My New Hardinge Cataract

I'm familiar with watchmakers lathes and not any kind of expert on antique lathes at all but I've never seen or heard of a cantilever Hardinge lathe. Google images doesn't show even one. That turrett tailstock is longer than the remaining bed. Lots of nice individual piece there. There is a well known Hardinge Expert/collector in Indiana named Larry Vanice that would be the guy to ask, not sure if he's a member here or not.
 
I have been in contact with Larry on Practical machinist and through email. Great guy and very knowledgeable.

Nothing happened to that bed, it was never cut. It was that way from the factory, so you could have more of them in a given space for production. No need for a 3' bed if all you need is the cross slide for a production part.

A more in-depth cleanup thread can be found here: http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/71488-Hardinge-Cataract-Restoration-Log
 
Interesting read. I was going to ask you if the stamping was present on the end. I wonder how they held the end up with all that weight?

Here's the stamping on the end of mine when I found it, how close are the serial numbers?

cataract010.jpg
 
It will be fun to identify, The good thing is once the parts are cleaned up and identified. Be worth a lot more than $380
 
I think that turrett tailstock is darn near worth what he paid for the lathe. I sold just the base from a Harding lathe milling attachment for $225 several years ago.
 
It does indeed have the stamp on the end. I will get you serial numbers sometime tomorrow or the next day.

Right now it's sitting on my bench, not bolted down with the headstock and cross slide in place. It's pretty balanced over that one foot, but I strip it down when I leave the shop in fear of it tipping.

The turret itself should go for over $300 alone, but it needs a bit of work to be made functional again. It needs a gib, rotating mechanism fixed, and locking fixtures for the 5/8" tool holes.
 
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