Cost of Ownership with Autos

[ZooCity]

First off, this is absolutely a generic question, not brand specific whatsoever. 

I'm working auto purchase numbers and not sure what to budget yearly for maintenance.  I like to budget for 'worst case shitstorm scenarios' with everything. 

What do you include in your budgets for basic maintenance and repair both in/out of house?

What is an avg cost to get a tech out for the worst of issues, how about a routine tune up?

I understand parts will vary of course.

[mk162]

you really should go 2-3 years before needing to replace parts, and that should be worst case to be honest.  you might tear some things up like prox sensor wires and so on.

A tech tuneup should be around $300-$600 depending on the level of service it requires.

If you are buying a used press, I would estimate about $1,000-$1500 per year in repairs.  Most repairs can be done by you.

[Socalfmf]

With our M&R we spend about 1k a year...that is to get a tech here and do a go over of the machine...this is money very well spent....I cannot imagine how much it costs to be down for a day or two...

sam

[Screened Gear]

I do all the maintenance on the press. It really does not need much for how much I use it. Some WD40 on the underside of the print arm supports (about once a month) and a pump of grease in 3 spots on the press once every 6 months. I try to wipe the press down ever month but that doesn’t always get done. Any repaired I have done myself after talking to a tech. (one time I had to call and they told me how to fix a broken switch. No cost) I got my press used so when I had the press installed It cost me $3,100 (includes hotels, food and everything for the tech) to have it set up. That was for 3 days of having a tech here. I only needed them here for 1.5 days. I had one repair done on the press and it was $1800. It was for a specialist from Austria to come in and fix my registration (broke from previous owner). Now that everything is running I am told its just basic maintenance. I don’t put money aside just for the press. I do have enough money set aside for the shop if anything goes wrong. (about 3 months worth of all rents bills and costs to run and operate the business. I do the same for my personal bills). I call it my buffer.

[repogolfer]

So far in 6 years we have spent:
$2700

$400/year tech

$300 total in parts

Jon

[ZooCity]

This would likely be used, not brutalized. 

I was working in about $3k per year.  Probably accurate for year 1 and way high for the rest.   Sounds like it should be more like $4k year 1 (install, hiccups, etc.) and about a k per year thereafter. 

Of course, this includes good beer for me when I'm wrenching on the thing over the weekend. 

[mk162]

you will make more off an auto than it costs you, otherwise all the big shops would be running manuals.  I don't think you realize how much more work you can put out.  You could earn an extra $3k a week at least with an auto.

[ebscreen]

Brand will factor in largely with this.

Austria is a hell of a lot further away than say Washington.


And Bimba is a hell of a lot cheaper than Festo.

[Socalfmf]

also I would throw out there...with the brand you either get factory techs or freelance techs.  just throwing it out there..

[Screened Gear]

For costs you have the fixed costs and the breakdown costs. You will never know the breakdown costs. They will be alot more than the fixed maintenance costs. I have had my press up for about a year now. I have had zero costs since it has been set up and fixed. Each person will say their brand of press is more reliable and cost less but it really depends on what goes wrong. Your best bet is to learn the press and save enough money or have a credit card with enough on it to cover the worse case. Then don't worry about it and keep that thing spinning so you make money.

[alan802]

In our first three years, not counting installation which was just a plane ticket and one night in a hotel, just keeping the auto up and properly lubed and tuned has cost us less than $100 on the press but I have spent about $500 on quartz bulbs for the flashes.  I expect that rate to go up over the next few years but certainly not a whole lot until we get closer to the 10 year mark.  If we would have had some quality quartz bulbs from the beginning, I wouldn't have needed to spend near that $500 so in a favorable situation, a new press might cost you less than $50/year if you choose to do the PM.  I don't expect a 5 year old press to have the same results our new press has had and I know our 20 year old centurian was a lot tougher to keep running than our new press.  Still, we didn't spend anywhere near $1000/year on the centurian, but it did go down a couple times a year with some weird problem that I had to hunt down with a micrometer and some guy over the phone.  It usually turned out to be a fuse, contactor or proxy sensor.

[tonypep]

Where i was just recently there was back and forth on getting my 16 color Falcon to have more than 8 working heads. "Need to do it yesterday!" Came down from corporate. Made the call and set it up. ("Wait we need a quote first!) came the next day. What are you effing talking about quote that's impossible. "Then Cancel!"
The very next day it died and was down for days maybe more I don't work there any more. The lesson of preventive maintenance has been learned.
Actually now that I think of it it probably hasn't

[Zelko-4-EVA]

it depends upon which brand of press and new vs. used.

one of our four automatic presses had a servo controller go bad - the fan died and the heat killed the circuit board parts. 

two of our four presses now has mostly new air lines.  old ones cracked and leaked air - lots of downtime and frustration (not to mention expensive compressed air)

ive replaced fuses, contactors, switches, knobs, bolts that fall off, air regulators and air gauges, and even the entire computer. 

i have a press that needed new carriage belts, and AC motors replaced (tiny set screws fell out and stripped the motor shaft), and frequency controllers on the AC heads.

i wont say which presses are more reliable or which presses cost more - both brands have needed expensive parts. 

nuts and bolts need to be checked regularly, keep it greased and oiled.


i would estimate that the cost would be between 500 and 2000 depending upon the brand and year of the machine.

[ZooCity]

I just want to take a second to note how awesome this forum is.  Getting real figures from each other and exchanging ideas is so beneficial and sure beats running blind and learning it all the 'hard way'.  What a wonderful thing.

Okay, enough hippie b.s. from me, thanks for all the input everyone.  I far overestimated the PM costs but am keeping the setup cost for year 1 way up there still so there's no freaking out about cash when something goes wrong. 

Zelko, I know just what you're referring to there without naming names.  There's a lot that has to go in to proper engineering and, if it doesn't, a lot goes out!  Can't overlook the details, those little things can wreck the big stuff in a jiffy.