Can someone explain Hardinge lathes to me?

[wired]

Ive got a Hendey that I'm going to have to do some major rebuild work to the carriage and half nuts pretty soon. I want to buy another lathe to do threading duty in the meantime and for smaller project after the Hendeys back together. Im looking at Hardinge lathes and they seem to be top quality but theyre... different. A lot different. I see BM59's , toolroom lathes, HLV's , second operation etc. Lots of lathes without tailstocks and many that look like there is no lead screw?

What Hardinge lathese should I be looking at for primarily threading 1 inch stock

 

[mmcmdl]

HLV-H is their toolroom lathe ...............................and they're not cheap . They can only thread down to maybe 11 TPI ( by memory ) so no course threads . They are standard only but they do have metric / standard lathes . The one at the auction a couple of weeks ago near me went for well over $18,000 hammer price . Add in 18% and taxes . Well out of my price range but still on my radar list . I do have a DSM-59 and the HLV-H would sure compliment it .

 

[wired]

No threading on the 59 right?

 

[mmcmdl]

No threading on the 59 right?

No leadscrew . Threading is done with a die head or tapping head in the turret .

 

[wired]

Whats this good for? Sorry, seller has no description

Looks like its missing the motor on the carriage

 

[Karl_T]

I'd suggest a better value in toolroom lathes is the Monarch 10EE. Many are afraid of the drive and rightly so. Buy one assuming it needs a drive upgrade.Tooling on these is SPENDY. Try to buy one fully tooled.

IMHO the HLV-H is just too expensive, especially when fully tooled. Now lots of Hardinges without a lead screw go fairly cheap, but you loose a lot.

 

[Nutfarmer]

The Hardinge in your picture is a production second operation lathe. It is good at making lots of small parts once set up. For one off parts not so much. For what most of us do with a lathe the HLV-H would work better. With the production type lathe there is no tail stock or single point threading.

 

[Nesse1]

We have a Hardinge lathe where I work, but the machinist says the bed is all worn out. He's down on Hardinge, saying this is a common issue with them unless carefully cared for. Something about the flat ways holding onto swarf and grit. I'm not knowledgeable enough to confirm or deny, but this guy knows his stuff. He often talks about "production workers" destroying good machines, though, saying they don't about the machine, just finishing the assigned task.

 

[markba633csi]

You mean they don't abuse the machine, they are just doing normal production work and it wears them out?
I can believe that

 

[mmcmdl]

He often talks about "production workers" destroying good machines,

A production worker ( non caring non machinist ) can definately ruin a nice precision machine in a hurry . We had a Heavy 10 in at work that the bed was worn due to sanding only in the machine . I got it out and got rid of it for parts to @weewill on this site . I fought for a lathe to be brought back into my little shop so I could do some odd jobs rather going down to the machine shop , and ended up with a nice 13" Clausing Cohlchester . A year later the lathe is un-usable for anything other than polishing once again . Major major wear on the ways . Some people just don't care .