How old is too old?

azsandy · August 18th, 2012, 02:59 PM

Hi all, I was wondering in general how old is too old for a commercial embroidery machine? What is a fairly good age to look at that will give me several years of life but old enough to be more affordable?

Printwizard · August 18th, 2012, 07:00 PM

I would look to a dealer who would offer some maintenance warranty or contract. Like most machines it's not the age, but how is been run, maintained, serviced, impression count and if worn and flogged, run by delicate conservative people or monkeyS with hammers. You could take two identical twelve year old machines, and one could be mint as for your business and the other could nearly send you under. If you are concerned pay more through a dealer who will advise and service and guarantee you production and suitable service and maintenance levels.

AJST · August 19th, 2012, 07:59 AM

Printwizard is correct as far as looking at the history of the machine and getting it from a dealer with a warranty.

I think the biggest consideration in "how old is too old" The name brand of the machine and making sure that you can find parts. There are a lot of older machines out there that are still great machines.

As an example, Toyota ESP860s (circa 2002?) are great machines. They sew great and there are a lot of them in service and stitching away, however; they don't make parts for the machine anymore. A simple thing like a broken presser foot can turn the machine into a giant paperweight. Presser feet are no longer made for the machine and you will have to find one from a parts machine. Again these are great machines and will sew forever but you need to be aware of the parts and support issues.

You will see a lot of 15-20 year old Tajima, and Barudans still in service.

Another example is a Chinese machine that I have worked on. This particular one has changed owners three times since it was purchased new for @ $8,500.00 a year ago. The last owner tried to sell it to me for $450.00.

The bottom line is do your research. It depends more on the machine itself than the age.

azsandy · August 19th, 2012, 03:45 PM

Thanks for your input, all are great points I will take into consideration. Much appreciated!!!!

minimalist · August 20th, 2012, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJST

Printwizard is correct as far as looking at the history of the machine and getting it from a dealer with a warranty.

I think the biggest consideration in "how old is too old" The name brand of the machine and making sure that you can find parts. There are a lot of older machines out there that are still great machines.

As an example, Toyota ESP860s (circa 2002?) are great machines. They sew great and there are a lot of them in service and stitching away, however; they don't make parts for the machine anymore. A simple thing like a broken presser foot can turn the machine into a giant paperweight. Presser feet are no longer made for the machine and you will have to find one from a parts machine. Again these are great machines and will sew forever but you need to be aware of the parts and support issues.

You will see a lot of 15-20 year old Tajima, and Barudans still in service.

Another example is a Chinese machine that I have worked on. This particular one has changed owners three times since it was purchased new for @ $8,500.00 a year ago. The last owner tried to sell it to me for $450.00.

The bottom line is do your research. It depends more on the machine itself than the age.

I'm assuming the $450 was for a non working machine. Software or hardware problem?

I read a story about a scope company that went to china to get some manufacturing done. They went through every phase of construction, setting up the machines, and production. When they got their chinese made scopes there were problems with each one. The scope company questioned the problems and was told, "it's not right? It's just about right." or something like that.

AJST · August 21st, 2012, 06:12 AM

The $450 was for a quasi-working machine, the software, all the accessories, and everything else that went with it. The biggest problem they were having is keeping the tension right. I would set the tension and before I got back home it would loose its settings. The problem is the poor quality of the parts in the thread path. Weak and inconsistent springs etc...

It was probably a good deal as far as a parts machine but I just don't have time to sell the parts. I didn't want to sell it as a working machine because of the poor quality and I wont sell something that I cant stand behind.

"it's not right? It's just about right." Sounds pretty accurate. Its a real shame because with a little quality control these machines could be a pretty good investment.

Gilligan · August 21st, 2012, 09:10 AM

A "local" company was having some fishing shirts made for resale/whole sale around here and they were a great deal compared to Columbia and such. Well they were always backordered. The guy finally came clean. They had been setting up a new manufacture in China and he had paid 10k to get SETUP and then poof the company vanished!