Well, after 18 years of loyal service this is the first to sell of the three remaining Eutectic/Fronius 3002s I have left on my hire fleet.
May she serve her new owners well.
Really? That machine's got eighteen years of hire use? Wow!
I've never hired a welder, but most of the other hire kit I've ever seen looks like it's been thrown up a wet concrete staircase and allowed to roll down again... several times!
Oh it looked used, scratches, dents the usual but put some new rubber on the top, knock out the worst of the panel dents with a hammer and dolly then a quick wipe over with an oily rag and they come up pretty good.
I don't tend to let my good gear go out to clients I know will abuse it, they get the rotters
As for when to let go, we always used to just run stuff till it died. Nowadays we tend to get rid just after warranty runs out or if possible sell with 6-12 months warranty left and get the maximum amount of money back to put towards a new one. It keeps the fleet fresher, means you always have second hand stock to sell and your reputation for putting out nice tidy new/newish gear stays intact.
Nah, they are all still going strong. I've got an engine swap to do on one of them and a small patch of MOT welding on the chassis of the first one we refurbed but nothing too major.