Need input by experienced estimators...

[MychesterCNC]

I dont have a job I need done, but I have a question that keeps coming up... A lot of times on Ebay there are small lathe parts, such as cross slides and milling attatchments for small Levin style lathes and smaller, even watchmaker lathes... that go for MANY hundreds of dollars... and it's not always a brand name thing, because often it's also no-name units that are not mint but simply functional that bring tons of money.

I'm wondering what are the reasons that people dont make copies of this stuff, even here in the USA in basement shops...? Is it that these parts use an expensive type of steel? Or is milling that time consuming? Maybe there's an obvious reason, but I cant see it, and I would love for someone to point it/them out... I'm absolutely new to machinging, but I've so far been shocked with how much you can do and how much you can learn to do with just a little research online (such as this forum) and a piece of equipment.

Just as an example, this little milling attachement is already up to $1,000 on Ebay, and the auction isnt even over yet. Thanks for your input guys!

[Runner4404spd]

Post a link to the part on ebay. there is more than meets the eye on something like this. cost has alot to do with quality and on ebay sometimes, cost has alot to do with schill bidding.

[universalfab]

Really, I think what you said is funny "no offense". For someone who doesn't know anything about manufacturing and metal work to be bad mouthing prices that are in all reallity LOW, that's funny. Those are precision parts, all cast iron, precision ground, and precision machined, I think just from experience "you didn't list any info to go along with your picture". Tons of money no, there is electric, material, and the big one investment and overhead of machinery/tooling and a facility to work in. Why don't you complain about your plumber, air conditioning repair guy, or landscaper? That would be a much more justifiable complaint then this. Your also not helping the value of our dollar getting any better. This industry and line of work has been hammered by everyone, it's hard to find a place to even start complaining because there's just so many people and the government to blame. Yeah milling is time consuming, if you think you can make it just do it and quit complaining. This kind of crap is what I deal with everyday, "looks simple" yeah it LOOKS simple. Just because it LOOKS simple doesn't mean it doesn't eat up the clock. Very annoying thread. Just to let you know now adays it's real hard for alot of shops/big business's to even stay in business with HIGH UTILITIES Prices, HIGH Material Prices, and HIGH Taxes oh yeah and don't forget about the EPA !!! 2+2=4.