Sell Your Gear Cutting Machine: Purchase, Brands and Value Factors

If you want to sell a used gear cutting machine, we buy it. That covers gear hobbing machines, gear shapers, gear grinders, broaching machines, bevel gear machines and gear measuring machines. You get a first estimate after sending manufacturer, type, build year, module and diameter range and a few photos. We organise dismantling and transport; on a direct purchase, payment is made by bank transfer before pickup.

What counts as a gear cutting machine

Gear cutting machines create, finish, chamfer or inspect gear teeth. Each process has its own machine family, and many machines from German makers carry German terms on the nameplate or in listings, so the table gives both.

Four machine types have their own pages with series tables, value factors and questions: gear hobbing machines, gear shaping machines (including old Lorenz shapers), gear grinding machines and broaching machines. Bevel gear and gear measuring machines are covered below. Power skiving, shaving, honing and chamfering machines have no page of their own, but we buy them in the same way.

Bevel gear machines

Bevel gears connect shafts that meet at an angle. Straight bevel gears have straight flank lines running towards the centre, spiral bevel gears have curved ones, and hypoid gears are a variant in which the pinion and ring gear axes do not meet in one point. The machine family includes cutting machines, grinders, lapping machines and bevel gear testers.

For the value, what counts is which tooth systems the machine runs and which cutter-head systems come with it. Klingelnberg names the ARCON and SPIRON cutter-head systems for series production and the Zyklo-Palloid system with AMK blades for single pieces and small series. The Klingelnberg C-series shows the range of sizes. The values are manufacturer data and nominal for the series; for your machine the nameplate and test report count.

For grinding, Klingelnberg lists the G 60 (600 mm, module 2 to 12, about 22,900 kg without filter system) and the G 80 (850 mm ring gear, module 5 to 20, about 24,400 kg). The T 60 tests hard, finished and green spiral bevel and hypoid gear sets.

Two name traps come up in listings. “Oerlikon” on a Klingelnberg machine is the bevel gear brand of Klingelnberg, taken over as Oerlikon Geartec AG in 1993, and has nothing to do with the Oerlikon industrial group. “Phoenix” is the bevel gear machine line of Gleason in Rochester, introduced in 1988; it is not a Pfauter machine, even where a seller has put “Gleason-Pfauter” in front of it.

Control and retrofit status move the value of a bevel gear machine most. Listings distinguish conventional machines with change gears, partly modernised machines and full CNC retrofits. For the C 27 series, Klingelnberg publishes retrofit packages with 12 to 24 months of warranty on replaced parts. What matters is proof: invoices, acceptance reports and wiring diagrams.

Gear measuring machines

A gear measuring machine checks whether a gear reaches the required tooth geometry; its results are used to adjust the production machines. Two families dominate the market:

• Analytical measuring centres measure profile, lead, pitch and run-out. Examples are the Klingelnberg P 26, P 40, P 65 and P 100, with clamped test diameters of up to 260, 400, 650 and 1,000 mm, and the KAPP NILES KNM 2X to 9X (workpieces up to 1,250 mm) and KNM X series (up to 6,000 mm). KAPP NILES Metrology is a separate company from KAPP NILES the grinding machine maker.
• Roll testers roll the workpiece against a master gear. Single-flank testing records changes in rotation angle, double-flank testing records changes in centre distance. Bevel gear testers such as the Klingelnberg T 60 belong here too.

A measuring machine is worth what its accuracy can be proven to be. A dated calibration certificate is the most important single document, followed by a recent test report. The second factor is software: a machine without running software is not usable, so tell us the operating system, the software version and any previous updates. KAPP NILES offers a modernisation of old measuring machines under the name Repowered, with new electronics and software. The remaining factors are measuring range, probes and styli, condition of axes and guides, and accessories such as master gears and fixtures. Hand gauges, master gears, gauge rollers and single calibration standards without a measuring machine are not part of what we buy.

Brands, name changes and who owns what

Gear machine makers have changed names, owners and addresses over the decades. That matters for sellers because spare parts, service and the buyer group follow the name. We buy machines of all makers and have no partnership with any of them. Five brands have their own page:

One collision is worth knowing: “LS” stands both for the historical Lorenz shapers (LS 400, LS 630, LS 1000) and for the current Liebherr shaping series (LS 180 to LS 1600). The nameplate decides which machine you have.

EMAG Koepfer

Koepfer hobbing machines are built today by EMAG KOEPFER GmbH in Villingen-Schwenningen, which has belonged to the EMAG Group since 2005. The manufacturer lists the K 160 (horizontal, up to 100 mm workpiece diameter, module up to 2.5), the K 300 (200 mm, nine CNC axes, also suited to skiving) and the HLC 150 H (150 mm, hobbing and worm milling with integrated chamfering). Older machines trace back to Jos. Koepfer & Söhne, whose series 153 and 173 were the PLC and CNC controlled hobbers of the 1970s and 1980s.

Two traps affect listings. The KOEPFER Holding in Furtwangen makes gears and gearbox parts and is not a machine builder. And the large-module Richardon hobbers R 200 to R 500, built in the EMAG plant in Eislingen, are not Koepfer designs; EMAG took over the Richardon gear cutting business on 1 May 2017. We did not find a published manufacturer statement about service or spare-parts periods for older Koepfer types. Buyers price that uncertainty, so documented condition and complete accessories such as change gears and hob arbors count for more.

Samputensili

Samputensili no longer exists as one company. The machine business, Samputensili Machine Tools and Samputensili CLC, was acquired by the EMAG Group on 3 February 2021 and became EMAG SU S.r.l., with its operating base in Anzola dell’Emilia near Bologna. The tool business is now Star SU Europe, which is not a machine builder. The hobbing and chamfering line of the former Samputensili GmbH in Chemnitz was sold to MAG in 2010.

EMAG describes the EMAG SU programme as shaving, shaping, tooth flank grinding, profile grinding and generating grinding machines. Current series include the G 160 (generating grinding, 160 mm), the G 250 (generating and profile grinding, 250 mm), the G 375 H (profile grinding, 375 mm, module up to 15) and the CLC-SZ shapers (500 mm, module 10). Older machines appear in listings as S 100, S 150, S 200, S 375 G or S 3000 GW. Figures and build years in listings contradict each other, so the nameplate and your documents count, not the title of an advert. Whether EMAG SU supports the older S-series is not stated on the manufacturer pages we checked.

How the purchase works for a gear machine

A buyer of a gear machine usually looks for one size class: someone who needs a hobbing machine for a particular module and diameter range searches for exactly that. So what we offer depends on the machine.

We buy your machine ourselves and organise dismantling and transport. Direct purchase: bank transfer before pickup; no machine leaves your site without confirmed payment. On request we also sell it through our buyer network, confidentially and without a public advert, to a suitable buyer. Sale through our buyer network: commission stated upfront; you are paid before pickup.

For older or heavily used machines, an online auction is often the better route. If you want, we sell your machine ourselves in an auction: reserve price set together with you, commission stated upfront, payout within 5 working days after the auction payment arrives.

The price depends on machine, condition, control, location and current demand.

Retrofit or sell

If you still need the machine, look at modernisation first. Liebherr describes a Reman programme, a general overhaul of used machines built since 2000. KAPP NILES offers KN Retrofit, with a mechanical overhaul, and KN Recontrol, a control upgrade, and states a further ten years of spare-parts availability. Klingelnberg publishes three retrofit packages for the C 27 series. Gleason offers modernisation programmes including mechanical refurbishment, complete remanufacture and CNC retrofit. If you decide to sell, a documented modernisation is a plus that we include in the assessment.

What decides the value

Buyers first ask whether the module and diameter range fits their workpieces, and what it costs to bring the machine to them and start it up. The main factors:

• Workpiece diameter, maximum module and face width or workpiece length
• Build year and series, also in view of name changes and successor ranges
• Control and generation: mechanical with change gears, CNC or electronic gearbox, and whether the control is still supported
• Number of axes
• Operating hours and condition of cutter or grinding spindle and rotary table
• Accuracy proof: test report and gear quality achieved
• Automation and accessories: loaders, arbors, cutters, dressers, counter-supports, change gears
• Cooling, filtering and oil mist extraction
• Retrofit history
• Weight, foundation need and dismantling effort

Each factor with the evidence behind it is explained in What is my gear machine worth?.

What we need from you

Missing documents are not a reason to hold back. They only make the estimate less precise.

Weight, dismantling and transport

Gear machines weigh from a few tonnes into the tens of tonnes. The Klingelnberg bevel gear machines above run from about 11,200 kg to about 38,000 kg, Klingelnberg states about 19,300 kg for the Höfler VIPER 500 gear grinder, and a public dealer listing gives about 73 tonnes for a Pfauter P 3001 hobbing machine built in 1978 (not an MBR machine). What removal actually takes depends on the installation:

• Foundation and anchoring: whether the machine stands free or is anchored on its own foundation. Clarify beforehand whether the foundation is sold with it, who removes it and in what state the hall should be left.
• Route out and lifting: hall doors, ceiling height, crane runway, floor load, and whether the machine is removed whole or in assemblies such as column, bed, rotary table and cabinet. We plan the cranes and lifting equipment from your photos of the installation and, if needed, a visit.
• Heavy transport: very large dimensions and weights can need a transport permit. We agree the date with your plant so that production is disturbed as little as possible.
• Fluids, control and accessories: before dismantling we clarify how hydraulic, lubricating and coolant fluids are handled and document the control, cabinet and connections with photos. Arbors, counter-supports, dressers, change gears and manuals go with the machine and are listed.

Whether these costs are included in the figure or shown separately is stated in the offer upfront.

How a sale works

1. Send the data and photos as listed above.
2. First estimate after receiving the basic data.
3. The offer usually follows 24–48 hours on working days after we have all the details. If an on-site visit is urgent, it can take place, usually within 48 to 72 hours on working days.
4. On a direct purchase, payment is made by bank transfer and confirmed before pickup.
5. We organise dismantling and transport.

For a single machine the whole process usually takes 7 to 15 working days on a direct purchase. The general process is described in How it works. We also assess complete gear shops from closures and insolvencies machine by machine, and we take machines from sellers across Europe, including the UK, Ireland and the Benelux.

What we do not buy

• Finished gears and gearboxes
• Hobs and shaper cutters as single tools
• Grinding worms, grinding wheels, clamping fixtures and dressing tools without a machine
• Gear pumps
• Woodworking and hobby machines

Accessories that belong to your machine, such as Reishauer clamping units or grinding worms, are valued together with it and named in the assessment.

Sell your gear cutting machine: request a free valuation.