Why Wouldn't You Buy a Hardinge Lathe-Accuracy Report

Yesterday morning I had a rush job from a local print shop that needed a cylinder turned down. It should have been ground but there was .080" to remove and no cylindrical grinder in sight. Turned down a Rovi internal collet to drive the 13" long roll and held the other end with a live center. When I was done I had held the 2.008 +.0002/.0005 but just barely. One end was .0007-.0008 bigger then the other end but then again this is a 30+ year old lathe that has been in production shops its entire life. My measurement may have been slightly faulty as all I had was an Etalon micrometer verified with gage blocks. I am not here to boast about my machining abilities but I don't know of a better lathe for a beginner then a Hardinge. It puts all the errors back in the operator's hands and gives truly precision work. Leigh at MarMachine

Reply to
Leigh Knudson
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Ayup.

It doesnt hurt that you are a damned fine machinist either.

But my old TFB, early 60s vintage will do the same thing. And Im NOT much of a machinist. Gunner

"In my humble opinion, the petty carping levied against Bush by the Democrats proves again, it is better to have your eye plucked out by an eagle than to be nibbled to death by ducks." - Norman Liebmann

Reply to
Gunner

If we're into bragging here, my much older 10EE - Dec 1941, should do this also. With the DROs added, accurate work is almost childs play on this fine machine.

Of course, I would have turned down Leigh's job and sent it on to the grinder. I'm much less confident in my skills.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

I think the HLVH here at work is 1958 vintage.

I've taught a co-worker how to do some machining, including lathe work. I tell him that he has *no* idea what kind of situation he's in, learning the to run a lathe on that kind of machine. :)

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

You young people these days, just easy street all the way along. Why, when I was a boy, new co-workers wouldn't be taught to use the lathe for at least a year! They had to spend that extra time pedaling it for the real machinists, to build up the required leg strength to finally go solo.

:)

GTO(John)

Reply to
GTO69RA4

LOL. After the rain we had here, it's nice to finally smile about something!

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

Yeah, and the master machinists were only allowed to make deep cuts at high speed in hard, gummy materials when the apprentices were powering the machine.

-- Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love America

Reply to
Bob Chilcoat

And we were *glad* to do it.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

Don't know of anyone that doesn't like a Hardinge. The few times I have used one they were a joy to run.

If your tail stock was not properly adjusted, that might explain the error. Try another bar of similar length and see if adjusting the tail stock will allow for a parallel cut.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

Hardinge tailstocks dont adjust.

The one weakness they have in my Opinion. I know why they dont, but they would have been much handier if they did.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Reply to
Gunner

That's right: Hardinge tailstocks don't adjust. Got a check in payment and a note from the print shop owner yesterday. Note says," The roll worked perfectly" so I must have been nearly as accurate as I though I was. Leigh at MarMachine

Reply to
Leigh Knudson

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