Hardinge HLV-H Restoring

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Here some more pictures. Bezel restoration. All numbers and graduations repainted.

 

[Swede]

Wow, you are going to LOVE this lathe. The electric motor carriage and cross-slide power feed system is magic... you can set it up to creep along at 1 cm per minute, or slower, if needed, everything is independent of the spindle. And the thread-cutting system is wonderfully engineered... it has automatic kick-out, you never disengage the half nuts, but instead, "move" the carriage right or left with the upper lever. You can thread right up to a massive shoulder and the tool tip[ will automatically stop inside a 1mm wide thread relief.

The Hardinge taper nose is proprietary, and tooling can be expensive, but it's available. I'd get a 3 or 6 jaw adjust-true chuck right away, along with a nice set of 5C collets.

Maybe 15 years ago, I restored a really worn HLV-B, not as nice as what you are doing. The paint wasn't the problem, but bed wear was. The good news is that you can detach the entire dovetailed way from the base casting, and have it reground if necessary... it is VERY hard steel. I had to do this, and the dimensional change of the way caused me all sorts of grief, but in the end, it now turns true and is a joy to use.

If you can afford it, NOW is the time to add DRO, which makes it even better. The lathe's accuracy calls for an X-axis resolution of at least 0.0001" or even better. If you have to wait to add a DRO, it'll be a tougher job.

Good luck!

 

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Thank you for your advice regarding the DRO, I plan to install one just not decided what brand and what type of scale to use magnetic or optical, it seems my bed is ok, but i will be shore after I make some cuts and measure the results. My lathe came with inspection sheet which sate its condition but who knows.

 

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Unfortunately it took me more than I planned. Finally finished the tail stock. Thing turn very good from my point of view.

 

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And some more pictures

 

[maverick]

How is the rebuild coming along? The paint looks as good as factory. I'd love to see some more of
your project.

Regards,
Mike

 

[steamer]

An HLV is a wonderful machine! I miss using one!

Dave

 

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It has been a little slow this days, bu I am done cleaning the multi fix and repainting it.
I will post some pictures

 

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Back on track. Long time no posts . I was abroad for some time but I am back on the project.

 

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I completely disassembled the appron, cross feed, motor clutches etc. Every thing was in a bad shape old oil and stuff.

 

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After disassembling the clutches I found out that the bearings are completely rusted.

 

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They came apart. One of the bearings is 5202 with snap ring on it very expensive stuff angle contact double row bearing 69,99$ and I need two.
Overal shape of the gear wheels is ok they show some wear but they will last for som 20 years at least.

 

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Clutch handle housing ready for painting.

 

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Tool post slide took me a while to disassemble, but finally

 

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The next thing is the carriage motor. It is in a very bad shape cosmetically, I will see how it is inside.

 

[maverick]

Yankov,
It's nice to see you back at your project. The rebuild is looking good.
All of the effort will be repaid when you get to run your "new" machine.

Regards,
Maverick

 

[steamin]

Yes sir, you will truly enjoy the fruits of your labor when the project is completed. I did a similar restoration on a 1977 vintage HLV-H. It was a complete tear down, clean, repaint and a lot of new parts. the folks at Hardinge were great to work with on getting new parts and helping with technical information.
Awesome job,
Larry

 

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Well, I have been trying to contact Hardinge for new parts for 3 weeks, until now no replay :wall:. May be they are on holidays or some thing.

 

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Disassembled the carriage feed motor looks ok inside. Bearings are ok. Just painting for this one.
Will post pictures later on.

 

[steamin]

I will dig out my old receipts and notes and pass on the contact info I used. There was always someone there on the other end whenever I called.
Larry