Found this old Hardinge Lathe

Digging thru my works massive warehouse I found this and the owner gave it to me, everything works like it should. Don't know anything about it or it's worth.

I would guess $700 to $1500 .. have seen them go for $3K but often having a collect holder or a chuck and better shape..
A very good machine for production parts.

The model is ESM59 and the T-slot down the bed center gives it the nickname split bed.. It was made between 1940 and 1946, so most of them saw lots of war production. The metal pan means it was used with coolant. The serial number is on the back of the headstock and can reveal the build year.

New spindle bearings are very expensive. If the bearings and all other parts are OK, I think $1000 would be a fair price. But chances are that something is broken or worn out. The motor voltage also affects value. A 220 or 240 V 3 phase is best. A 440 or 550 V is near worthless.

I have one like it and am fond of mine. You can get a slide rest and conventional tailstock to replace the turret and double tool cross slide and use it as a bench lathe.

Larry

Nice turret on there! fully restored the turret alone has some good value... not as much as if it was for the DV format but on a working split-bed it's very useful.

That is interesting, a later model split bed on a Cataract base.

For "value" you can part it out and get $300 for the turret, maybe $175 for the cross slide, and possibly either get $100 for the remains, or have to haul it to scrap.

I routinely buy machines like that with similar or better equipped, for between $150 to $400. You can get a split bed on modern steel cabinet base for under $500, so that kind of sets a top limit. Yours is not old enough to much interest Cataract collectors, and it is not new enough to inspire a lot of value to dedicated Hardinge turret lathe users; though the lathe & all the parts are eminently useful.

You did not show an end view of the bed. If it has the back T-slot for the threading rig, it might be more desirable (though not more valuable) to some.

smt

Stephen, Hardinge was still selling the wood top bench during WWII, which was after they dropped the Cataract trade name. My ESM59 with chasing attachment was on a wood top bench when I bought it. I found another ordinary ESM59 on the steel cabinet and swapped bases, then sold the wood top bench with the ordinary lathe. The steel cabinet is smaller than the wood top and I wanted the extra floor space. I also had a 1940's flat belt drive Hardinge on a wood top bench. They were still selling the flat belt lathes into the 1950's, and I think all of those were on the wood top bench because the flat belt drive could not fit in the cabinet used for the enclosed headstock lathes.

Larry