What lathe?

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You guys have my curiousity fueled on the Hardinge lathes. Havent heard much about them until tonight. Guess I will be on the lookout. I will try to stay out of your area Brad haha.
 
I know someone mentioned about reading up on 3 phase earlier in the thread - just wanted to reiterate the importance of understanding what that means and considering how you are going to accommodate that requirement as a priority before getting too excited about most of these industrial tools mentioned here. Most residential homes simply do not have access to this kind of electrical supply. It's not a matter of just accommodating the voltage with just another line like your dryer uses. The current in a 3 Phase system flows and balances differently and as such the motor in the tool is designed differently than a single phase would be.

You can install a phase converter or swap out the motor with a single phase that would be more plug and play - so it is not the end of the world - but again, both of these options will add to the cost, in some cases significantly. Depending on the size and other variables, a phase converter could cost another 1k$ on top of the machine itself and tooling etc.

Just something to keep in mind..

Good luck! and thanks for sharing all these pics and ads for old American steel that just keeps getting passed on for generations because it was truly built that well. The industry has changed a lot even in the last 10-15 years and as the saying goes...they don't make em like they used too. Hope you end up rescuing another one from just getting scrapped!
 
You guys have my curiousity fueled on the Hardinge lathes. Havent heard much about them until tonight. Guess I will be on the lookout. I will try to stay out of your area Brad haha.

Brown & Sharpe used to make a mag base magnifying glass.

We used to use them on small work.

You can sit down at the 59 and cuddle up to the work.

I have thousands of hours on them.

I could NEVER use the lathe as an excuse in over 30 years.

They remove variables.
 
Mine is an South Bend out of a old high school tech program, 10" x 48", shopped around found it on CL for a grand. But I know two guys who have bought new Grizzlys and had expierenced machinst go over them and they hold good tolerances. One of your buddies could probably get one set up to hold the tolerances you need to hold. I've looked at the Grizzlies at one of their stores, they produce one of the better chinese machines imho. I've also had excellent customer service with any product I've purchased their, had no issues getting parts either.
 
Brown & Sharpe used to make a mag base magnifying glass.

We used to use them on small work.

You can sit down at the 59 and cuddle up to the work.

I have thousands of hours on them.

I could NEVER use the lathe as an excuse in over 30 years.

They remove variables.

Would love to hear more about them sometime. Too bad you arent closer.
 
Brown & Sharpe used to make a mag base magnifying glass.

We used to use them on small work.

You can sit down at the 59 and cuddle up to the work.

I have thousands of hours on them.

I could NEVER use the lathe as an excuse in over 30 years.

They remove variables.

The more you typed out about those 59's, the more I felt like eating my "too much $$ for what you get" comment. It looks like a simple lathe -- but my inexperience with lathes shone through there.

From what you're saying they sound like a good'n. :msp_smile:
 
I know someone mentioned about reading up on 3 phase earlier in the thread - just wanted to reiterate the importance of understanding what that means and considering how you are going to accommodate that requirement as a priority before getting too excited about most of these industrial tools mentioned here. Most residential homes simply do not have access to this kind of electrical supply. It's not a matter of just accommodating the voltage with just another line like your dryer uses. The current in a 3 Phase system flows and balances differently and as such the motor in the tool is designed differently than a single phase would be.

You can install a phase converter or swap out the motor with a single phase that would be more plug and play - so it is not the end of the world - but again, both of these options will add to the cost, in some cases significantly. Depending on the size and other variables, a phase converter could cost another 1k$ on top of the machine itself and tooling etc.

Just something to keep in mind..

Good luck! and thanks for sharing all these pics and ads for old American steel that just keeps getting passed on for generations because it was truly built that well. The industry has changed a lot even in the last 10-15 years and as the saying goes...they don't make em like they used too. Hope you end up rescuing another one from just getting scrapped!

The motors use the 3rd phase to start and then run on two phases. . . Hence you can "jump" them and run fine on 240v.

And you're right about old iron! The new stuff just isn't as tough.

The Japs do make some dang nice machines though, but ya gotta hunt and peck for good ones of those too.
 
The more you typed out about those 59's, the more I felt like eating my "too much $$ for what you get" comment. It looks like a simple lathe -- but my inexperience with lathes shone through there.

From what you're saying they sound like a good'n. :msp_smile:


They often DON'T look like they are worth it. But after 1000s of hours, you use what works best.
 
After pages of posts, I honestly don't think Brad could go wrong with any of the lathes posted.

Brad, make up yer dang mind! :laugh:
 

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