Hardinge CHNC1 lathe - purchase

I have been carefully reading up on lathe options over recent weeks, as my current little cnc lathe isn't very good - it can sort of do what I want, but its really time consuming to the point I think a manual lathe would be as quick.

SO i have been reading up on any cnc lathe that comes up for a good price, to check it will be an improvement and read up what people are saying about them.

A while ago two Hardinge CHNC1 came up for sale as a job lot, I had no room for the both but the price point got me interested. After reading up it seems they are perfect for the sort of work I will be doing (small motorcycle spacers/cylindrical parts) mostly in alu or delrin, and as the spindle motor isn't a monster I can more easily run it off a rotary phase converter without too eye watering a price tag (RPC cost more in the UK as there is a very small market for them, so no economies of scale)

From what I have read these lathes are solid enough with a few faults:

collet closer leaks
turret index issues (again linked to air leaks/failures in the air driven system)
Controller boards going pop
X axis motors getting worn and going pop

Another one has come up for sale, and I have come to an arrangement with the seller to hold it for when I go and see it on Monday - an small engineering shop is closing as the owner retires.

I'd welcome advice about a few points please:

• apart from the things I have listed, is there anything else I should look for?
• the spindle has a collet type system, am I right in thinking these can be swapped out for the odd job that may require a 3 or 4 jaw chuck? I wont be doing bigger parts much, but its handy to know I can if needed
• What size rotary phase converter should I aim for? the plate on the machine says 7.5 KW, and I understand the main spindle is 5hp

As the cost of rigging is more than the cost of the lathe, and the RPC is double the price of both, the lathe itself isn't the main cost, but I have a budget and I'm really pushing it for this so any advice would be welcome.

Cheers folks!

These are 10HP machines, at least a 20HP RPC. The control/drives can be a costly nightmare if they haven't been upgraded to brushless/AC motors already. The Siemens DC motors are a timebomb.

The turrets require regular rebuilds because seals go bad and leak.

Broken wires in the turret/X carriage are common due to fatigue.

They *can* be very accurate, but require a relatively large amount of upkeep.

I have one, and a guy in town has one, they are like vintage British bikes or cars, the electrics are like they are from Lucas.

In short, if you want a small machine like this, find an Omniturn or similar, the CHNC-1/2 has seen its heyday, prices are so cheap right now because *the* guy at Hardinge has been retired for a several years now, and the only people that *really* know how to fix them are owners. AFAIK, parts are still available, but none of them are cheap.

Allan had to have his AC X motor rebuilt because it got full of oil, $1400.

A drive retrofit kit is $9200 from Hardinge, last I checked.

OBTW, they accept A2-5 power chucks, Hardinge sells one and there have been many used ones on eBay. I bought an A2-5 Bison power chuck for $1500 (new) and made my own drawbar adapter.

I've had my CHNC-1 for 10 years now, retrofitted the motors/drives, repaired the control, rebuilt the turret, fixed broken wires, etc.

Allan had the control rebuilt (and I had to replace some RAM chips later), turret rebuilt, new turret gears, etc. His leaks more air than mine, but both leak around 2-3CFM normally, I think his leaks 5CFM.

Air is expensive, no less than a 15CFM compressor is required, preferably something closer to 30CFM and 120gallons.

Thanks Perry - it was a lot of your threads I was reading. I can see things haven't improved with the reliability and seem to have got worse as the machines have aged. Hmmm... some thinking to be done.