Thread: Broens Engineering sale in Sydney

Was anyone watching the online sale at Broens today. Huge array of stuff including a lot of high end metrology. I think I won some items but the whole Pickles site crashed towards the end and was off line about 10-15 minutes. By the time it came back on the final sale was ended. I think they will be getting some angry phone calls tomorrow.
Will have to wait for Emails to confirm or not how things ended up.
I am hoping to be taking home a nice Hardinge HLV-H lathe, some straight edges, HP interferometer and a really old SIP circular dividing engine. Did anyone else get anything?
If the sales are confirmed will post some pictures later.
Prices were pretty high for most items, ridiculous for some with a few bargains sprinkled around.
With Forgacs and now Broens gone (although I think they had the same parent company) that is a massive hole in the BIG end of engineering capacity in NSW. I can only assume the same will be happening in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Cheers Mark

Pictures. Looks like the winning bidder at the time of the crash has been declared the winner. Still waiting on confirmation

straight edges.jpgInterferometer.jpgOptical case for interferometer.jpgHardinge lathe.jpg

The Pickles web site is hopeless from the get-go. Not surprised it fell over.

So who were the big equipment buyers? Are some of the other local company's going for bigger machinery?

Originally Posted by YBAF

The Pickles web site is hopeless from the get-go. Not surprised it fell over.

So who were the big equipment buyers? Are some of the other local company's going for bigger machinery?

The site is even worse than Graysonline. You can only 'watch' an item if you bid on it. I like to see what items go for even if I am not interested in buying it myself. So you end up with 50 items in your bidding list even if you only want to buy 1.
I think there were 2000+ items in this sale so no chance of keeping tabs on everything. Even if you do you generally have no idea who the other person bidding is and I don't really watch the bidding history anyway. I just put down a price I'm willing to pay and if that wins that's great. I don't do any strategic bidding normally.

An example of some of the prices
For excessive you had
couple sets of 2 Bowers 3point bore mics made $2000 + premium
Metric gauge pin sets $500-600+
Starrett 199 level made $750+
Mitutoyo 1000mm vernier calipers made $1000+
V blocks up to $500+
Thread mics up to $410+
couple 3ft x 6ft surface plates made $1800+

Yet you might see a Leitz 300mm rotary table that was to die for only made $270+

Some items were passed in. I was watching a beautiful Mitsui Seiki jig grinder which only made $200 and was passed in. I did pick up the tooling cabinet with it for bugger all to go with my Moore jig grinder. So the machine is not worth much now anyway.

I hate when they separate the tools from the machine. I had to spend a lot to get the tooling cabinet with the Hardinge . I suppose that is how they think it is going to maximise the price for the vendor, but I think it backfires a lot of the time.

You suck! A HLV-H is my dream lathe.

SIP circular dividing engine

SIP circular dividing engine.jpg

Luckily I didn't know about it so, I wasn't watching, I would have been tempted by a few of those items.

Can you get some pictures of the interferometer showing model number etc.. I have a good selection of manuals and application notes showing the various optical setups. I can copy them for you. BTW there should have been a tripod for the Laser? I think I can see the corner of it behind the box with the optical attachments.

Ray

Hi Ray,
I was hoping you would reply and I look forward to picking your brains over using the interferometer.
These lots were poorly labelled as inspection and optical systems and I am sure this severely restricted interest and price (which was very low). The tripod is leaning up against the cabinet the cases are on. From the small print in the description it is a Hewlett Packard model 5528A. The case contains the optics for linear/flatness and angular measurements and looks to be complete and in good condition. It also has the temperature and humidity sensors.
I had been looking for an autocollimator to help inspect my surface plates and never through I would get the opportunity to buy an interferometer especially at such a good price.
I will be heading to Sydney next week to pick it up and can talk after that. Lets hope it turns on !


I think some of these auction companies need to employ someone who knows what these objects are so they can describe them properly. The camelback straight edges were labelled as leveling plates and the SIP was labelled a diving machine!

Mine's the Earlier model HP5526A, yours is the later model HP5528A, they changed over models sometime in the 1980's but the optical setups will be the same. I'll start getting some documentation on optical setups together for you, I have the application notes for surface plate calibration. The humidity/temperature compensation module is a nice option to have, mine originally didn't have it so I ended up getting one on ebay.

Very very nice Mark. I'm always in two minds about these auctions, on the one hand it means some company has shut down, invariably gone for good, on the other hand I know in this case they've found a good home. The tragedy is when people buy things they have no great interest in but are hard to come by, just for bragging rights before shoving them away never to be seen again.

[QUOTE The tragedy is when people buy things they have no great interest in but are hard to come by, just for bragging rights before shoving them away never to be seen again.[/QUOTE]

Or more commonly these days is people who buy things just to resell on Ebay
They obviously have no idea what they are buying and walk around going 'whats this for?' I must admit I have fun sometimes spinning a yarn about how valuable that piece of junk is and how it's super rare.....worth a fortune etc
Some of the prices make me think that was to case here. Very high prices for some things then no interest in others that should demand a high price. I suppose that is what gives the informed and selective buyer a chance to get important items at a reasonable price.

Well that's true too, but I guess the goods might eventually make their way to somebody who appreciates what they are. Mind you by that time they may not be able to afford them, but that's another matter entirely.

That SIP dividing engine must be as rare as hens' teeth. What was it this company did?

That SIP dividing engine must be as rare as hens' teeth. What was it this company did?

They are rare but something I find fascinating and will now have 3 ( 2 circular and 1 linear). I sent you a PM with some details

If others are interested I can post some stuff about them here.

SIP is short hand for Société Genevoise d'Instruments de Physique' who are a swiss company that have made all sorts of machines over their 100+year existence. They are particularly known for there jig borers of which I have a small older type. They make extremely high end machines. Tony's lathe site has some details.

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I mentioned to Mark off the board that I've only seen a dividing engine in a museum and I would love to know as much about them as he would be prepared and patient enough to provide. I was lucky enough to catch the exhibition "Longitude" at the Sydney Maritime Museum last year and the role of the dividing engine was covered there. The invention of the dividing engine was a very significant advance in navigation, so much so that I believe it shared a proportion of the prize from the Board of Longitude. I've never known a private person to own one, so Mark is indeed fortunate to grab this particular one. The fact it's from SIP is just icing on the cake! Anything SIP is icing on any cake!!!

Admittedly not the sort of thing any of us are likely to wear out, but a very serious piece of history in regard precision engineering.