WTB: Harrison VS330 AA or M300 Lathe

E

economycar

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Hi, as the title says, I am looking for a Harrison VS330 (also called AA sometimes) or an M300 with the short bed (25"). I am in the NYC area but I am willing to travel. I have checked the usual places like ebay, craigslist, etc. I am looking for a nice machine with ways/headstock/controls in good condition, not so much a project but I will consider anything. I am less concerned about tooling, more concerned with condition and price although collet closer and steadyrest would be nice. I can be emailed at lathewanted11 (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanks
Mike
 
First of all, welcome to the forum!

Is a Harrison the only lathe you're interested in? It doesn't seem as though Harrisons are all that plentiful, so it might take
quite a while to find one. Is there a reason why you wouldn't consider other makes?
 
Welcome.

You are probably already searching in the UK and Europe? I looked for a toolroom lathe for a couple years before finding my Graziano. I found a couple Harrison AAs in my search, but they were larger I think (36" between centers maybe?). Harrisons exist in the US but there aren't a lot of them. They are more plentiful in the UK and EU. Good luck.
 
Hi, regarding my preference for the Harrisons, Im open to other options but these seem to fit what I am looking for. I am looking for around 13" swing, around 24" between center, 2500 rpm, 1.5" spindle bore, meteric/imp threading, sturdy but less than or around 2k lbs. I was also looking at the 13" romi lathes (usually do-all) but those are even harder to find in the 1320 version and the parts are apparently a challenge. There are some Taiwanese options which Im open to but a lot have 40" between centers. There are also the colchesters but again those are tough to find in the u.s. with a short bed.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
 
Also not easy to find, but an option might be a Cadillac CM1400: they came in short bed lengths.

Cadillac Lathes - Taiwan

Cadillac Engine Lathes USA - but actually made in Taiwan during the 1960s and 1970s
www.lathes.co.uk

Not sure about the bed lengths, but how about Clausings? They would probably be easier to find.
 
I chose the Graziano 12S for similar reasons. I don't need or want a long bed, so the 32" between centers of the Graz is plenty. I wanted a larger swing, and the Graziano has a unique tailstock way arrangement that creates a gap allowing 17" throw close to the headstock and 13" over the cross slide. Oh and it has English and Metric threading, and a 1 5/8" spindle bore. I also considered Harrison, Hardinge EM (smaller throw), Monarch (MUCH heavier and no metric without changing gears), and Mori Seiki (MUCH heavier, but English/Metric threading and a great reputation). I'd recommend Googling "toolroom lathe" and see which ones meet your needs. The Pratt and Whitney toolroom lathes are supposed to be superb--not sure about English/Metric threading on them. Lathes.co.uk is a good resource.
 
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Thanks for the responses. I do really like lathes like the Takisawa/Mori/Cadillac/Webb style. Those would probably be what I would look for if I didn't need to get it into a basement. I have not seen one up close but that style of lathe looks fairly monolithic. Some of them look like the base casting is integrated with the headstock and/or bed. I feel like the Grazianos are the same. Maybe I am wrong. If someone has experience taking the Takisawa style or Graziano lathes apart, any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
 
The Graziano has a cast base, cast headstock, and ways. I would not want to lower it into a basement. I would not want to take it apart. In fact I hired riggers just to get it delivered. It weighs 2400 lbs dry, plus my lathe had a hydraulic duplicator which added another 1-200 lbs. The dealer weighed it and told me it was 3200 lbs, which I have a hard time believing, but it is definitely heavy. I think the Mori Seiki is about 3500 lbs as is the Monarch 10EE.
 
My experience with a Harrison M300 was a dismal nightmare. I bought 13 x 40 for dirt cheap a few years ago that had not been in use for well over a decade. (I'm assuming it's the same machine you're considering but with a longer bed.) I knew it had some problems but I figured it would be a great learning experience to revitalize it. I was right. I learned a lot, not the least of which was that replacement parts for that lathe were way beyond the nosebleed level. They are, indeed, very nice lathes, but it is my understanding that they are now out of production - at least the older ones are. If you need a part - like a gear or a shaft in the headstock - it very possibly will cost you more than you paid for the entire machine. I spoke with a parts manager for their US distributor (Clausing, as I recall); he said the reason for the high cost was that every such part would need to be manufactured as a one-off production. There is no in-stock inventory for nearly all internal parts. Also, because of the scarcity of M300's here, a used parts market is one step removed from non-existent. If you find one that is sufficiently operational and doesn't need any major parts, I can attest it's a great machine. But if you need ANYTHING, make sure you're sitting down when you're told what it will cost you. In one respect, I got lucky: I found a complete headstock for sale from a machine that was totaled because it was dropped on the tailstock end. The guy parted it out, and I bought the entire headstock - for $300 which was about a third of what it was going to cost me for one gear that I needed.

Good luck, but be careful.

Regards,
Terry
 
economycar said:
Hi, regarding my preference for the Harrisons, Im open to other options but these seem to fit what I am looking for. I am looking for around 13" swing, around 24" between center, 2500 rpm, 1.5" spindle bore, meteric/imp threading, sturdy but less than or around 2k lbs. I was also looking at the 13" romi lathes (usually do-all) but those are even harder to find in the 1320 version and the parts are apparently a challenge. There are some Taiwanese options which Im open to but a lot have 40" between centers. There are also the colchesters but again those are tough to find in the u.s. with a short bed.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
Click to expand...

DoAll sold 13 inch that were private labeled Harrisons. I sold a M300 follower to a guy in Florida with the DoAll & the maintenance manuals are virtually identical.
 
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