HGR is amazing. i showed up at 9 am, he signed me in, handed me a map of their "showroom" and told me to look around and remember we close at 5. it took me 4 hours to walk the whole thing. You name it, they have it, everything from big lathes, small lathes, polishers, 10 foot press brakes, CNC, mills, printing presses, pallet jacks, garbage cans, everthing. their "showroom" is 12 acres (so their website says). best part about the place, after the salesman handed me the map, the only time i saw him for the next 4 hours was when he pulled up in his golf cart, asked me if i had any questions, handed me a bottle of water, and drove off. I like that in a salesman. i got to the lathe section and saw the two i was looking for. both looked not bad. they had a blue and white one for a bit less money, but it had no taper attachment, no coolant system, but it was an inch/metric machine.
i opted for this one. 1963 model, taper, coolant. it was a bit more money than if i had found it in a barn, but there is something about a 30 day warranty that makes the extra bit of cash worth it to me. besides, when im done tooling up my shop, im sure the $2600 for the lathe will prove to be the cheap part. the bed looked great, one or two scratches on it, other than that, GREAT. the thing clicked into gears smooth as you can imagine, all the clutches seemed to work. the taper is frozen but i got under the cover with a flashlight and its just crud built up in there. thats what i think is wrong with the compound rest as well, it doesn't move very well but i think its nothing some acetone can't fix. its got a brand new coolant pump, the electrics look like one relay got hot at one point but the ram on it still moves freely, all the breakers and switches i could get to were free and the contacts looked good.
i couldn't get over how CLEAN the inside looked, i expected it to be like the engine block of an old dodge when i got the covers off and was shocked when it wasnt. i am going to need new belts, they are pretty trashed, but other than that, it seems like its ready to spin when its delivered next week.
i know nothing on how to identify the drives, i know this is right in there where they transitioned to something new. there is a single DC motor, complete with bright red shiny "equipped with Westinghouse" (born and raised in Pittsburgh, this makes me proud) tag on the inside of the left side cover and in my humble, uneducated opinion looks original. the cover under the head stock has a few big switches in it, the cover under the bed has a relay panel behind it that would make an old Bell Telephone routing switch designer proud, so i would guess its a WaiD? i didn't see any vacuum tubes but i didn't look now that i think of it.
the cross slide and compound has a lot of play in the screws. im not worried too bad, best case there is an adjustment nut and i can adjust it out, worst case i put some new screws in it. but even with they play, its 10 times more machine than i am machinist.
when it gets home, im going to pull the cross slide and taper attachment apart and clean them out and get them freed up and then hit you guys up on how to wire this thing in.
WOOHOO, im a very happy person right now! I must decide if i will call her Lucille or Zoey. im leaning towards Lucille, being a BB King fan and all.
im now a member of the 10EE club, do we have hats?
