Hi, thought I should probably start a bit of a project thread for the HLV I've been working on. Spied it on ebay just after Christmas. The pictures were awful, but after I looked through a few times and spotted the taper attachment I figured I would go for it. One very cold trip to Wales and some mild stress (guy had no idea how to load a lathe) I had it in my van and on the way home. This is getting it unloaded at our workshop:
Picking it up
Initial impressions were good - looked like everything was there and under all the grime even the paint looked ok. It came with lots of other stuff, which took some work to ID but I've now sold most of the extras which made the lathe very cheap. I took everything apart on the cross slide, cleaned and oiled it and reassembled:
Hardinge cross slide
The gearbox was in really good shape (once I figured how to get the cover off!)
Carriage gears
While I was at it I removed the carriage completely to measure the front of the bed for wear. I know it won't tell the whole story but I've read its a good indicator of what condition the lathe is in. It was months ago now and I forgot to write down the exact measurement, but it was very very minor.
Bed measurements
Up until this point I'd not been sure whether to keep it or sell it, but having got this far and with it in such good shape I decided it was a keeper. I didn't want to power it up until I had all the crud and dust cleared out from under the carriage and checked it all over.
Picking it up
Initial impressions were good - looked like everything was there and under all the grime even the paint looked ok. It came with lots of other stuff, which took some work to ID but I've now sold most of the extras which made the lathe very cheap. I took everything apart on the cross slide, cleaned and oiled it and reassembled:
Hardinge cross slide
The gearbox was in really good shape (once I figured how to get the cover off!)
Carriage gears
While I was at it I removed the carriage completely to measure the front of the bed for wear. I know it won't tell the whole story but I've read its a good indicator of what condition the lathe is in. It was months ago now and I forgot to write down the exact measurement, but it was very very minor.
Bed measurements
Up until this point I'd not been sure whether to keep it or sell it, but having got this far and with it in such good shape I decided it was a keeper. I didn't want to power it up until I had all the crud and dust cleared out from under the carriage and checked it all over.