Used Grob Machines We Buy

Two Companies Share the Grob Name

The machines listed under Grob come from two different makers, and this page treats them separately. The G-series machining centers are built by GROB-WERKE GmbH & Co. KG, a family-owned German machine builder founded in Munich in 1926. The vertical band saws, the 4V models among them, are built by Grob Inc., a family-owned company in Grafton, Wisconsin, that dates its own start to 1929, when Ben and Ted Grob founded Grob Brothers.

Grob Inc. says the brothers went separate ways in 1951 and that Ben, staying with band saws, formed Grob Inc. None of the company pages we read on either site describes a tie to the other, so we read the data plate before we read the name.

GROB-WERKE: Munich Roots, Mindelheim Headquarters

Ernst Grob founded the Ernst Grob Tool and Machine Factory in Munich on May 21, 1926. When the Munich works had no room left to grow, Burkhart Grob bought land in Mindelheim in 1967, and the Mindelheim plant, opened in 1968, has been the group's headquarters ever since.

GROB says it now owns six large production plants across four continents: Mindelheim, São Paulo, Bluffton in Ohio, Dalian in China, Pianezza in Italy and Bangalore in India. The US side began in 1983, when GROB Systems Inc. was founded in Bluffton as a sales and service subsidiary; in 1991 Bluffton became GROB's third production plant. GROB says that plant builds universal machining centers alongside its machining technology machines, so a G-series in an American shop can be German or Ohio work.

GROB's Universal Line, Its Spindle Layout and Its Controls

GROB points to a horizontally mounted spindle as the signature of its machines, for stability and chip removal. On the G550 it describes three linear and two rotary axes, with a swivel range of 230 degrees in the A-axis and 360 degrees in the B-axis, so the part can be machined on five sides or in simultaneous 5-axis work.

The universal family on GROB's site runs G150, G350, G550 and G750, the economy-minded access versions G350a and G550a, and the mill-turn G350T, G550T and G750T. GROB's operator panel, GROB 4 Pilot, is offered for two control systems, the Siemens 840D sl and the Heidenhain TNC 640, so a G-series universal can carry either one.

The G300, G500 and G520 belong to a separate GROB line, the G-modules: modular machining centers that GROB builds for automotive series production, in single- and two-spindle versions.

GROB Machining Centers by Year Introduced

GROB's own technology timeline, which runs to 2025, dates its machining-center launches. Before the G names, GROB's centers carried BZ names, such as the BZ600L of 1998, its first with linear motor drives.

From GROB's Technological Milestones page. GROB dates its first thread milling machine to 1933.

Grob Inc. Band Saws from Grafton, Wisconsin

Grob Inc. says it employs more than 60 technicians and engineers at a 100,000 square foot plant and headquarters in Grafton, Wisconsin, and that its band saws are 100% manufactured in the USA. Its current saw line is the 4V-24, the 4V-36 and the 6V-36, each built around a Grob transmission with cold-rolled gears and splines. Cold forming, which the company calls Grob Rolling, is the other half of its business.

The 4V-18 is no longer in that current line, but Grob Inc. still posts its assembly drawings and e-manual beside the current models. The NS saws in this hub do not appear on Grob Inc.'s current pages at all, which fits their age.

GROB Service and Trade-In, or Selling Outright

GROB runs its own used-machine desk. Its trade-in and buy-back page invites owners to trade in a used 5-axis machining center for one of its latest universal machines, and it also asks owners who simply want to sell to get in touch; the form asks for the GROB machine number. GROB's service side offers a motorized spindle service with replacement spindles and partial repairs, plus overhaul and modernization of existing GROB machines.

For an owner who wants a G-series off the floor without placing a new order, we buy it outright. A spindle swap or a factory overhaul on record is worth telling us about, and the GROB machine number speeds up our check of the build.

What Sets the Offer on a Used Grob

Two things carry most of the weight on a G-series universal: the control generation, and whether the machine still holds tolerance after its hours. GROB offers its universals with a Siemens 840D sl or a Heidenhain TNC 640 control, and a current control reads differently than an older screen a shop can no longer get service parts for. Spindle hours, the pallet and automation package, and whether tooling comes with the machine all move the number as well. Jason Puuri weighs hours and condition himself rather than running a formula, which is part of why there is no blanket Grob number on this page: these 214 listings carry 113 distinct model numbers, so a per-brand average would tell you nothing about yours. A saw gets scoped on completely different terms. With 45 vertical machining centers sitting beside 23 CNC vertical band saws in this same hub, a G550 conversation and a 4V-18 conversation share almost nothing but the nameplate.

The G-Series Universals: G550, G350 and the Rest

On the machining-center side of this hub, G550 is the family token that appears most, at 13 listings, with G350 next at 8. As single model numbers, G550 shows 8 and G350 shows 7, with another 6 catalogued as G 550 with a space and 4 more as G550-185. Below those, G520 and G500 each show 4, and G552 shows 3. The rest of the Grob book here is thin but real: G440, G350T, G840, G326, G640, G550T, G550A, G750, G350A, G150, G300 and G750T each appear twice. Suffixes are not cosmetic, so a G550 and a G550T get scoped individually rather than lumped under one family number. Behind these model numbers sit 45 vertical machining centers, 19 five-axis machining centers and 15 horizontal machining centers. We buy the G350, G550 and G750 universals, the G500 and G520 G-modules, the G-series HMC variants and G-series automation cells.

Grob Saws: the 4V, NS and FAB Lines

The G-series gets the attention, but the single most common machine number in this hub is not a machining center at all. The 4V-18 vertical band saw appears 24 times in this hub, more than any G-series variant reaches even after its spellings are merged, and 4V is the largest model family token in the book at 42. Behind the 4V-18 sit the 4V-24 at 9 and the 4V-36 at 5. The NS line follows: NS-18 shows 5, another 4 sit as NS18, and NS24, NS36 and NS-24 fill out the rest. The FAB line runs FAB-18 and FAB-30, and the 6V-36 turns up as well. Counted by category, 43 of the 214 listings sit under a saw label. On a saw, send the data plate model number, the blade wheel size and whether it still runs under power. These trade on their own terms, not on control generation or spindle hours.

What the 214 Grob Listings Cover

Nineteen category labels cover the 214 listings, and they add up exactly. Metal Cutting is the largest at 68, though that is a general bucket label rather than a machine type, so it says nothing about what those units actually are. Below it: 45 vertical machining centers, 23 CNC vertical band saws, 19 five-axis machining centers, 15 horizontal machining centers, 10 CNC saws, 6 CNC band saws and 6 listed as miscellaneous. The tail runs 5 horizontal boring mills, 4 lathes, 3 grinding machines, 2 vertical bandsaws, 2 turning centers, and one each of transfer machine, boring mill, gear machinery, band saw, milling machine and saw. Across all of it are 113 distinct model numbers, including oddities like the 2S36U, the BZ 600, the ZRM9 and a 352 5-Axis. The payoff for a seller: if your Grob is not a G-series universal, it still belongs in this hub, and we still buy it.

Selling Outright Instead of Trading In

GROB runs its own buy-back desk, which takes used 5-axis machining centers in trade toward its latest universals. If you simply want the old one off the floor, MTE buys it outright with no new-machine purchase attached. We are a direct buyer, not a broker, a listing service or an auction platform, so you are selling to us rather than waiting on us to find a third party. MTE is a division of Superior Machine and Tool and has been buying and selling used CNC equipment since 2012. We can arrange rigging, crating and freight, arrange the pickup, and buy in all 50 states in any condition, whether the machine is running production, sitting idle or needing work. A single G350 and a full production cell of G-series universals get the same terms, and each unit in a multi-machine pull still gets scoped on its own control, hours and condition.

Have This Ready Before You Call, Whatever the Vintage

Model plate number, year, spindle hours if tracked, condition, tooling and automation, and control type are enough to start. Photos of the control screen and the work envelope speed a first number but are not required. On an older saw the data plate model number is usually enough on its own, since there is no control generation to ask about. The listings that carry a year run from 1969 to 2026, so this hub holds machines from the current model year sitting alongside units built more than fifty years ago. Factory documentation on units that old is thin, so a photo showing the footprint and how the machine sits in the shop does more for the rigging plan than a catalog spec would. If your model does not appear anywhere on this page, send it anyway. We buy both makers' Grob machines, the G-series and the saws, and a number typically comes back within 24 to 48 hours.