Used Tornos Machines We Buy

Who Builds Tornos Machines

Tornos machines come from Moutier, in the Swiss Jura Mountains, where the Tornos group manufactures. Tornos calls itself one of the global leaders in developing, producing and distributing Swiss-type automatic lathes and multi-spindle machines, and it dates its history to 1880, which it says puts Tornos at the beginning of Swiss-type lathe technology.

The name on today's machines is the end of a long run of Moutier mergers. Tornos' own history brochure says Tornos took over Pétermann SA in 1968 and then merged with Bechler SA; the group became Tornos-Bechler SA in 1981 and Tornos SA in 2001. In December 2023 Tornos Holding and Starrag Group Holding merged to form StarragTornos Group, headquartered in Rorschacherberg, Switzerland.

Where Tornos Builds, and Where Almac Went

In its 2021 financial report, Tornos said the group manufactures in Moutier, Switzerland, in Taichung, Taiwan and in Xi'an, China, and sells worldwide. The Xi'an plant is a joint venture with Shanxi Robot Automation Technology, in which Tornos Ltd. held 70% according to its 2018 annual report.

Almac, the milling machine maker in La Chaux-de-Fonds, is part of the same company now. Tornos merged Almac Ltd. into Tornos Ltd. retroactively to January 1, 2018, ended the Almac brand name and sells those milling machines as Tornos. That is why an Almac mill can sit in a Tornos book and still get a Tornos offer.

Tornos Firsts and Launches, From Its Own History

Dated milestones Tornos gives in its company profile and its history brochure, An epic industrial story, which runs to the SwissDECO of 2018:

Tornos Ranges and the Bar Sizes Tornos Gives

The ranges Tornos' history brochure describes, with the bar diameters or versions it lists for each:

The DECO 2000, Gamma, Delta, ENC and SAS machines in our book are not in this list; send those exactly as the plate reads.

Programming a Tornos: TB-DECO and TISIS

Tornos has its own programming system for its DECO-generation lathes, TB-DECO, and its history brochure describes the DECO 2000 as the step from physical cams to virtual cams. For Tornos machines outside the TB-DECO system, Tornos says its TISIS software does the programming, with an ISO editor that manages up to four channels.

When you sell a DECO-family machine, tell us whether the TB-DECO software and the computer that runs it go with the machine. It changes what the next shop can do with it on day one.

Tornos in the United States, or Selling Outright

Tornos dates its American presence to 1959, the year it says the Swiss company was established in the United States. Its 2021 financial report lists the US company, Tornos Technologies U.S. Corp., for sales and service in Des Plaines, Illinois, where Customer Center Chicago opened in 2019: nearly 1,200 square meters holding a showroom for the Tornos range, offices and a warehouse stocked with spare parts.

That center and Tornos' service network are the right call for a Tornos you will keep making parts on. For one you are taking off the floor, we buy it outright, and a recent service report or notes on spindle and guide bushing work are worth sending along.

What Is in the Tornos Book Right Now

Every one of the 199 listings on this page is a Tornos. One brand, no filler from adjacent Swiss builders. Across those units there are 151 distinct models, so repeats are rare and nearly every machine gets scoped on its own rather than as a copy of the last one. The category split: 113 of the 199 sit under the broad Metal Cutting parent, 43 under CNC Lathes and 39 specifically under CNC Swiss-Type Lathes. One each lands under Lathes, CNC Miscellaneous Machines, CNC Vertical Machining Centers and Bar Feeders. Metal Cutting is a wide parent heading rather than a machine type, so a unit filed there may still be a lathe. Build years: 117 of the 199 listings carry one, and among those the oldest is 1971 and the newest 2023. The other 82 reached us with no year at all, the most common gap we ask a seller to close.

The DECO Family, and What Sits Next to It

DECO is the largest model family in this hub by a wide margin, at 55 of the 199 listings, better than a quarter of the book. Most of that family splits three ways: 33 filed under Metal Cutting, 13 under CNC Swiss-Type Lathes and 8 under CNC Lathes, with one more filed outside those three. The units that repeat are what shops call us about. DECO 2000/10 and DECO 2000/13 each appear three times, as does DECO 10a. DECO 2000/20, Deco 2000/26, DECO 10, DECO 26 and DECO 2000 each appear twice. Seven listings carry only the DECO name with no size designation, which is why we ask for the data plate, not the family name. We do not roll every machine with DECO in the name into one number. MULTIDECO at 8 listings, EVODECO at 3 and SWISSDECO at 2 are separate machines with separate roll-ups, each scoped on its own.

The Rest of the Tornos Families

Past DECO the book runs wide. ENC is next at 14, filed 6 Metal Cutting, 5 CNC Lathes and 3 CNC Swiss-Type Lathes, with ENC 163 and ENC 74 each at two. SAS follows at 12, split 7 Metal Cutting and 5 CNC Lathes, with SAS 16 DC and SAS 16 each at two. MULTISWISS holds 11 and is the one family whose largest category is Swiss-type rather than Metal Cutting, 6 of its 11. SWISS carries 10. MULTIDECO holds 8, split evenly between Metal Cutting and CNC Lathes. GT holds 6, with GT-26 and GT-32 each at two. DELTA holds 6, all under Metal Cutting. AS holds 5. MULTI, ALMAC, SWISSNANO and SIGMA each hold 4. GAMMA and EVODECO each hold 3. MS7, SWISSDECO, MULTISIGMA, BS, SAS166, SAS16 and ROBOBAR each hold 2. SAS, SAS16 and SAS166 are separate groupings, as are MULTI, MULTISWISS, MULTIDECO and MULTISIGMA. They quote apart, so we count them apart.

What Moves the Number on a Used Tornos

On most Tornos machines a size figure is already in the model designation. DECO 10, DECO 26, GT-26, GT-32, SIGMA 20, Delta 20/5, DELTA 20/4, Gamma 20/6, MULTIDECO 26/6, Multideco 20/6 and the DECO 2000/10, 2000/13, 2000/20 and 2000/26 units all carry their number in the name. A photo of the data plate gets you most of the way. After that: condition and configuration. Guide bushing and collet wear. Spindle condition and hours. Whether it still holds tolerance on the parts it ran. Live tooling and back-working attachments. Control make and software generation, since a machine the next shop can still program is worth more. Then the Swiss-cell item: does the bar feeder go with the machine. It matters enough that Bar Feeders is its own category in this hub. Jason Puuri weighs all of it himself rather than running a formula, and a quote typically comes back in 24 to 48 hours.

Have This Ready Before You Call

The calls that turn into offers fastest are the ones where the seller has the plate in hand. Model and serial off the data plate. Build year, worth going to find: 82 of the 199 listings in this book reached us with no year at all, and a year narrows an offer faster than anything else here. Then the capacity figure from the model designation. Spindle count. Control make and generation. Whether the bar feeder, collets, guide bushings and tooling go with it or stay. Whether it is still under power. Photos are not required but they speed things up. Three are enough: the control screen, the data plate, and one wide shot far enough back to catch the bar feeder as well as the machine. A Swiss cell occupies a longer footprint than the machine alone, and we build the rigging plan off the real layout. We can arrange rigging, crating and freight nationwide.

Selling a Tornos Direct Instead of Listing It

Machine Tool Exchange buys the machine. We are not a broker, an auction platform or a consignment listing service, so you sell to us instead of waiting on us to find a buyer. No listing and no broker. We can arrange the pickup. We have bought and sold industrial machinery since Superior Machine and Tool was founded in 2012. For a Swiss shop that matters specifically: the machine, its bar feeder, collets and tooling go on one quote and one pickup schedule, not unbundled. The cell leaves the way it ran. Mixed floors work the same way. We buy Mazak, Okuma, Doosan and Haas equipment elsewhere on this site, and those go on the same quote as your Tornos machines. A Tornos machine that is not a Swiss lathe still gets an offer: this hub carries ALMAC units, three filed as metal cutting and one as a CNC vertical machining center.