We have bought and sold 592 CNC lathes. That is our own record, not a catalog listing — so when we quote your machine, we are pricing something we have traded before.
We have 139 CNC lathes listed right now, so we know what the market is paying this month.
Get an offer on your CNC lathe
Tell us what you have and how to reach you, and we will come back with a route and a number — usually the same day. The make and model of your CNC lathe are enough to start.
Why sell your CNC lathe to KD Machinery
Nearly half the CNC lathes we have bought and sold are 8 inch or 10 inch chuck machines: 155 of them have an 8 inch chuck and 118 have a 10 inch. Chuck size is the first thing a buyer filters on, so it is the first thing we ask you about, and it is why our offer comes from machines we have actually traded rather than from a price book. Haas is the make we handle most, but Doosan, Mazak, Mori Seiki and Okuma each run to dozens of machines as well, so we are not only buying Haas.
What we buy
Two-axis turning centers, live tooling and C-axis machines, Y-axis lathes, sub-spindle and twin-spindle machines, Swiss-type lathes, big-bore and oil country lathes, vertical turret lathes and toolroom lathes. A single machine, a cell, or the whole turning department.
What decides what a used CNC lathe is worth
- Chuck size and bar capacity. Eight and ten inch chucks are the two we see most, by a distance, and behind them three inch and two inch are the commonest bar capacities.
- Spindle speed, where 4,000 and 6,000 RPM are the two commonest ratings on the lathes we handle.
- Whether it has a tailstock. 298 of the lathes we have handled list one, and a buyer notices its absence immediately.
- Live tooling, C axis, Y axis and sub spindle. Each one moves the machine into a different and usually larger buyer pool.
- Turret stations. A 12 station turret is what 338 of them carry, so anything else is worth saying early, along with whether the tooling, chucks, steady rests, bar feeder and parts catcher stay with the machine.
- Control make and generation, its options, and spindle hours read off the control rather than remembered.
How to sell a CNC lathe
A turning center sells faster when the seller has already answered the questions a buyer is going to ask. Before it is listed:
- Photograph the data plate, the chuck and turret, and the way covers — not just the sheet metal.
- Read spindle hours and cycle hours off the control and write them down.
- List the workholding: chucks and jaws, collet nose, steady rests, tailstock type, bar feeder make and model.
- Note the control generation and any options, because two machines of the same model and year separate here.
- Say what it has been cutting. A lathe that has run abrasive or hard material is priced differently, and hiding it only delays the discount.
Selling a CNC lathe: common questions
Does live tooling really change the price that much?
It changes the buyer, which is what changes the price. A turning center with live tooling and a C axis can quote work a plain two-axis lathe cannot, so it sells into a larger and less price-sensitive pool. Tell us which it is at the start and the number comes back faster.
Should the bar feeder go with the lathe?
Generally yes. A bar feeder already matched and commissioned to that machine is worth more attached than detached, because the next owner is buying a running cell rather than two things to marry up. The same is true of a parts catcher and an auto tool presetter.
My lathe is older and the control is out of support. Is it still sellable?
Usually, though the control decides who buys it. An unsupported control narrows the pool to shops that already run that generation and keep spares, and they are real buyers who know exactly what they are looking at. What loses a sale is a machine that cannot be powered up and shown turning.
Can you take the whole turning department rather than one machine?
Yes, and it is usually worth more that way. A group of lathes moves on one removal plan instead of several, and the workholding, tooling and bar feeders that nobody lists separately get valued instead of scrapped with the floor.