Opinions On Hf 12x36 Needed Please

barkoguru

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I currently own a south bend 9c which is a nice machine and I love it but I do not have the change gears for threading and the spindle hole is too small for my barrel work, that being said, I was recently offered a HF/Central Machinery 12x36, he stated he purchased it new probably ten years ago, turned a few things down on it and never really got into metal work and left it setting until now, he did occasionally go out and start it and stated sometimes he would have to hit the switch a couple of times before the machine would start, he said he thinks it came with a steady rest but it's been so long he couldn't remember what came with it, he says he thinks it's worth around 500.00 maybe negotiable, I believe this machine has about 1.5" spindle hole which would be handy, but even for cheap I don't need something that is not worth working with, my question is, is this a capable machine for facing and threading barrels and general matching duties, a hobby machine, also what would have come with the machine from HF ? Two chucks ? Change gears ? Would the extra gears be for metric threading only? Thanks in advance.
 
Get five bills in his hand quick. my 2 cents
 
Well that's what he described to me over the phone, he is out of town until the end of the week so I won't be able to look at it until then, I'm hoping it's as nice as he says, should be a nice machine for my needs if is, although I'm kinda surprised at the lack of info I have found on the net, good or bad, about this particular machine, makes me wonder if it just wasn't very popular or what.
 
It probably wasn't very popular. Most people don't think of lathe when they think about HF. I only remember a few that they sold & they were only sold online & were hard to find. They didn't come up under "lathe" like the mini ones do. I don't remember how they were listed but I don't think they carry any of the bigger ones anymore.

That lathe was probably sold new for around $2599-3000.
 
I honestly didn't know HF ever sold anything bigger than a 9x20 and my brother purchased one of those from the local store many years ago, seemed kinda toy like with plastic gears and cheap motor on it.
 
The motor is the only nice thing on my HF mini lathe. Lol

I thought about ordering a 14x40 from HF when I found out about Grizzly & decided on their gun smithing lathe. I thought the extra features were worth the extra expense.

If I had this offer anything short of the gears being split I'd buy it. Even already owning one I'd still buy it.
 
What little info I did see on the machine seemed favorable, the people that actually owned and used them were happy with them, and yes pending some major fubar for the price I can't see why not give it a try, I think the guy wanted a toy, played with it a while, got bored with it and forgot about it until he saw my ad looking for a lathe, he seemed a straight up guy, hope it's as good as it sounds, we'll see soon I hope.
 
Good luck. Even rust would have to be really bad for me to pass that up. Even if you don't want to keep it at that price it is good learning for experience. So it should be easy to pass along to the next guy.
 
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