Hardinge HLV-BK parts avail.

I am looking for the cross slide screw and brass nut for a Hardinge HLV-BK lathe. I called Hardinge and they are no longer made. Has anyone here had this problem before? I need some ideas. Figure having a screw made will cost more than the machine is worth.

Rich,
I have a couple Hardinge lathes, including a BK. Fortunately, mine has a good cross slide screw and nut, but I would not be intimidated about making a new one. Only two operations would be challenging: threading the screw and tapping the nut. There are ways to do both, though, with a bit of care.

First, I would look for someone who has the nut tap and bushing. These were supplied at one time by Hardinge since the nut is designed to be drilled, reamed and tapped in-situ after the cross slide is fully aligned and scraped in. This assures alignment of the nut and screw. The full set of Hardinge drill, reamer, tap and associated bushings may not all be necessary. But having the tap would be very helpful. Likely, another group member may have one that could be borrowed.

Once you have the tap, you can use it to measure from to turn the threaded portion of the screw. If the unthreaded portion of your present screw is in good shape, you can cut off the threaded portion and attach a suitable piece of barstock and thread to match the nut. That saves lots of work reproduding the finicky aspects of the rest of the shaft, particularly the gear. Several methods of firmly affixing an addition to the shaft would work, including siver braze, loctite or boring and threading.

I have done this on my Hardinge TL lathe (identical cross slide screw design to the HLV) with good success. I bored the sawn off end of the screw about 3/8" and turned a matching spigot on the mating end of the new piece. I allowed sufficient clearance to get good braze metal flow into the full length of the bore.

Regards,
Jim S.

I have a cross slide screw, but am not sure if it came from a TL or an HLV. I think it is 1/2-10 left hand square form. The HLV-H has an Acme thread form, otherwise the same size. Actually, I got the whole top of the carriage, but not the cross slide, so no nut. I have not looked at it for a long time so my memory is hazy. Which parts do you really need? Do you have the worn parts to compare with mine?

Jim is correct about the tap and blank nut being the normal way to do the job. I bought a couple of feed screws and nuts for my split bed 59 slide rest back in the 1970's. Hardinge sent the parts UPS collect and the bill was around $900. I said whaaat??? Hardinge used to loan the tap set for the 1945 model DV59 or split bed 59 slide rest against a deposit of about $700. They automatically sent the taps when you ordered the nuts but did not warn you in advance about the deposit or that the nuts were not threaded. But then they stopped loaning the tap set. I got lucky and got one on eBay a while back.

Larry

I have two HLV cross slide screws. One is square and one is ACME, so I assume that they changed at some time during the production run.

The screw and nut are simple to fabricate (make two screws at the same setting, turn one tapered, harden and gash it to make a tap). It can even be done on the HLV assuming that the leadscrew and topslide are usable.

What is the state of the 14t drive pinion? If that's buggered, the idler gear that drives it may also be and most of the rest of the apron gearbox. DAMHIKT

If the pinion and bearings are acceptable, just make a new screw and nut. It won't be economic. but then an HLV is also not economic these days compared with a new machine, so it's a labour of love rather than a profit centre.

What about spindle oil....where do you lube the spindle in the BK model?

The headstock bearings are lubricated with grease "for life". Getting it apart to re-grease then is no simple matter and I would recommend looking over the posts about replacing HLV-H headstock bearings before touching it.