5 Rules of Thumb for Buying CNC Machine Tools

Over the years, I have purchased many CNC machine tools, and there have been ups and downs when it came to making these purchases. Recent purchases have been trending positive because I developed rules and guidelines on what I was looking for when purchasing these machines — rules that were developed because of problems that I encountered after the purchase. Hopefully these tips can help you can avoid the pain that I felt after making some of those decisions:

1. Avoid Buying Used Machines

I came up with this rule because of the poor purchasing decisions that I made when buying used equipment in the past. Buying a used machine normally means it does not come with a warranty. This is great if there is nothing wrong with them, but used machine tools are usually well worn and prone to ongoing failure of worn-out components that can in some cases can be expensive to replace or not available. This can cause terrible production and delivery problems when the machine you have purchased for specific parts cannot make them. Delivery delays to the customer can be a result. When this happens, you realize that the money that you saved by buying used is consumed by the cost of repairs, and you could possibly damage customer relationships by not making the delivery requirements. Therefore, I almost always buy new equipment.

2. The Machine Tool Dealers Reputation and Reliability is Critical

I have dealt with many dealers over the years, and I have found that they are critical in making the correct purchasing decision. Many times, it is the most critical consideration. I have suffered through many problems, some of which include:

• When it came time to get service and parts after the purchase, the dealer was no longer in business. This presented an enormous challenge, since in most cases they were a middleman in the purchase, and getting parts and service from the manufacturer was almost impossible and very expensive.
• The dealer is always understaffed and could not get our company service on the equipment for an extended time. One dealer told us that they were booked up and would not be able to get to us for an extended period.
• In one case, the sales and the service departments were run like two separate, completely different businesses. When we inquired about promises made to us by the sales department, the service department would not honor anything we did not have in writing.
• The dealer could not get parts in a timely manner because of their unavailability or their poor relationship with the manufacturer. This caused enormous challenges for our company. No one plans for breakdowns and when they occur you need to be assured that you can get your parts on time.

3. Do Not Budget for the Lowest Price

I cannot emphasize enough that you get what you pay for. I know many will say some equipment is overpriced compared to cheaper equipment, but they fail to take into consideration the value. Like used equipment, you need to aware of the value of equipment. Cheaper equipment in many cases is not built as well and has far less productivity options than more expensive equipment. This is not to say that some expensive equipment is going to be better, but you really need to take the value of what you are getting into consideration. This value includes build quality and productivity options. Does the equipment last longer before it breaks down? Are you able to get higher quality parts faster with the higher value equipment? These are considerations that are far more important than the price!

4. Do Not Overbuy or Underbuy on Equipment Size

There are a number of possible scenarios where a manufacturer might buy equipment that is too small or too large. You may buy too small when considering the manufacturing requirements of one specific part; this may be great for the current part in front of you, but neglects future parts that could be manufactured. Alternately, you might buy something too big thinking it opens up possibilities to make larger parts, then find that the equipment isn’t good at making smaller parts. Machining small parts on a large machine is inefficient and makes your shop less competitive. Try to find a happy medium in machining size capability and accept that any piece of equipment can only do so much.

5. Try Not to Buy Stock Machines

Unfortunately, when it comes to equipment purchases, many tend to buy only when absolutely necessary. This completely limits the options on equipment and in many cases will violate many of the first four rules. Calm, carefully planned purchases allow you to get the equipment that you need rather than equipment that is just adequate. It is like when you buy stock equipment such as computers. You may get something that will work for now, but it can be extremely limiting in the future. Get what you need and not just what is available.

I have found that following these rules has made CNC machine tool purchases more straight forward and, in many cases, takes away distractions that many companies face when buying machine tools for their shop. Carefully considering these rules will help you avoid some major problems in purchasing CNC machine tools for your machine shop.