This has nothing to do with presses but refers to a used embroidering machine. We in the last 3 months purchased a 2000 barudan 6 head embroidering machine and paid 75 % down with the remaining to be paid when the 2 days of training was completed. It's an old machine with older technology which is to be expected with a 14 year old piece of equipment.
I won't mention who I purchased the machine from yet unless it doesn't get resolved. This has been a nightmare from day one. We were told that the machine would arrive to us 2 days later than we were originally told because they were going to do a sew off to make sure the machine was up to par which I was fine with because I wanted to receive it in good working order. Had to tear a wall out to get it located in a humidity/climate controlled area in the shop which was a pain but had to be done. The 2 days of training ended up being 2 hours because the rest of the time the tech spent installing parts that they determined it needed. The tech left us saying that the machine is working great and if we needed anything just call.
I'm pretty saavy when it comes to picking up on new software so I decided to do some practicing. I cut up some old tshirts and managed to hoop them with the backing in place and loaded up all 6 heads. I just created 9 letters to use all 9 needles, digitized them with the appropriate density for that size letter and hit the start button. Only 1 of the heads actually finished the complete 9 letters. The rest either stopped or kept on trucking even with the thread coming out of the needle. I replaced the needles and re-threaded the problem heads, sent the job again with the same results. I was thinking ok, I'm sure it has something to do with the tension. I felt that the tension would've been adjusted in the "sew off".
I called the seller and told him of the problems I was having and about the lack of training we received. He told us that he was having the tech come back to complete the training. When the tech arrived, I told him if he could send a job to the machine using all 6 heads and all 9 needles with it completing the sewing successfully that I would be happy. He again spent most of the day working on the machine and give us his conclusion that one of the heads would still need more parts for it to sew correctly and that he would have the seller send them and told me how to install them once they arrived. He did tell me that 5 of the heads would sew fine and just not to use the problem head until the new parts were installed. I had no problem with installing the parts but that told me right a way that the machine had obviously never been sewn off because these problems would've been discovered and the tech agreed also.
After he left, I decided to send another job to the 5 supposedly working heads and ran into the same problems as before. So again I called the seller and was told that the tech would come back. Turns out that he arrived back at the same time the new parts arrived. He installed the new parts and kind of scaled the brass fittings that were supposed to tell the machine to stop when the thread either came out of broke. So again, he was going to a sample file that he had created to the machine and use all 6 heads and all needles. To make an already long story a little shorter, even his file only completed on 1 head and some of the heads kept going even with no thread in the needle. I'll give the tech credit, he spent all day with no breaks working on timing, trimmers, thread gates and God only knows what else. He tried several times to sew with 6 heads and finally told me that he was out of cards and didn't know what else to do to get it working.
This machine is going to have to go. The seller is a little harder to get a hold of now. If you call or email him you may hear back from him in a couple of days. He is now wanting us to get this monstrosity back to him which is a 528 mile trip 1 way. I've just told him to refund our money and he can get it at his convenience also that I would tear the wall out again and help load it back on the truck. STILL HAVEN'T HEARD BACK!!
I know this post is extremely long but what a freakin nightmare and since we are on the subject of equipment!
Im sorry to hear about the problems you are having... Used equipment is a whole different animal. Hopefully the seller in question is one of the brokers or dealers out there with a reputation that they care about.
From my experience there are three types of people selling used equipment, and each has their own pros, and cons...
End users... (Who we buy from)... Tend to get the best prices, but you get what you get... These kind of sellers just want to get the equipment off of their floor and move on... Follow up support is non-existent, and its not their line of work so reputation isn't important.
Brokers... Sell equipment off of other peoples floor... Mid range in price, and should offer insight on the condition of said equipment. Any broker worth his salt will inspect equipment before selling it. Since there usually aren't any transportation or refurbishing costs the broker doesn't need to make as much per piece to be profitable. Some even offer warranties, and their reputation should be very important to them...
Dealers... Sell equipment off of their own floor... (What we do)... Tend to be the highest in price, due to transportation and refurbishing costs. Dealers tend to spend more time with said equipment, and fix all problems. Buyer has best chance of trouble free used equipment, but it does come at a higher price. Many offer warranties, and again reputation is very important...
I believe the above to be a fair description of your typical sellers (Very broad brush)... Potential buyers should keep this in mind. If I were to open a shop tomorrow, I would buy from and end user, but I am also a very technical person... If I were adding production, and just need the press to run from day 1 I would go with a dealer, Broker, or NEW...
Also keep in mind ANY piece of used equipment... No matter how much it has been gone through can have problems...
Best advice I can give to a potential buyer... Before you buy used equipment from anyone Google sellers name...
