Thanks! Now I have a long list to choose from :cool:

[Joe Angrisani]

Maybe the answer is craigslist. Is there a good way to search craigslist nation wide?

You can use Google. Go to Advanced Search and under 'Need more tools?" put craigslist.org in the "Search within a site or domain" box.

[David Kumm]

Jeff, There is no cure for dumb. allofcraigs.com is also a way into all CL. The best one used to be craiglook but it no longer has CL stuff. I still look there. Now CLAZ.com Dave

[Mark Engel]

Found this one (http://norfolk.craigslist.org/tls/2447285325.html)using searchtempest. Sounds like a good deal on a combo machine.

[David Nelson1]

Sounds way to good

[David Weaver]

If you really want to go off the deep end, a guy just posted on the felder group that he bought a new Martin t60 and before he took delivery found it wouldn't fit in the garage. Can be yours for $21k. Probably worth it. Dave

Where is it? I have a buddy who said he was going to buy a T60, and I've been teasing him about it for three years now. I don't think it will fit in his garage, and I haven't talked to him in a while.