HafCo Tools

NortonDommi

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Hello,
I own a hafCo AL - 356V Lathe and a HafCo HM - 46 Mill/Drill. They were bought because I have always wanted to own something half-way decent from new.
Along with an Alba - 1A shaper, a Tanner pedestral drill and a few welders I indulge in repairing/rebuilding old vehichles and machinery.
I'de be interested in the views of or modifications made by owners of similar machinery.
 
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Nice one, they should have been.
Actually not that bad but not industrial and dealers have no information other than the brochure it turns out, they can't even supply parts so basicly I got sucked in by an Aussie company which is to be expected given their ancestors were picked by the best judges in Britain....
 
Hei MS,
I'm recovering what I can from a crash disaster while transfering data from old computer to new so can only post this at the moment.
Still trying to recover the Adcock & Shipley photo's and as it is Autum and the beauty is under cover you will have to wait until Spring or until I recover the photo's aye.
I've bought some great factory stuffup T-slot cutters which will work exactly within the parameters of cross-slide thickness to allow me to use stock
10 mm T-nuts with just a couple of thou' adjustment. A job to be done within a month or two..
- Barry.
 

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Hi NortonDommi, I'm in Adelaide, Sth Australia. There's a mob here called General Tools that sell Hafco products. I've had a look at these and they look alright to me.
I have a smaller lathe but from what I see your lathe should be a quite capable machine. I've added the brochure they have for your model. Its not small with a 2" bore.
And they even come in a variable speed version. If your looking to modify/peak it, keep looking around on this site. Lots of help.
Cheers Alby
 

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Thanks Fitterman 1,
I bought mine from Machinery House,(HafCo, yes the're over here too), here in Auckland. I was told all goods unpacked in Aus and checked then repacked ,sent to NZ, unpacked here and then sold.
Well I couldn't get it to run first up, it would jog but not run. I found the grub screw holding the plectum to the control rod was stripped so not tripping the microswitches.
Secondly the drive belts were flapping around. They are a matched set which are really hard to tesion correctly when the motor is not squre to its mounting frame AND a SIN the bolt that was hardest to get too had a different head size to the others! Hands should be chopped off for this!
When I first looked at one of these I was shown one in pieces that was being repaired after the bed snapped when it was dropped by a customer unloading with a large forkhoist. Turns out the stack of change gears next to it were from something else, it came with one, a 40 tooth.
Not impressed with the dealer at all, after two years the control transformer packed up, dealer not only did not have they couldn't get and wanted a technition to come out at $85hr to "have a look".
Bought two custom made transformers on Alibaba from China for US$59 on my doorstep 3 days after ordering with an appology for the delay as there had been a local public holiday! WOW I know where to go for great service. top quality as well.
I have bought some oddball T-slot cutters to slot the cross slide. The size means I have plenty of meat left and only have to skim 0.002" off the bottom and 1mm off the top of standard 8mm T-nuts.
Overall happy with it, need a few more change gears but a decent spindle bore and that variable drive are great. For the price about the only other option would have been buy 3-phase and convert or secondhand and do the same.
It'll see me out.
Hope that cyclone pased you by, we caught the tailend and there was a bit of damage, mainly flooding this far North.
Have a good one.
- Barry.
 
That would be Hare and Forbes would it not? From the faults you've described I don't think any unpacking and checking went on because they should have powered it up and found that faulty grub screw. I hope you've got it all sorted now.
I want to ask you how deep are you going to put your tee slots? I would go as deep as possible without interfering with other parts like the dovetails. Simply because I don't trust the iron quality in these lathes.
I like the variable speed on lathes, I've also converted mine (G0602) to this and its the best, no stuffing around flipping belts. I have a thread here detailing what hacks I've done to mine if your contemplating rework.
Its here, you're welcome to have a look - http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/my-workman-g0602-my-way.55166/
Cyclone didn't really bother us here in Adelaide, more so the east coast, friends of ours in Brisbane live on the Broadwater and they were nearly flooded out. Mate reckons he had a 3 meter rise in the river behind him. It was lapping his steps.
Cheers Alby
 
Yep, Hare & Forbes.
Well we're represented, one from either side of the ditch, must be others surely?
If I knew some of the brands and model numbers that the universal manufaturer in China produced I bet this thread would be a jumping.
I'll bet a toad lick that a a lot of the Grizzley stuff is made in the same factory as my stuff was.
 
Yep, there's another guy from here in Adelaide called Bob on these forums as well as another fella I've seen from Qld.
you'll find just about every brand of lathe represented here somewhere. My Workman (Grizzly G0602) is pretty popular around here and other forums. Good value for the money I thought considering the size, (think sweetspot). I don't think your lathe comes from China, I'm pretty sure its from Taiwan (better quality and more experienced factory)
 
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