Heidenreich & harbeck S500R vdf lathe

I recently purchased a new to me lathe at an auction. It's a S500R made by Heidenreich and Harbeck to replace the small Standard Modern 1334 I have. I know nothing about this company or the lathe and there were no manuals sent with it. Any info regarding this lathe would be much appreciated. It was being used at the shop until 8 or 9 years ago when they went out of business and the receivership sale was this February. It has a electrical box/transformer that came with it but the stamped tags on everything show 50hz. Will I need to replace the motor and electronics to 60hz. There is no one around that was a part of this company for me to talk to.
I am new to posting on this forum but have used it many times for information regarding manual machining and have always enjoyed how informative and knowledgeable everyone on here is.
I'd like to find out what year this old beast is and any insights into running it. When I get it fired up a lot of the controls will shed some light on what they do but for now I'm some what in the dark about what some of the controls do. Especially on the tail stock and the feeds/threading speed box.

I can’t remember all the details at the moment but there is a connection between Heidenreich & harbeck , VDF and McDougall lathes that were made in Canada .
If you look through this thread and try the links some may still work ,
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...ry/1937-vdf-lathe-309604/?highlight=McDougall
If you use the forum search for McDougall or V.D.F McDougall and check out some of the threads in the search results you may find something more about your machine.
I don’t know about the other electrical components on your lathe but I know that some 50Hz motors run fine on 60HZ . they just run faster so your spindle speeds may be higher than indicated on the machine .
My guess is that the machine was probably running on 60 HZ where you got it but that is just a guess on my part.
Sometimes when machines were imported from Europe where 50HZ is more common the importer’s changed the motor pulley to bring the speed chart back closer to spec.
Others who follow this forum can likely help you with the electrical more than I can.
All I have time for at the moment.
Regards,
Jim

As Jim said, very close connection to Mcdougal lathes that were made in Guelph or Kitchener.
If I remember correctly Mcdougal was owned by VDF near the end.
Mcdougal lathes, towards the end, were built with Canadian beds etc and headstocks supplied by VDF.

Anyway, if it is in any way in reasonable condition, you have a very fine lathe.

Also check out
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VDF 18RO, 21RO and 24RO Lathes


Pete

Thank you for all the information. We've been cleaning it up and got it levelled and made a few cuts. It's working quite well and considering I'm going from 1.5hp to 15hp it makes quite the difference in cutting depth and speed. I would like to attach some pictures to help with determining the year of the machine but can't figure out how to attach photos.