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.
"Kory Hamzeh" wrote in message
...
I recently ran into a company on eBay called Machine Manual Services
(http://www.machinemanuals.net/). 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