Getting my Hardinge HLV Running

I picked up a Hardinge HLV a while back and am finally getting around to working on it. Poking around I found a serial number of 0875 on near the headstock which I think means it was built in 1956. It wasn't under power when I bought it unfortunately. Everything seemed to turn well free hand and nothing seemed to be broken though. It does have a bit of grime, rust, and a $5 paint job on it but I'm working through it.

Here's a pic of the machine right after I brought it home and shoved it in my garage.


I'm currently going through the carriage and apron. The oil reservoir for the dovetail was full of muck and the previous owners decided that grease was what to run in the apron. Sigh. So, it needs cleaning.


One question I have is how do I get these out? These are the inside cones to the clutches and I believe they're pressed into the bearings. If so I figure I'll have to press them out but wouldn't mind a second opinion.


Other side. There was a circlip on each shaft. I removed them and both parts are still held firm.


My other questions are on the electrical side. I've found a few electrical diagrams that appear to match my machine on PM but they're a little hard to read in spots. There's a blue wire coming out of the bottom of the F4 fuse that isn't connected to anything. I "think" it goes to L1 but it's hard to make out on the diagram. If anyone can confirm this I'd appreciate it. Also, what are these types of fuses called? I haven't encountered them before. Someone has also added a more modern fuse in on a wire seen in the lower left corner. I'm wondering why but haven't investigated it yet. Here's my electrical cabinet.


I'm taking a lot of pics as I'm going through it and will share if people are interested.

Thanks,
David

I once say a total idiot at Scott Machinery in Sacramento using 100 grit sand paper to remove rust on a spinning Hardinge spindle nose. It had less rust than what is on your nose. Do you know what kind of environment it takes to produce rust like that on the nose? Since you are in Florida it must the humidity.

David your electrical cabinet is identical to mine at first glance. Perhaps the voltages are different because mine is a UK machine but if you look in my recent thread a few posts down you'll find a wiring schematic I cleaned up.

Dropbox - Hardinge HLV Wiring Diagram Early UK.jpg

I'll look at my wiring and try to identify that blue wire when I'm home tomorrow. I also have the buses in some of my holders though I think most are blown and supplemented with wire.
Pete

Peter. said:

David your electrical cabinet is identical to mine at first glance. Perhaps the voltages are different because mine is a UK machine but if you look in my recent thread a few posts down you'll find a wiring schematic I cleaned up.

Dropbox - Hardinge HLV Wiring Diagram Early UK.jpg

I'll look at my wiring and try to identify that blue wire when I'm home tomorrow. I also have the buses in some of my holders though I think most are blown and supplemented with wire.
Pete

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Thanks for pointing me towards your thread as I overlooked it when searching. My machine is UK as well. It is only slightly younger than yours though yours has aged much better. According to our tags, our machines should be wired the same. I can see my unhooked blue wire in the pic posted in your thread but can't quite make out where it ends up. It looks to go to the terminal bar in the bottom though.

My tag.

Rebuilding a Hardinge HLV Toolroom Lathe

might get some of the hard questions answered here.

rons said:

Rebuilding a Hardinge HLV Toolroom Lathe

might get some of the hard questions answered here.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll check it out. I got the inside clutch pieces out. They were just pressed in and my arbor press took care of them. So, scratch that question off the list.

David here are the pics. The blue wire is connected to L3 via the terminal and the fuse from F4 is shown here so you can get the type. F4 feeds power to the stop button which is the feeder for the motor and pump controls. Essentially, putting 240V into that blue wire makes the control circuits live, as I see it.

Peter. said:

David here are the pics. The blue wire is connected to L3 via the terminal and the fuse from F4 is shown here so you can get the type. F4 feeds power to the stop button which is the feeder for the motor and pump controls. Essentially, putting 240V into that blue wire makes the control circuits live, as I see it.

View attachment 196863

View attachment 196862

View attachment 196861

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Thanks for the pics Peter. I'll get mine hooked up like yours.

David

David Bodkin said:

Here's a pic of the machine right after I brought it home and shoved it in my garage.

Click to expand...

Is that a Rockwell 12" wood turning lathe in the back?

David Bodkin said:

I picked up a Hardinge HLV a while back and am finally getting around to working on it. Poking around I found a serial number of 0875 on near the headstock which I think means it was built in 1956.

Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? I called the Hardinge service department and a man was able to tell me what year my number translated to. That was 15 years ago. The guy I spoke to had been at the company for over 30 years.

Maybe a call to the parts department and ask. I have no idea what kind of information they provide these days.

rons said:

Is that a Rockwell 12" wood turning lathe in the back?

Click to expand...

Yes, it is. I turned for a bit before getting into metalworking. I don't run it these days for fear of coating everything with saw dust.

rons said:

Are you sure about that? I called the Hardinge service department and a man was able to tell me what year my number translated to. That was 15 years ago. The guy I spoke to had been at the company for over 30 years.

Maybe a call to the parts department and ask. I have no idea what kind of information they provide these days.

Click to expand...

No, I'm not certain and believe I have mixed up the US and UK serial numbers. I haven't looked much into dating the machine and think I tripped myself up.

I did a lot of turning too. When the dust settles on the oil covered metal machines it forms a layer of muck which can't be avoided.

You are going to have to deal with the 400/440 volt 50 cycle issue stated on the metal tag in #4. The drive motor is going to be 400/440. If it is dual voltage I don't know. That is more of a priority than cleaning up some rust. Get inside and look at what the main motor plate says.

rons said:

I did a lot of turning too. When the dust settles on the oil covered metal machines it forms a layer of muck which can't be avoided.

You are going to have to deal with the 400/440 volt 50 cycle issue stated on the metal tag in #4. The drive motor is going to be 400/440. If it is dual voltage I don't know. That is more of a priority than cleaning up some rust. Get inside and look at what the main motor plate says.

Click to expand...

Luckily, I've already got that taken care of. When I picked up this lathe I also got a mill that has the same power requirements. I worked on the mill first and built a system that puts out 480V 60Hz 3 phase. It'll power both machines.

I've been looking at the electrical some and believe I've figured out why the blue wire was disconnected. The controls on the lathe run at half line voltage. According to the diagram that blue wire feeds the entire control section which completes the circuit to neutral. Without a neutral, a transformer could be used to power the control section by hooking it to that blue wire and the neutral at the terminal strip. Since I don't have a neutral in my RPC I'll have to go this route to get the controls working.

I would suggest that after you get the electrical figured out:

1.Inspect the drive belts and see if they have a set. Replace? If the belts need to be replaced then the spindle has to be withdrawn from the head. Not like the HVL-H. If it was me I would wash out the old grease in the spindle bearings with lacquer thinner and palm in new (correct grade) grease). It takes a long time to push in the new grease.I did this 15 years ago and never regretted it. I contacted the person from the rebuild link above and he said he had not done that but thought it was a good idea, something he would probably do in the future.
2.Run the spindle in forward and reverse and try to vary the speed.
3. Feed motor inspection, as long as the carriage is disassembled.
4. Put carriage back together and clean the rust off of the bed.
5. Take some trial cuts.

Other stuff:
The taper inside the tail stock ram is probably going to look pretty bad. One way to clean it up is to get a quality morse taper shank (like for a drill chuck) and lubricate with some compound, insert into ram and gently swirl it around. Machine a point and insert into a collet in the head and have it making slight pressure on the end of the shank while turning it. All you want to do is take off the high spots. It was also suggested to me to get a reamer and do the same type thing.

This stuff brings back memories...

How are you getting along with this David? I see the inside of your apron is full of crud like mine - what condition are the clutch thrust bearings in? Mine are pretty well shot and I am going to replace them, along with four of the needle roller cup bearings in the apron itself. Thankfully the cones and gears are in good condition.

FWIW I agree with Rons that your machine is later than you think. I have not been able to date mine accurately from the serial number but since it's 0688 number is earlier than yours and my motor has a 1957 design date on it I guess they must both be later than '57.

Here is the serial number chart for Hardinge, USA HLV and TFB lathes, from a book published in 1966. Hardinge added dash numbers after the main serial number to indicate a design change. I know nothing about the numbers of English-built machines.

It would be nice to see pictures of the lathes.

Larry

Ours are UK lathes Larry, which I believe don't follow the same dating/serial number convention.

I won't post a photo of my lathe in David's thread, but I'll stick a photo in my own.

Pete.

Any of you guys want a steady rest for a 5" bed?

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...r-sale-or-wanted/hardinge-steady-rest-339227/

Larry