Do you know what to do if you need to replace a broken orbital welder within days (or even hours) of the deadline for the job? Most businesses in the industry tend to live hand-to-mouth and can ill afford to lose money to new equipment, but would rather invest in orbital rental instead of new machines. It is hard enough for an organization to survive as it is without needing to shell out the money required to replace equipment that may not be as commonly used as other items in your inventory are, and this is particularly true of industrial semiconductor manufacturers as well.
There are quite a few advantages to choosing an orbital rental over buying the equipment brand new from the original equipment manufacturer. The first and most common advantage that everyone should be aware of is the difference in price. It is much cheaper to rent a welder for a short period of time than it is to buy a new one for only a few projects before setting it aside and never using it again. This brings up the second major advantage of choosing a rental over purchasing new equipment: then temporal aspect of the arrangement. Or, in other words, the welder ultimately gets sent back to the supplier, freeing up space and money from a now obsolete object. Once you are done with the welder simply send it back, no need to pack it up and store it for several months until you find occasion to pull it out and use it again.
Granted if your organization needs to do frequent welding, or if you use a fairly stable number of welders at any given point, then by all means purchase your equipment. But if the number of welding gigs you need to fill are flexible and stretching you thin, or if your equipment breaks down and you need to keep working until the replacement arrives, going with renting a new or reconditioned welder is probably the best option for you. Look around for a while and compare prices, you will never know how much you could save until you do.