Refurbishing & condition grading
What “refurbished” means here.
The fair objection to any used machine is that you cannot see it from where you are sitting. So we grade every machine on the same four-step scale, we tell you the grade before you commit, and we say plainly when a machine is only good for parts.
Section 01 / Process
Auction floor to your floor
What happens to a machine before we sell it.
Machines reach us from auctions and plant closures. What we do with them from there depends on what we find when we open them up — which is exactly why the grade exists.
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Acquired
Bought at auction or out of a plant closure. Condition on arrival ranges from “running last week” to “sat under a tarp for years.”
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Assessed and graded
The machine is looked over and placed on the A–D scale. That decision drives everything after it, including whether it is worth refurbishing at all.
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Worn parts replaced
Components that are past their working life are replaced. On this kind of equipment that is normal maintenance work, not a rescue operation — these are repairable machines by design.
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Repainted
A refurbished machine is repainted. It is cosmetic, and we treat it as cosmetic — paint is not what makes a grade A machine grade A.
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Tested
The machine is run and tested before it is offered as ready to work.
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Documented with a tooling info sheet
A machine on its own is not much use if you do not know what it takes. We produce a tooling information sheet identifying the consumables and tools that machine uses — anvils, jaws, pockets and drivers — so you can order against it later.
Section 02 / Grades
The A / B / C / D scale
Four grades, used the same way every time.
This is our internal grading system, not a marketing device. We are showing it to you because the alternative — every used machine described as “excellent condition” — is how buyers get burned.
Refurbished, ready to runGrade A
Has been through the refurbishment process above: worn parts replaced, repainted, tested, documented. This is what you want if the machine is going straight onto a line and you do not have shop capacity to sort it out.
Working, needs cosmetic attentionGrade B
A functioning machine that has not been brought up cosmetically. Sensible if you care what it does rather than what it looks like, and you would rather not pay for paint.
Parts machineGrade C
Sold for the components in it, not as a production machine. Useful if you already run the same model and want a donor on the shelf — which, for out-of-production equipment, is a genuinely good idea.
As-isGrade D
Offered exactly as it sits, and described that way. No work has been done to it and none is implied.
Which grade should you be asking for?
It depends on whether you have shop time, whether you already run the model, and how quickly the machine has to be earning. Tell us the situation and we will tell you which grade is the sensible buy — including when the answer is to wait for a different machine.
Section 03 / Straight answers
What a grade does and does not tell you
The things a web page should not pretend to know.
- A grade is a starting point, not the whole story
- It tells you what state the machine is in. It does not tell you whether that machine suits your part. Those are two separate questions and both are worth asking.
- Terms are agreed per machine
- Price, what is included and what is covered depend on the individual machine and its grade. We would rather discuss it against a real machine than publish a blanket promise here.
- Availability moves
- Stock comes from auctions and plant closures, so it changes. A machine we describe today may be gone next month, and something better may arrive. Ask rather than assume.
- We will tell you when we cannot help
- If nothing on the floor suits the job, that is what you will hear. Selling somebody the wrong press is how you lose a customer for twenty years.
Section 04 / Your machine
We also refurbish machines you already own
Repair and refurbishment work is one of the things we do, alongside supplying spare parts and consumables — anvils, jaws, pockets and drivers. If it is your existing machine that needs attention rather than a replacement, our parts and service site goes into that properly.