putterman2004. Bought a CNC mill from him, and what a nightmare it turned out to be. I'll start off by admitting right up front that I really really screwed up on this one. I will NEVER buy another machine from an unknown seller, sight unseen. I frankly deserve the problems I got here, as it would have only taken me 4-5 hours to go look it over first.
So. Seller had listed a complete Fagor control w/motors, as well as a complete mill w/Fagor control several times, dropping the BIN each time. Finally, with the Fagor control at $4000, I started seriously considering it to replace the Ahha control on my mill. Made up my mind, and logged in, to find someone beat me to it. Then I started looking at the mill, with a BIN of only $4500. Wow, no control swap, just plug it in and go! (that will seem high to some, but machines are not near as plentiful in the Sierra foothills as they are down south)
Called seller to talk about it. He assured me it was in fine working condition, and he used it to make brackets for the monster CNC mills he builds (Supermill in Nevada). He stated clearly it was in good working condition. I don't take that to mean pristine, but when I look at his nice big mills and think about motor mount and other brackets for them, I assume it's in reasonably usable condition. Auction listed spindle as BT35 though. As I was trying to get seller to tell me who made the mill (as I couldn't make out the name in the pic), he raises the BIN to $8000! Well no way in hell I'm paying that much for a used knee mill so I pass. Seller says he got the money he needed out of selling the control, so no need to "give away the mill" HAHAHAH! Yeah, remember that as I progress. Says he's going to strip the control and sell mill.
Some time later, I see the mill, sans control just as he said. I also see a toolholder on table and see it's an NMTB40. Called again to confirm and he says he'd been mistaken about BT35, it is NMTB40. I quickly call Bill Griffin to see if he still has his collection of NMTB 40 holders for sale. Work out a deal pending purchase of mill. Run back, and take the mill on BIN based on prior -phone conversation- where I was assured it was in good working order, then seal the deal with Bill for the holders.
That was the mill I was looking to have moved some time back. Ended up borrowing a Dodge and trailer and getting it myself. Instant I saw it, I knew I'd screwed up. Thought I was getting a 10x50 Chevalier. In retrospect, I screwup up so badly here it makes me sick, I should have known by the picture and I shoulder full responsibility for that. Had I gone over with cash instead of being a good little ebayer and promptly paying via Paypal, I'd have given him $200 to (more than) cover his list/closing/relisting fees, and driven home empty. But no, that sucker was mine and there was nothing to do but suck it up, load the machine, and drive home.
Upon closer inspection of the mill, the Z drive was all screwed up. The bolts that hold the thrust bearing were loose and turned out two were broken, allowing bearing block to move at least 1/8 inch vertically! My ass he was making good parts on this. He'd assured me the motor pulleys were included. But he couldn't find them... Buried in a storage container, said he'd ship them later. I figured the Z cover was with the pulleys too and didn't press for them. He said he'd ship all the misc bits he had in storage as soon as he got the container moved to the new shop. That never happened.
My interest was to get a larger, heftier and more rigid machine, that I could swap my Ahha package over to and be up and running in half a day. That's why I bought the tool holders at about 2x what I could have done on ebay buying individually. It was worth it, to get enough holders to be able to work right away, and FAR cheaper than a comprehensive set of new holders! No complaints at all there. But a lot of money out of pocket.
Almost 2 months later, the mill sits just barely inside my garage door, unfinished. Had to pull the quill to helicoil the holes that secure the Z drive to the quill. Clean up the dinged mating faces on all the brackets, battered as they were from flopping around. Add support brackets to prevent it from happening again (and that dings the original design, not the seller), replace Z axis thrust bearings.
I've called and emailed repeatedly trying to get the Z cover. One Sunday he calls me to say he found it and will ship. Week later, I call to see where it is. "Oh, I just found it yesterday, I'll ship it". Week later, "oh, that was the wrong cover" (how many Z axis covers does he have???)
Finally after more than a month of evasive and vague promises to do something, I got a bit more forceful in trying to get him to follow through. I'm perfectly happy emailing and calling someone every day if I have to. So I call this morning, he says in a mildly pissed voice "I'm LOOKING for it". Yeah, right. As soon as I don't just happily roll over and say "Ok", he says "You know what, you can just go F**k yourself!" I don't respond well to stuff like that, so I advised him to do the same.
Minutes later I'm filing a claim with Paypal, but bummer, it's been more than 45 days. So I'm down to a claim w/eBay, probably not going to get any satisfaction out of this.
putterman2004, in my opinion, knew exactly what he had, and intentionally gave vague and misleading answers to my questions. He probably outright lied about the machine being in working mechanical condition. (there is some slim chance he didn't know, but I doubt it) His word means little if there's a problem, he's has no motivation to follow through and do the right thing On that basis, I'd really advise avoiding him.
You all are free to laugh at me for my severe lack of judgment in not taking the time to go look at it. I richly deserve it. But this time, to hell with my perfect feedback, he's gonna get a neg. Just have wait for the ebay claim to run it's course, and work out how to cram the most info into the allotted space...
Jon