Hardinge TM vertical head recommendations

I have recently purchased a Hardinge TM mill and I am really happy with it. I have the original Hardinge vertical head that is powered from the 5C spindle and am planning to use this for the foreseeable future. I may be interested in looking for a vertical head with a quill though.

What are the recommended heads with a quill for this machine?

I know of the Rusnok and Bridgeport M heads, but what are other options? I live in the land of no machine tools and I expect that it may take a number of years before the right unit shows up. I am hoping to get some suggestions for the likely candidates so I can act when one shows up.

Thanks,

Dave

Other Options for Vertical head on a TM

Clausing and Rockwell/Delta made small vertical mills with quills with around three inches of travel. I believe the Clausing only had a Morse 2 taper while the Rockwell had an R8 spindle. Perhaps someone in your area is parting one out.

techymechy said:

What are the recommended heads with a quill for this machine?

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Not sure if you can FIND one, but I'd suggest Halco, Dalrae, from "back in the day" or Rusnok/Electro-Mechano, which were made until rather more recently.

ALL of them.. OR a BirdPort "M" head are light enough to SHIP wihout too much hassle. Under 90 or 100 lbs avoir is ordinary UPS ground and the heaviest of these is only about 90 lbs, the lightest not much over half of that?

Have a look as to quill-travel here:

Tree, Halco and Kerney & Trecker (Dalrae) Attachments

B&S #7 has the same grip as Are-Ate for milling, and H&H Industrial even stock onesies or full sets of collets.

MT collets can be found, too, but are are not at all well-regarded for milling.

One "native" collet and straignt-tailed ER, TG or any of many OTHER collet systems can be adapted for nose operation with spanner, less need of drawbar working.

2CW

Main problems with vert. heads on a hardinge hz machine is room between the table and the quill - as in, there's never enough.

Suggestion: learn to use the machine as a horizontal. I *had* an M head for my UM, and sold it off.

My TM had the Hardinge 4C collet vertical head on it when I bought it. I took the vertical head off and sold it after years of sitting on a shelf. I had a Bridgeport H head that used 2VB collets and was designed specifically for the TM and UM mills. I sold it without ever installing it on my mill. I bought an orphan M head with the thought of adapting it to my TM, but ended up selling it to another Hardinge mill owner about thirty years after buying it.

The simple reason is that I have had a Rockwell vertical since 1974 and it does all my vertical milling better than the TM could do with one of those vertical heads. I got the TM for horizontal milling, which I seldom do, but it does a great job when I do need it.

I have seen that the best way to mount an M head on a Hardinge mill is to make a bracket that puts the M head ram mount several inches above the Hardinge overarm bore. That solves the headroom issue. The mount needs to be very rigid for best results.

Larry

L Vanice said:

...
I have seen that the best way to mount an M head on a Hardinge mill is to make a bracket that puts the M head ram mount several inches above the Hardinge overarm bore. That solves the headroom issue. The mount needs to be very rigid for best results.
Larry

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There was a hardinge UM here at work at one time, that was set up that way. I seem to recall the distance between the machine's arbor centerline, and the point where the
head centerline was mounted, was about one foot.

Decades ago, I had a TM with 1 of the K&T Midget Mills shown in the link that Thermite posed. Jim Rozen is dead on about reduced Z height. What I did was to use a 2nd overarm above the column and slightly to the right, which positioned the head spindle approximately over the 5C horizontal spindle, and a few inches up. The 2 arms were joined by 1-1/2 thick links, bored together to insure the bars were parallel. After everything was aligned and positioned where I wanted it, I tack welded the plates to the 2nd arm. After it was installed, I rarely used the horizontal spindle. I could rotate it up and out of the way without removing it. If I did need to remove the entire assembly, I just pulled the original arm out and hoisted the rest up to the ceiling. I might have some pics at home.