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Anyone one here bought the "South Bend" Hardinge HLV-EM copy yet ?

Milacron

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Staff member
Joined
Dec 15, 2000
Location
SC, USA
'couse it's not exactly an EM copy since it goes beyond that with all electronic threading and I presume VFD spindle motor. Except for paint scheme, probably identical to what Eisen, Sharp, Feeler, and Victor sells but not 100% sure of that, so wondering if anyone has one and how they like it ?

sb1009-dd2e021c8558b857f94e91fe3267aa53.jpg
 
It bums me out seeing that someone has ripped off one of the best American lathe designs and slapped another forgotten American companies logo on it. At least they upgraded it a little.
 
Every time I think to drive up to bellingham to see one, they report "not in stock" - so they're either very hard to get (in working order) or selling really well or perhaps both.
In some ways buying a grizzly/south bend may be more "comfortable" than buying an eisen/sharp etc.

I too would love to hear from anybody who has seen let alone used or bought one.
 
One thing I didn't realize until yesterday is when you buy one like this with electronic threading (probably made by Cyclematic in Taiwan) you automatically get X and Z axis position readouts built into the same screen as well. I believe they use Mitutoyo scales.

The "South Bend" version IMHO wouldn't look half bad if you could peel off all the South Bend and model name stickers on the base and leave just the one little SB tag on the headstock.

Funny, I remember when the Green Bear CEO hung out here and asked opinions on the new SB stickers on the new line of SB lathes, and I replied they were too large....some other members agreed and he seemed to get it. But then went ahead and put gigantic stickers on them anyway. :rolleyes5:
 
Does electronic threading imply ball screws?
I suspect not....my guess is the control probably has backlash compensation for a standard leadscrew and reacts to the position readout from the Mitutoyo scales. The Cyclematic importer "swears up and down" that they will "pick up" from previous thread position "perfectly" for repeat thread runs.
 








 
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