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Anybody familiar with Hartford lathes?

eKretz

Diamond; Mod Squad
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Location
Northwest Indiana, USA
I've got an opportunity to grab a little lathe for a decent price. Looking at it everything checks out decent, spindle turns smooth, ways look good, etc. Not under power but seems mechanically sound. In appearance it resembles the old Sharp lathe we used to have in one of the shops I worked in. It says Hartford 1440 on the headstock- Google isn't turning up much. Was just wondering if anyone has any experience good or bad to relate concerning the machine or brand. Guessing it's a relabeled Taiwanese machine.
 
A local dealer here sells Hartford CNC machines,I assume made by the same company...there is one catch with 70s/ 80s Taiwanese lathes around 13"/14",and that is the spindle bearings in many had tapered outer races,and taper seats in the castings.....these can not be bought anywhere now,and replacement needs either a grinding job,or reworking the castings.
 
Thanks for the info, that would be a nasty surprise. Luckily the spindle bearings seem to be pretty smooth. It wouldn't be doing any serious production work anyway, just a tinkering machine. The price is good enough that I wouldn't be too upset if it croaked after a few years.
 








 
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