> You're about 3 weeks too late - I arranged for a friend of mine to buy
> > a quite nice used vert mill off of Hare & Forbes for $1500. We had to
> > do a little work on it and buy a single phase-3 phase VFD but his total
> > investment is still less than $2500 for quite a nice machine.
> > Don't be in too much of a rush would be my advice, plus look at 3 phase > > machines.
> > PDW
> I am quite happy to wait out untill aug. ( Tax return time ;-) ) I went
> to Emmco earlier today and nothing there took my fancy. As to the
> Holbrook lathe thats another story. Yeah I was talking to my dad who is
> a retired fitter he sort of agreed. However I have been told that you
> can get variable speed controllers to get the speed lower
>If you fit a 3 phase motor you can fit a speed controller. Dunno about
>a single phase one, never bothered thinking about it. However, you will
>lose torque which you need for the bigger cutter and the belt will lose
>grip efficiency. Been there, done that with a B/port M head mill. I
>retrofitted a J head to get the speed range I wanted. That said I got a
>lot of use out of the M head for many years......
> As to that I
> don't know what the long term effect would bo on the motor. I have sort
> of gathered that Hare and Forbes are getting out of the second hand > market.
Yes, they are.
But If you hear anything please let me know as that is a nice
> price. As a matter of interest what did you have to do to this
> machine.
>Not a lot. The table was binding on the LH end of the travel. I thought
>it was probably worn along the rest of its travel, as did the sales
>guy. The new owner stripped it down and found that the nut was too high
>causing binding on the feedscrew. Made a new nut but could have
>machined the original one. The ways etc were in excellent condn. This
>was a Kao Fong machine made in 1978, 3 phase 2 speed motor with
>separate power feed to table. Quite a respectable machine in very good
>condition both cosmetically and function. It was seriously cheap for
>Hare & Forbes, due I expect to the table binding.
>We also bought a couple 240V single to 240V 3 phase VFD's and changed
>the motor wiring to suit. The VFD's are available from Melbourne
>Machinery for $300 + GST IIRC. I've got a 415 one here at work we're
>fitting to a lathe. Teco brand I think.
>Dunno if they're still in business - I'm in Hobart these days - but ACY
>Machinery occasionally had some 2nd hand stuff and Centurion Machinery
>had a lot. Mainly industrial so possibly too big for you, but you never >know.
>The Holbrook lathe is something he didn't have last time I passed thru.
>Richard has sold his Emco Maximat 11 now and keeps asking me when I'm
>going to sell him mine - mine's a metric machine. Not until I'm ready
>to buy a sailboat is the answer...... I don't need the lathe (I have a
>Colchester Chipmaster), but I don't need the money yet either.
>PDW
Decisions Decisions. I went to Centurion at Alburn and they had an old sajo universal mill which looked ok. Nice and heavy though. And then you have the HM 52 from H&F while a lighter machine is around simmilar cost and is new!! However what put me off is seeing 2 hm 50's out the back for sale in the second hand section with writing on their tables saying how much they are out by. If I buy from H&F what is their after sales service like if something like that is a problem.