Hardinge Hlv-h 11" X 18" W/ Newall New Dro - Hlvh

if you run your HLVH with a speed controller instead of a rotary phase converter,you can make it run as slow as you like for face plate work.( The speed controller would be cheaper,too.) You can also make it run faster,but 3000 RPM has proven fast enough for my work. I have not tried using the 1/64" collet! That would be getting down to watch work!

The Monarch 10EE has a much more extended range of threads,and will run to 4000 RPM. However,HLVH lathes always get higher prices. Possibly due to the difficulty of re making the drive mechanism of the Monarch,which is too complicated for most home shop operators. The work envelope LENGTH is about the same,and the EE swings 12". The EE has no heavier a spindle than the HLVH,but many machinists mess up EE's by mounting much heavier pieces of work than the spindle bearings can stand. This even happens at NASA. Too bad as they have several factory rebuilt ones at very high cost. I can't be sure of my memory,but I THINK the EE's cost about $20,000.00 each to rebuild. A machinist friend who works there told me how some of the ham handed "machinists" that they contract work to(though they use the NASA machine shop,have butchered some of the EE's they have there. Some people should NOT be allowed into the presence of fine machinery!! Let alone operate it. I have seen "machinists" use the end of a lathe bed for an anvil!!
 
By the way, getting an HLVH with good smooth spindle bearings is of UTMOST importance. When I first got my HLVH,I called Hardinge. I think this was about 1990. They wanted $1200.00 for the grade NINE bearings. And,they expected you to take the head off your HLVH and mail it to them so they could properly pre load the bearings. No telling what the want now. Back then,they wanted $2000.00 for a new bed(which is removable after you take out MANY bolts). But,it is a VERY handy feature to be able to change the bed. And no more expensive than having to take the whole lathe apart and cart it down to a shop that has a large enough surface grinder(which may or may not be as accurate as Hardinge's own facilities). I heard about a guy who had a South bend with a long bed. They had to PIECE the grinding job together,which mightily peaved the owner!

A problem I have not enjoyed about my HLVH is the top and face of the carriage is ONE PIECE. Not like other lathes where you just remove the top of the carriage to re mill the cross feed. I have not gotten around to taking the whole carriage apart and finding a way to prop it way up on my Bridgeport. In reality it only needs a few thou removed from the cross slide to bring it back to face flat. I ought to make myself an angled straight edge,grind the edge of a file at 45º,and broken off and ground square on the ends to about a 2" long file,with a handle super glued onto the back side of it, and with constant checking with blue,just file the edge of the cross feed closest to the chuck. That,mind you,takes skill,and I do not advise a beginner or less skilled person to try it.

Since I have not needed to do face plate work on my HLVH(it really isn't that bad!),and I have the larger lathe for that,I haven't bothered to fix the cross slide. As is,the lathe operates as smooth as glass.

The Monarch is going to be a very difficult machine to re grind the bed,on the other hand. Nothing removable about its bed. And it is a very complicated carriage,too. And large!
 
I might wax on about the HLVH. As I have said before,the HLVH is the most well engineered lathe I have seen as to operator ease of use. One bolt to loosen the compound. The taper attachment is an item I do not have. It bolts to the long T slot on the back side of the lathe's main bed casting. To use it,you just slide it to where you want to make a taper,snug the bolts,loosen the nut on the top of the cross slide to loosen the nu,and you're ready to go!

My T slot is mostly occupied by the DRO,whose X movement is screwed to the back of the lathe,mostly obscuring the T slot. Even so,I could make a special T slot engagement that fits around the DRO scale,and into the T slot.

The taper attachment in itself is the essence of simplicity,and anyone could look at a picture of the real item and make up a suitable one. Just make sure that the sliding block fits WELL over the guide bar. I suggest making the guide bar out of a piece of precision ground stock. That will save a lot of messing about.
 
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