On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 02:05:29 GMT, machineman
wrote:
Gunner
I would love to get my hands on a hardinge roolroom lathe. I have
spent time on them in several shops as well as the Taiwanese copy which
was not too bad. I even got the Hardinge tour back in 85. It was a
great factory tour and then a CNC programing course on site. I hope the
rest of the town is in better shape than it was back then. In 85 Elmira
NY had basically only two employers, Hardinge and a federal prison. We
drove by a closed GE foundry, LaFrance firetruck factory and a Corning
glass works. The only thing missing was the tumbleweeds rolling down
main street :-(
A buddy told me about a retired Prof at a local university that
bought a new Hardinge and Bridgeport to play with in his golden years
:-) I would have gone with a Deckel myself :-)
The Copies are made by Feeler. I did a lot of small prototype **** on
this machine, it held up pretty well. I don't know if they are
available in the US, but at the time we got one it was half the price of
a Hardinge 25k vs 50k cnd$ in 89.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/feeler/
I repair a lot of Feelers and Goodways (they both come from the same
factory..the Chinese Red Dragoon Noodle and Machine Tool Collective)
and are not bad. Fit and finish is about 80% of the Hardinges they are
copied from, though some materials used are inferior. Most Feelers
have the feed clutches go out inside of 3 or 4 yrs of steady use. Or
sooner.
Sharp and Brother badge the same lathes and specify a better finish.
Still tend to slightly inferior materials in some places..but ..shrug.
Id not turn down any of them if the price was right. I was just
blessed by (insert Deity of your choice) and managed to get mine for
damned little..mostly trade outs in labor. Same with the big 15x48
Clausing 1501. The Gorton MasterMill was a basket case I rebuilt from
the concrete up. Shrug
Gunner
Machineman
http://www.jamescrombie.com
Gunner Asch wrote:
On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 06:47:02 -0500, Barney-Killer
wrote:
Jon,
I bought the Craftex 10x18 lathe a couple years ago as my first
lathe. It is not a bad machine but could do with some minor
improvments in the change gear area. Also the documentation is not
translated into English very well.
They could also have been a bit more detailed in the documentation.
Other than that, I'd sure recommend it as a first lathe, but if you've
got lots of money... go with an American made lathe, ie: South Bend or
equiv.
In my humble opinion, there is just nothing better than South Bend 
BK
Im rather fond of my 3 Hardinges.
Different tastes I suppose.
G
Gunner
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner