What are your engines worth to you?

[johnthomp]

I have discovered that what an engine or model is worth is whatever you can get for it. It's not like there is a great market out there for selling them but there are people who have money and if they want something they are willing to pay for it.

I just saw an Elmer's engine on feebay sell for only about $160. Whomever bought it got a deal IMHO.

I make some things to sell (not engines) and like others here I don't find myself easily talked into selling some things that have the value of 'priceless' in my eyes.

the engine you saw on feebay wasnt a brass open colum with reverse was it

 

[johnthomp]

my engines are worth the world to me both with the learning curve of finding out how they work and learning new skills to create the finnished masterpiece and in the sense of elation when they run first time and in the countless hours of running them i cannot put a price on them at all
but the other week with being on the dole and not being able to find a job i came upon a little solution i built an elmers open colum with reverse from solid brass and with it being one of my first projects i got a little tired of the way it looked so i built the thing again and it was at least 5 times better than the first so i reluctantly put the original one on ebay and got £50 for it
so the money is going on my latest project wich is a chucks horisontal single 2 stroke with reverse at tripple the size of the plans wich will certainly not be getting sold at all no matter how skint i get hee hee

 

[Deanofid]

I've never sold an engine that I built for myself. I've had some offers from people that seemed like
a fair bit of money when I heard it in a lump sum. I would just say "I don't want to sell it".

I have sold a number of engines, though. About 14, I think. None of them were engines I made
for myself, so they were just another job, more or less.
I had built four small bar stock wobblers once. Two for myself, and two to give away to friends. When
they were all done, I lined them up and took a picture of them, and put the picture up on the website I
had at the time, just for show. I got a gob of emails asking if I sold these engines, and after a few days
I took the picture down from the website. Then, I made a run of 10 of them with the idea to sell them.
Took me about a week to 10 days and when they were done, I put the original picture of four of them
back up on the website and waited for emails. They were gone in a couple of weeks. But those were
never my engines. I made them, but I didn't make them for me.

Another time I had made two small single cylinder steam engines, and one day at a chili cookoff, I set
those two engines running on the bench where I was cooking chili. A number of people asked to buy
them, and it was the same answer I always give; "I don't want to sell them". Finally, one guy said
"Okay, you don't want to sell them. Will you make one for me?" Sure. That seemed totally different
in my mind. I wasn't selling something I had made for myself. I was making a new one just like any
other job order, and it didn't bother me that way. I ended up selling four of those in that manner, (if
I remember the number correctly), but I still have the two originals that I had made for myself.
I still have every engine that I built for myself!

Dean

 

[Maryak]

There are those of us who do this as a business and most of us who do it as a hobby.

My engines are special to me and they are priceless in the way they have enhanced my life. If someone close to me wanted one, I would probably give it to them, other than that, surprise, surprise............... no one has made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[kvom]

I've made three engines that have run. I can't say that I'm emotionally attached to any of them, but haven't thought of whether I would sell them before this thread. If I were to do so at what I'd consider a rational price my labor would be valued at about $3/hour. I think my craftsmanship level increased somewhat with each build, so having them as a self-reference point is worthwhile (except that all 3 are disassembled awaiting the polishing that I may never get around to. :)

I have an intention to make my current build good enough that I wouldn't sell it at any price.

 

[lee9966]

I understand how everyone feels, but to me the fun is in the building. Once it's done, polished, mounted, and on a shelf then it kind of loses it's fun value. What's left at that point? Dusting it?

 

[zeeprogrammer]

I think the question was "What are your engines worth to you?".
That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with whether you sell them or not.
It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with money.
Nor do I believe that selling an engine means their personal value is diminished.

If you do sell an engine, sometimes it's not just the dollars you get...but the satisfaction that someone wanted your engine so much...and why they wanted it so much.

Would it make more of difference if that father wanted to buy that engine to give to his son? So that son would appreciate the father's interest in his hobby? That means a lot to me...I would have been a part of a relationship...or a future.

It's why I think it's such a personal choice and we shouldn't place too much...mm...judgment on the reasons. It's just never that black and white.

Whether they sell an engine, or a a number of engines, I doubt anyone is on this forum just for the business. (hee.)

Viva Le Diversity (not just the Difference).

 

[Cedge]

Lee...
Half the fun here is listening to my grandsons argue over who will one day own what engine. They've known all their lives that I'm collecting/building for them as much as for me..... (grin)

I don't begrudge anyone selling an engine for whatever reason they may deem as sufficient. Much of my collection came from old guys breaking up theirs as age caught up with them. Most wanted their toys to go to someone who'd enjoy them as they did. On that count I've been judged worthy a few times. the sad part of it was that no one they knew was interested unless it was for a quick sale. I hear from a lot of those too.

Steve

 

[Tin Falcon]

This is a question I have often pondered. Have not really made a conclusion. At shows I have gotten the are they for sale . How much would you sell them for etc questions. I do not think I would consider selling any of the engines I have build at least not the foreseeable future. One reason is I do not think I could, or would make another truly the same as what I have. I tend to vary from the print as the mood strikes. In the future I may make an engine or two in pairs and sell or give one away . But not their yet.
Tin

 

[johnthomp]

before i started building my own little engines i often asked people what would they sell their engines for or if they would when i asked the famous childs question why most of them would reply as kindly as they could with if you built your own youd know why but we cant explain in words why kind of a if you were in my shoes answer
over the following years i put 2 and 2 together and came up with the most reasonable answer i could think of wich was these engines must be worth a fortune each over time these people rack up roughly a dozen or more and do this as a sort of solid asset retirement fund (private pension)
its only in the last 3 years i have come to learn the true nature of this phenominon its because watching one of these little engines take shape and knowing its all your own work (and a phenominal ammount of knowledge from very experienced machineists and engineers who are so kind and patient with takeing time to listen and think about other peoples problems aswell as their own and advise us newbies certainly gets my vote anyday)
all this learning and createing and at the finnish of evry project its like watching a child grow wich leads me to the answer in the mother of all comebacks
if i ever get asked are they for sale ill just ask right back
no are your children for sale