Between centers on Hardinge

This is a very lonely web site but maybe there is one other hardinge owner that can help me. My lathe is a 1972 HLV-H toolroom lathe. I wanted to turn some 1-1/2 inch stock between centers. Acquired the spindle nose drive plate, 5-C center and dog. Gotta say this looks very different than on my previous lathes. I think i figured out how to set this up but it looks very puny looking to me. Anybody got a photo of a close up shot of the headstock spindle set up for turning between centers ? that would help a lot. The hardinge operations manual does not help worth a stink. Also, the driving dog only accomadates up to 1 inch stock. Does this mean you gotta turn down the end of every stock bar to 1" in order to turn between centers ?

thanks
noahjlb

Drive dogs come in differents sizes. They are also easily fabricated. Just watch the metal distribution to maintain a simi balanced condition of the rotating assembly.

I've seen many a dog made up from scrap pile parts welded together.

Quick easy method of turning between centers is to chuck up a chunk of metal, turn up a 60 deg point on the end of that chunk, run the drive dog off a chuck jaw.

Turning between centers is very difficult on the HLVH.

Personally, I think 1 1/2 inch is too big a diameter. If you run the lathe in Hi motor it will run way too fast and the dog will be a real and present danger. and if you run the lathe in Lo motor you run the risk of stalling the motor.

The biggest problem is tailstock interferance. To get enough carriage travel for the turning cut, you will have to extend the tailstock spindle way out. Not good lathe practice.

The Hardinge headstock center is a solid 5C body with a center point. Check it with an indicator when you put it in. Hardinge has a drive plate that fits the external taper, it is rather small in diameter.

For an 80 ft. per minute cutting speed, a 1 1/2 in steel work piece should turn at about 214 RPM. Don't go faster than that even if you are turning magnesium. The super high speeds of the HLV-H can be dangerous when turning between centers and driving the work with a lathe dog!

I turned a 1.25" 12L14 shaft at about 400 rpm. With a carbide tool I got dark blue ribbons with no power problems. I did have trouble getting the tailstock far enough from the headstock and still having room for the tool. And I agree with JimK about the speed--a big dog, unbalanced, will vibrate badly.