Heres my Hendey lathe

Glmphoto said:
Nice to find another Hendey owner. Mine is a 40's 12 X 30. Have had it for several years now. These machines are rock solid heavy units. Mine is over 3000 lbs. It is true Hendey doesn't use a thread dial. Once you bring in the half nut you don't open it till your finished with the thread. Yours is considerably older than mine but you can see similarities. I have had the entire apron and cross slide off of mine to clear the automatic oiler oil galleys. They were fouled from lack of maintenance by the previous owner. If I can help in any way by answering questions you may have, don't hesitate.

Best Regards
Click to expand...

Thats nice lathe, when I thread I use the F&R switch since it doesn't have a thread dial. Im not sure if that's the proper way to do it or not.

Whats the deal with this automatic oilier? Is that something I should look into?

I see your in portage IN, I dont think thats real far from me. I live about 15 miles north of new carlisle IN.
 
You aren't far at all. Years ago I lived on Baron Lake there by Niles. I loved the area.

The apron on my Hendey has an oil reservoir and level sight glass. whenever the feed screw runs oil is pumped through a series of galleys to the ways and screws all about the machine. Your Machine being older my not be equipped.

Are you able to read the serial number? There is a very nice fella that so far as I know is the worlds foremost authority on Hendey tools. He used to be connected with the company in some fashion and has ended up with the records from the now defunct company. I have talked to him in the past and purchased some old "new stock" parts for my Hendey. I will look up his contact info for you. He was able to provide me with a lot of information about my Hendey by the serial number. Mfg dates. Mfg for whom. Weight. Price. He even provided me with original manuals and the original sales invoice. Mine was ordered by and made for the US navy during the war. I also have a DVD about the Hendey company that is very interesting.

As far as threading goes... You got it. When you get to the end put your "F and R" in neutral back the cutter out to clear the thread and then reverse to the starting point. Zero dial plus cut and do it over again. Sense you close the half nut the very first pass and never open it again you never lose register on the thread and therefore don't need a thread dial to "Time" the thread every pass. Do you set your compound over to 29 degrees when you thread? Also the smooth shaft parallel to and below your feed screw has adjustable cleats on it. You can set them to Neutral the machine at a given point. Very cool.

A great aid in threading is a retracting tool holder. You definitely don't need one but they make life a little easier. Kinda like motors on a snow blower chute (that's for another post). Here is a link to Hemingways retracting mechanism. At the end of your thread just neutral then pull the lever and reverse. At the beginning push the lever, add the cut and forward. http://www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalog/Retracting_Tool_Holder.html

Your Hendey has an Air Lift motor drive. Is that an after market unit I wonder. I think your Hendey is designed for line shaft power. I wonder if the Air Lift was made by Hendey as a retro fit or another company. Very interesting. You got yourself a real nice lathe at a great price.

Well its nice to know there is another Hendey owner out there and close by. I hope we can exchange ideas and learning experiences on an ongoing basis. Very good to meet you sir! :)
 
Glmphoto said:
You aren't far at all. Years ago I lived on Baron Lake there by Niles. I loved the area.

The apron on my Hendey has an oil reservoir and level sight glass. whenever the feed screw runs oil is pumped through a series of galleys to the ways and screws all about the machine. Your Machine being older my not be equipped.

Are you able to read the serial number? There is a very nice fella that so far as I know is the worlds foremost authority on Hendey tools. He used to be connected with the company in some fashion and has ended up with the records from the now defunct company. I have talked to him in the past and purchased some old "new stock" parts for my Hendey. I will look up his contact info for you. He was able to provide me with a lot of information about my Hendey by the serial number. Mfg dates. Mfg for whom. Weight. Price. He even provided me with original manuals and the original sales invoice. Mine was ordered by and made for the US navy during the war. I also have a DVD about the Hendey company that is very interesting.

As far as threading goes... You got it. When you get to the end put your "F and R" in neutral back the cutter out to clear the thread and then reverse to the starting point. Zero dial plus cut and do it over again. Sense you close the half nut the very first pass and never open it again you never lose register on the thread and therefore don't need a thread dial to "Time" the thread every pass. Do you set your compound over to 29 degrees when you thread? Also the smooth shaft parallel to and below your feed screw has adjustable cleats on it. You can set them to Neutral the machine at a given point. Very cool.

A great aid in threading is a retracting tool holder. You definitely don't need one but they make life a little easier. Kinda like motors on a snow blower chute (that's for another post). Here is a link to Hemingways retracting mechanism. At the end of your thread just neutral then pull the lever and reverse. At the beginning push the lever, add the cut and forward. http://www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalog/Retracting_Tool_Holder.html

Your Hendey has an Air Lift motor drive. Is that an after market unit I wonder. I think your Hendey is designed for line shaft power. I wonder if the Air Lift was made by Hendey as a retro fit or another company. Very interesting. You got yourself a real nice lathe at a great price.

Well its nice to know there is another Hendey owner out there and close by. I hope we can exchange ideas and learning experiences on an ongoing basis. Very good to meet you sir! :)
Click to expand...

Im sure yours has it too, there is a lever that engages the feed drive, either F,N,R. When I was playing around with this lever is seemed like the tool always ended up on the same thread. Is it possible this is how they would thread? I read back in the day all the lathed were powered by steam and pulley systems so they would have the electric motor to shut off. The would have to work with the machine running all the time. Maybe thats why they dont have a dial because the used this lever that will always engage in the same spot.

Now for the bad news. I needed to make a bushing for a hay wagon repair and yesterday when I flipped it on it didn't want to move. It moved really slow and the converter would click on and off and then nothing. Now when I flip it on it just hums like it doesn't get that 3rd leg. I hope the problem inst in the motor but I thought I heard a little poof in the motor.:angry: It didn't smell burnt though and I didn't see any smoke in the rear of the motor.
 
Do you have a rotary Phase converter -or- static type? Have you metered the motor leads to ground and across each winding? Let me know in a little more detail what you have. I am happy to help

Best Regards
BEAR
 
Glmphoto said:
Do you have a rotary Phase converter -or- static type? Have you metered the motor leads to ground and across each winding? Let me know in a little more detail what you have. I am happy to help

Best Regards
BEAR
Click to expand...
Its a static converter that sucks. I want to either get a rotary converter or a VFD. But if the motor bit the dust maybe I can replace it with a single phase. My dad was a electrician in a factory for 30 years so Ill have to get his out there. I wish it wasn't 100 below zero out. Im hoping the problem is the converter.
 
Do you have any idea on how to test the motor to see if any winding burn out in it? Looks like Im getting power to all 3 legs going into the motor. So Im kinda thinking thats what happened.

So much for my good deal.
 
Its still a good deal. First is the static converter rated for the HP motor you have?
To check the motor SHUT OFF ALL POWER
Unhook each of the 3 wires from the converter to the motor. Check each wire to ground. If you have continuity to ground its bad. then check across wire to wire and see if the Ohms are about the same.
If you need a hand I can make it up your way. Let me know.

Best Bear
 
Glmphoto said:
Its still a good deal. First is the static converter rated for the HP motor you have?
To check the motor SHUT OFF ALL POWER
Unhook each of the 3 wires from the converter to the motor. Check each wire to ground. If you have continuity to ground its bad. then check across wire to wire and see if the Ohms are about the same.
If you need a hand I can make it up your way. Let me know.

Best Bear
Click to expand...

The static converter is rated for 3hp and the lathe is 1.5hp.

Since a static converter really only lets it run on 2 legs I think that caused one of them to get overloaded and burn out. So Ill probably have to have the motor rebuilt since its kinda built in with the gear box. I wont really be able to use a different motor. Then Ill have to get a better converter so it doesnt happen again.
 
You mention a static convertor, In that case they generally have a start cap to get the motor running, but only run on two of the three legs from what I understand. Many people complain they suck because of the reduced power from running on 2- legs

That later model Hendy, by what is described, is called lead screw to reverse. Very handy when threading up to a shoulder. That can save your butt from crashes ;)
 
Some good news, my electrician dad got out some kind of little electrical manual and we tested the motor leads and it checked out. I did some poking around and came across some ancient 2.1amp fuses and one was blown. There was some extra fuses inside. The motor runs now but it still doesn't have enough power to run the lathe. I think Im going to put synthetic oil in the gear box and I still need to either get a VFD or a rotary converter.
 
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