Used Makino Machines We Buy

Who Builds Makino Machines

Makino machines come from Makino Milling Machine Co., Ltd., whose world headquarters is in Tokyo. Tsunezo Makino opened his first machine shop there in 1930, and in May 1937 he set up the manufacturing division of Makino Shoten to build No. 1 type vertical milling machines; the company took its present name in 1961.

Makino's corporate profile lists two plants in Japan, Atsugi in Kanagawa and Fuji Katsuyama in Yamanashi. Outside Japan, Makino says its Singapore facility builds vertical milling machines, machining centers and both wire and ram EDMs, so a used Makino may have been built in either country.

Makino in North America, From LeBlond to Mason

Makino set up MAKINO U.S.A. in 1975. In 1981 it bought the LeBlond Machine Tool Company and renamed it LeBlond Makino Machine Tool Company, the company that is now Makino Inc. Its headquarters for the Americas sits in Mason, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati, with a die/mold technology center in the Detroit area and a sales and service facility in Wichita serving aerospace work.

If a machine on your floor carries a LeBlond Makino plate, it belongs to that line, and we buy it the same way as a current Makino.

Makino Dates That Help Place a Used Machine

Milestones from Makino's own company history, oldest first. Makino's timeline runs to 2018; these are the entries that matter most when dating a machine:

Makino's Lines, and Which Ones Are EDM

Makino groups its machines into 4-axis and 5-axis horizontals, 3-axis and 5-axis verticals, wire EDM, sinker EDM, EDM hole drilling and grinding. On the milling side, Makino calls its nx-Series, the a51nx and a61nx among them, the top-selling 4-axis horizontal machining centers in North America, and the MAG series was developed for aerospace parts.

The EDM names are easy to mix up. Makino's sinker (ram) EDMs are the EDAF, EDGE and EDNC series; its wire EDMs carry U and UX names, such as the UX3 and UX6 and the U6 H.E.A.T. Extreme. A wire machine and a sinker get scoped on different things, so the series name on the plate matters when you send us the details.

Professional 3, 5 and 6: The Makino Control Layer

Makino's Professional controls put Makino's own interface on top of Fanuc CNC hardware, and the Professional version on the screen is a quick way to place a machine in time. Makino formally introduced the Professional 5 at IMTS in 2004 as an upgrade of the Pro 3 control, built on Fanuc hardware with a touchscreen. Its June 2019 release for the F5 vertical describes the Professional 6 as a blend of FANUC hardware and a Microsoft Windows Embedded operating system.

Earlier still, Makino developed its GI and Super GI control functions in 1991. When you contact us, a photo of the control's start screen showing Pro 3, Pro 5 or Pro 6 saves a round of questions.

Keeping a Makino on Makino Support, or Letting It Go

Makino backs the machines it has sold through an owners' web portal with service history reports, parts manuals and spec documents, a parts store, operator training, and a spindle rebuild service. Lean on it while the machine is still earning. When the Makino is ready to leave, we make a direct offer, and the service history reports you can pull from that portal make a strong attachment to your inquiry.

Horizontal Machining Centers Are the Core of Our Makino Book

A51, A55, A61NX and A81 horizontal machining centers are the biggest slice of the Makino machines we buy. Pallet count, tombstone or fixture tooling included, and spindle taper condition all affect the offer. A machine still running Makino's Professional control with a documented maintenance history draws a stronger number than one that has sat idle in a corner of the shop.

EDM and Vertical Machines Follow Different Rules

Sinker EDM units like the EDGE, EDNC and EDAF lines, and wire EDM units like Makino's U and UX series, are priced on generator condition, tank integrity and, on a wire machine, wire threading function, rather than spindle hours. V-series verticals such as the V77 and V33 are evaluated the way any VMC would be, on axis travel, spindle condition, and control type.

What to Have Ready

Serial number, control model, spindle or generator hours if logged, and a pallet or fixture inventory. Note the machine's location and rigging access too, because rigging access feeds straight into the freight estimate.

5-Axis and Specialty Machines We Also Buy

Beyond the A-series HMCs, we buy Makino's 5-axis line, the D200Z, D300, D500, DA300, and MCC2013, plus the large-format MAG series built for aerospace structures. On the specialty side, T2 and T4 titanium-machining centers and the U3 and U6 wire EDM units round out what we hold. PS95, PS105, S33, and S56 verticals, along with the F3 and F5, fill out the smaller VMC side of our Makino inventory. A 5-axis machine gets scoped differently than a 3-axis one, table swing, trunnion condition, and rotary axis backlash matter as much as spindle hours, so a low-hour D500 with tight rotary axes can outperform an older 3-axis A-series with fewer hours on the clock. Titanium-specific machines like the T2 and T4 also get a closer look at coolant-through capacity, since that's usually what separates a true titanium-capable spindle from a general-purpose one. Spindle taper also plays into the number on any Makino, BT40 tooling is common and easy to source, while an HSK-equipped machine, more common on newer 5-axis models, can be a plus for a shop that already runs HSK tooling and a wash for one that would need to requalify its tool room around a different taper. On the EDM side, generator technology has moved fast over the last decade, so a newer EDGE-series sinker is a meaningfully different machine to us than an older EDNC unit, and a wire EDM with updated threading automation differs from an older one, even when both are technically still working.

Why Makino Tends to Command a Stronger Number

Makino sees steady demand from aerospace and automotive shops that specify the brand by name, which is largely a function of build quality. That reputation works in your favor when we evaluate a machine, particularly a low-hour A-series or a 5-axis unit still under Makino's Professional control. A direct sale to a buyer who understands the brand, rather than a generic used-equipment outlet, is typically the faster route to cash. That's also where a documented maintenance history pays off most, a Makino with logged PM records and a clean spindle-taper inspection tends to draw a noticeably stronger look than an otherwise similar machine with no paperwork behind it, since we're not guessing at how the machine was actually run. That's especially true across environments, a Makino that's been running in a humidity-controlled aerospace shop tends to show less way wear than one that sat in a non-climate-controlled facility for the same number of years, and a documented environment, not just a documented service history, factors into how we look at the machine.

Where Makino Fits Among the Brands We Buy

Makino sits alongside other premium CNC brands in what we purchase, including DMG Mori, Mazak, Okuma, and Haas equipment. When an entire toolroom is going, not one machine, that matters, we'll quote your Makino HMC and any other brand on the floor together, on one pickup schedule instead of separate transactions for each nameplate. It also means we're used to comparing a Makino against its closest competitors when we scope a number, so the offer reflects where the machine actually sits in the current market rather than a generic used-equipment formula applied the same way to every brand. Send us the full list, model by model, and we'll come back with one consolidated quote instead of making you track separate offers for each machine on the floor. When a facility liquidation includes machines outside the Makino lineup entirely, older manual equipment, tooling, fixtures, and shop support gear, we can often fold those into the same conversation rather than requiring a separate process for anything that isn't a CNC machine tool.