Machine aging

I spoke with a fellow yesterday(good guy and regular customer). He insisted that he didn't want any machine that over 10 years old. He had been told that the machines over 10 years old would not be supported by the manufacturer and that if the machine had issues he wouldn't be able to get support. This is new machine salesman hype and completely false. Parts are readily available for nearly every press made in the last 25 years, and independent service technicians are in every corner of the world.

I have inspected hundreds of machines over the years and have seen nearly new machines that were trashed by poor maintenance. Maintenance is the key to good machine, if your follow service recommendations (in the Owner's Manual) most machines should have a long operational life, I have seen 30 year old Multi Printers print razor sharp. I have also witnessed 1 year old machines with center shaft bushings worn out (less than 500k prints), this is nearly impossible to repair, the guy claimed he didn't know he was supposed to grease the bushing weekly (read the book).

Age or print count should not be the sole determining factor in purchasing a machine. I saw a Gauntlet II a couple of weeks ago with 20 million prints, the center shaft was still tight and it was doing high quality tight registration work for one damned picky customer.

Not every company wants to be saddled with $2,000.00 plus lease payment when trying to build a business up. The funny thing is from Mid December - April is that lease companies expect to be paid whether your a slammed or stopped.

Used well maintained machines will satisfy the most demanding customers, I have yet to see a buyer that could tell what locomotion method was used for the print head (AC or Pneumatic).

Don't believe everything a salesman tells you (New or Used) they have a motive behind this sage advise they freely hand out.