'Accidentally' bought two massive printing presses

Just browsing Swico auctions as I do and I see a listing for two Heidelberg printing presses, and I think huh those are cool I’ve seen some videos on them, let me throw $100 on that just for fun. I completely expected to get out bid, but little did I know I’d actually win the auction. I feel bad, cause now I’m not sure what to do with them. I need to hire movers/riggers to get them out of there, and probably just chuck them into a storage unit until I could sell them or move them somewhere I could work on them. Anyone need a project? Any suggestions? I may have to end up forfeiting them, unfortunately

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D’oh! I get why you were intrigued. Those are pretty cool.

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OMG, want to know something totally crazy? It’s not entirely impossible that my dad didn’t work on these printing presses in his UT days :joy: I really wish he didn’t have such an affinity for collecting things because he currently has no space whatsoever for something like this, but I’m sure he would absolutely love hosting it on his farm otherwise. Do you have a deadline for picking them up? If they are willing to give you a month or so of skid time for that, there’s a slight possibility my dad could get space cleared. His farm is in Del Valle, so already on the Montopolis side of town and hopefully not an insane delivery fee for you. Feel free to DM or email me if you’re interested in talking possibilities/logistics more!

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Hmm, only five tons. Nothing a couple of kids cant handle. :slight_smile:

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I have had good luck asking UT Surplus for more time to pick up items, but if you want more than seven days to pick up do NOT forget to ask. I think they will understand that it may take more time to arrange for moving such large items. If other arrangements are not made, the items may appear in the very next auction, and if that happens you have lost both your money and the items.

I have had to give up an item I purchased that I could not store, but it is better to leave it for someone else than to leave it outside so that its only value would be for scrap. It is no work at all for UT Surplus to relist items that are not picked up. My fear is that fine machinery like this which sells for only $100. might have more value than that as scrap.

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I do believe I saw one of these up at Dallas Makerspace in a side project area

A good friend in Sebastopol CA has one of those in her “living room.” She used it (as intended) as a letter press for printing and embossing and die cutting paper / card stock for wedding invitations, greeting cards and the like. Because ink is such a mess and it was in the living room - mostly embossing and die cutting.

I’m not saying this because I want to start a business but because there are “other” things beside printing that these can be used for. Mary would cut an oval in card stock and emboss a fold line in the same where is would fold in half creating a “vignette” card.

She’d then slip something else into the card like the photo, artwork, decoupage where it could live gracefully, slipped into an envelope to be delivered to someone special.
It’s certainly a retro concept - paper that is. But they still make the stuff - paper. I’d just hate to see you lose $100 when there’s more than a few businesses there for someone artistic and willing to learn.