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Hardinge HLV-H, would I be crazy to pass this up?

JamesBondo

Plastic
Joined
Feb 5, 2021
I am looking at purchasing a Bridgeport from a gentleman who is a retired tool and die maker. He also has a Hardinge HLV-H lathe for sale. Visually, it looks to be in very good condition. It comes with a 3 and 4 jaw chuck with collet closer with collets. It also has an Aloris tool post with tool holders and a set of 5c collets. I have yet to see it in person but he says everything is in good condition. He is asking $8000. From the research I have done these seem to be excellent lathes that would usually go for much more. 8000 Defiantly isn't pocket change for me, but I am wondering if this is a rare opportunity?
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I am looking at purchasing a Bridgeport from a gentleman who is a retired tool and die maker. He also has a Hardinge HLV-H lathe for sale. Visually, it looks to be in very good condition. It comes with a 3 and 4 jaw chuck with collet closer with collets. It also has an Aloris tool post with tool holders and a set of 5c collets. I have yet to see it in person but he says everything is in good condition. He is asking $8000. From the research I have done these seem to be excellent lathes that would usually go for much more. 8000 Defiantly isn't pocket change for me, but I am wondering if this is a rare opportunity?
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If the capacity fits your needs, go see it, check the condition. Price might have some flexibility? Hardly ever find a person who has one and doesn't want to keep it.

Sooo.. you might be wiser to buy the Hardinge and NOT buy the BirdPort?
Easy to find better vertical mills, because that's "most of them" and was, always.

Harder to find better-built "small work" light lathes. Schaublin comes to mind.

Most anything else is bigger, heavier, needs double or more the 3-P power.
Or has less flexibility as a general-purpose lathe. If I needed "small", I could probably find a Wade for a lot less, even after refurb and scouting and fitting the goods to tool it up. I just don't need smaller that I have (10EE & larger).

An HLV-H can be less of a project and more flexible "right out of the box".

If it suits your needs.

Eight large is a lot to spend for a "house pet" if your work wants something else.
 
If the Bridgeport is in as good of shape as that HLV-H appears to be in, might be good to buy them both. If they are well-tooled to boot especially. Is that a VFD I spy on the Hardinge?
 
If it's in good shape you'd be crazy not to buy it. That said, they can be expensive to get set up for metric threads, if you need that. Given their size and weight, they also don't have as much working room as you might think. The tailstock can be a PITA to slide. OTOH, there isn't much around that's more accurate and generally more pleasant to use. Unlike most of the other lathes you might find in a home shop, you get a higher max spindle speed.
 
Clean and nice it is probably worth 20K+ if you NEED a clean tool room lathe you would be crazy to pass on it. I already have one and would seriously think about adding it as a spare for that price. I used to say that you can not have too many lathes.
 
I have the saddle type turret lathe, the HC. Be aware these things dont have much power, 1 hp.
I found the machines really poop out on steels over the capacity of a 5c collet.
The HC I have was used for modifying cylinder head components, valves, guides, and seats. It did that job really well.
Also be aware, the bed wears rapidly on these also, the machine can look great, but can have excessive wear close to the chuck. The carriage is very short, not helping that.
I dont want to sound negative, but I have looked at a few, and so far have not come across a good one for a reasonable price.
The Hardinge is somewhat rare here, where the Monarch ee is prevalent because of the Gov facilities, I had to import my HC from California!
 
Do you need the accuracy and expense of the HLVH?

You could buy four well tooled lathes of similar or larger capacity for that money. Not knowing the work you do or plan to do it's hard to say whether it's worth your $8,000.
 
Do you need the accuracy and expense of the HLVH?

You could buy four well tooled lathes of similar or larger capacity for that money. Not knowing the work you do or plan to do it's hard to say whether it's worth your $8,000.

Yah mean well-tooled @ $ 2,000 a go, all-up?

NFW!

$ 4,000, yes, but only if you buy carefully, even so.

Otherwise sumthin' is probably a right sorry excuse for a lathe and/or/else a "project" even if good 'un that's actually WORTH f**k-with time and money!

A "project" is like a boat or an airplane. A HOLE in the water or air into which you throw money, sweat, and days of your life.

Prolly CHEAPER to have yer crotch rebuilt for "try-sexual" capability?

DAMHIKT!

The Old Iron. Not the Old Crotch.

Some things it's still better to just read about in the funny papers!
 
I was at a sale some years ago, and there were 3 of these machines, One of the buyers rolled the carriage to the right end, grabbed the compound, and with strength moved it in a rotary motion, then moving the carriage back near the chuck, doing the same thing-clunk, clunk. Two of the machines really showed wear that way.
The best machine, was not the best looking one in that sale, but that seems like the best test one can do in the field. Having a Hardinge myself, the wear on the dovetail bed, has more effect, then perhaps the same wear on V type bedways.
 
How bad do you need one? How bad do you want one? How good are your negotiating skills and how low will the seller go?
Buy it, enjoy it, resell it when the time comes (at a profit if possible). Tell your buddies in the nursing home about the nice lathe you owned once.
 
I was at a sale some years ago, and there were 3 of these machines, One of the buyers rolled the carriage to the right end, grabbed the compound, and with strength moved it in a rotary motion, then moving the carriage back near the chuck, doing the same thing-clunk, clunk. Two of the machines really showed wear that way.
The best machine, was not the best looking one in that sale, but that seems like the best test one can do in the field. Having a Hardinge myself, the wear on the dovetail bed, has more effect, then perhaps the same wear on V type bedways.

If it rotates at both ends, doesn't that just mean the gib needs to be tightened? I would think wear would really show up when it rotated near the chuck, but was too tight to move easily towards the right.
 
They are usually adjusted so the carriage will travel to both ends, if there is much wear at the chuck end, it will show up by moving it by the compound, around "hard".
I bought a used larger lathe last summer, I did really good on the machine, not badly worn, and every thing works, but it did cost more.
 
If it rotates at both ends, doesn't that just mean the gib needs to be tightened? I would think wear would really show up when it rotated near the chuck, but was too tight to move easily towards the right.

I believe donie is saying that the "clunk" was only present near the chuck, indicating heavier wear at the expected end. That is a good field-expedited test, I have used it myself on lathe cross slides and Bridgeport tables.
 
Appreciate the responses. I had a time set up with the guy to look at the Bridgeport. He called me last night and said two guys showed up unannounced wanting to look at it. They brought cash and bought both :bawling:. Hearing that was a bit of a gut punch. That Bridgeport was in great shape, with an EZ track system, vice, collets, tons of tooling and VFD (the lathe had a VFD as well) for 5k. The search continues.
 
I believe donie is saying that the "clunk" was only present near the chuck, indicating heavier wear at the expected end. That is a good field-expedited test, I have used it myself on lathe cross slides and Bridgeport tables.

I think you are correct, I read it as the cross slide did "clunk" at both ends.
 
Appreciate the responses. I had a time set up with the guy to look at the Bridgeport. He called me last night and said two guys showed up unannounced wanting to look at it. They brought cash and bought both :bawling:. Hearing that was a bit of a gut punch. That Bridgeport was in great shape, with an EZ track system, vice, collets, tons of tooling and VFD (the lathe had a VFD as well) for 5k. The search continues.

There is a lesson in this. If it looks like a great deal, get there right away with cash in hand. It's hard to look at a wad of cash and tell the guy he has to wait until someone else has come over to take a look.
 
Sorry about that, it does also check the crosslide.
The Hardinge carriage being on the dovetail way shows the play or wear when moving it around hard.
Myself, being used to the regular V, and flat ways on lathes, except for early experience with Atlas lathes, the dovetail bedway has a fault not found on lathes with V ways.
The problem is Yaw, like this- the carriage needs close to .002" clearance on the carriage gib adjustment so it will move with way oil on it.
The power feed and handwheel works on the rack, causing a slight twist from the front side of the apron. This action causes the oil to squeeze out a little more on the edges of the beds dovetail from the slight twist, and needed clearance.
Sounds like a bad deal for an expensive machine that can cut to tenths, to have the carriage twist, or Yaw like that.
But all you have to do is move the carriage about an inch ahead of the cut, and allow the carriage to settle in before the tool enters the work, just like an Atlas lathe!
 
So they bought the lathe for 8K and the BP mill for for $5k?

Might take awhile to recover from that. Been there done that. Actually did it a couple years ago with a large pressure pot type cabinet sand blaster. Listed on CL for months. Talked the seller down to $1500 from 2500 on the phone. It was about 4 hrs away, and I procrastinated, then winter set in and I drug my feet further. Then the ad disappeared one day and I called the seller.....SOLD. I was bummed. Couple weeks ago, I ran into a similar size but even nicer still, unit on FB Marketplace. Ad showed it had been listed 5 weeks prior but I never saw it in my searches. And the price on this one was.....$500. Needless to say I procrastinated again for about an hour, then I jumped. Seller said he had listed it prior for $3k then 2k with no interest, but now that he dropped the price to $500 his phone was blowing up. When I showed up he had a guy 'coming over' to look at it with 4 others 'going to come look at it'. I got the cash in his hand and a bill of sale in mine. And I'm super happy with the deal I got.

Point being.......maybe you'll get another chance some day on a BP or HLVH. If you do and you want them........JUMP.


Appreciate the responses. I had a time set up with the guy to look at the Bridgeport. He called me last night and said two guys showed up unannounced wanting to look at it. They brought cash and bought both :bawling:. Hearing that was a bit of a gut punch. That Bridgeport was in great shape, with an EZ track system, vice, collets, tons of tooling and VFD (the lathe had a VFD as well) for 5k. The search continues.
 
Growing up visiting junkyards, I learned early to jump on an opportunity when it arose. I was always amazed when I'd tell tell a friend, "Hey, the junkyard dragged in a Camaro with the 427 you've been wanting. The guy says he'll take $25 for it." only to hear, "Oh, maybe I'll go by there this weekend and take a look at it..."

That said, it's become very difficult to jump on a lot of deals now that so much of it is done via the internet. People who don't reply to questions, people who are too busy to let you come see it until next week, people who can let you come look at it only tonight at 1AM down a dark alley in the dark side of town. Then, traffic sucks so bad there are times you'd go look at something but you know it'd take you 2 hours to get there, and that's 90 minutes too long.
 








 
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