Be careful when dealing with Machine Manual Services

I recently ran into a company on eBay called Machine Manual Services

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I had just acquired a 1970 Hardinge HVL-H Lathe and needed manuals for them. At that time, I was not aware that Hardinge sold manuals for the older machines. I contacted Bradley at Machine Manual Services and said that I have a 1970 HLV-H serial number XXXX, do you have the user's, service, or parts manual. He said "Yes, you can order them online." I did and received them promptly on CD-ROM.

When I started looking through the manuals, I noticed that they did not match my machine. For example, my lathe has the wider carriage power feed box. I contacted Bradley and he told me that he sold me the correct manuals but that it looks like someone modified my machine. Then I saw several other HLV-H lathes on eBay with the exact same power feed box as mine. I told him I find it hard to believe that all these machines around the same model year being sold by different people were modified the same way. No response from Bradley.

I then noticed that the spindle control box in the manual is totally different than mine. The manuals that he is selling is for 1978 and newer machines because Hardinge changes those then. I contacted Bradley about this. No response from him.

I contacted Hardinge and they told me I can still get the manual for my machine from them. I ordered them and as one would think, they match my machine perfectly.

I finally contacted Bradley several days ago. All along I would say to him, "Either send me the correct manuals or refund my money". His response was, "We don't give refunds on manuals." I asked him to them send me the right manual. No response. He has totally stopped returning all my e-mails.

So, the moral of the story is, "Be careful or you'll get ripped off!" Both the service manual and the parts manual are completely wrong. I wish this self proclaimed Harding expert would just be honest enough and say he made a mistake. I was dumb enough to listen to a HLV owner who told me that Hardinge did not sell manuals for my machine any longer or I would have never bothered going this route.

If you want transcripts of the actual e-mails, contact me directly.

Kory

Reply to
Kory Hamzeh
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As you've probably discovered, one of the things that these eBay sellers don't tell you in their listings is that manual they are selling you may not match the tool for which you need it. I say probably because I'm not familar enough with Hardinge to know how many manual revisions they went through, if any.

I'm more familar with Clausing as I have one of their lathes and have spoken with Clausing tech support a number of times. They tell me that there are about 25 different versions of the manual for the 5900-series lathes. Clausing will sell an owner (or anyone else, I suppose) the right manual for $25 provided a Serial Number for the lathe can be supplied.

It's a little surprising to many how many folks don't realize that manuals for some of these tools are still available from the manufacturer or whover bought the rights to them. Hardinge, Clausing (and Atlas which is part of Clausing), Rockwell, and Logan come to mind and I'm sure there are others. It pays to do a bit of research on Google web or Google groups before plunking down cash.

That said, I believe I've bought from Machine Manuals myself for something that I wasn't able to find elsewhere. His prices are reasonable and the quality seems to be good, but I wish he'd limit himself to stuff that is out of print.

Reply to
Mike Henry

Reply to
william_b_noble

Hey guys,

Sort of off the matter at hand, but Barry Tuttleman in Carson City, Nevada, is a good guy and very reputable. He's got quite a list of "real" manuals and books. If he says it's what you need, it is. I'd deal with him anytime.

Take care.

Brian Laws>As you've probably discovered, one of the things that these eBay sellers

Reply to
Brian Lawson

You are lucky, your machine has the older variac/variable resistor control for the feed motor. The larger box models are pretty much indestructible.

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

Reply to
jim rozen

Unfortunately, I didn't buy the manual through ebay. I found him on ebay (he was selling some other manual) and contacted him. One this that bothered me from the very start is that he only has one set of Hardinge manuals, so I suspect no matter what year & serial number I'd give him, he'd tell me the same thing. How come companies like Monarch & Hardinge allow them to resell their copyright products? Does he pay royalties?

Thanks, Kory

Reply to
Kory Hamzeh

I wish this

You might inform your seller that unless a refund is forthcoming, you will inform Hardinge of his copyright infringment. Since they still sell the manual, I'm sure they'd be interested in pursuing him. Seems like they'd have a slam dunk of a lawsuit. A smart man would make the refund. Anyone else deserves the sh** storm that follows. A word to the wise is always sufficient.

Regards, Dave

Reply to
Dave Ficken

To the idiot that reported me to Ebay because he/she thought I publish eBay contact information:

Read it again. I DID NOT BUY THE BOOK FROM EBAY. I found out about Machine Manuals on eBay but contacted the owner (Bradley) directly and ordered the manual straight off of his web site using the URL listed below. If I had bought it through eBay, I would have gone through eBay to resolve the problem.

Reply to
Kory Hamzeh

Interesting - who would have an incentive to do that? Did eBay give you the member name of the complainer?

Reply to
Mike Henry

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