HERCUS 260G

[Jeff 8]

I just missed out on this:

Lathe Metal Working Hercus 260G | eBay

I was surprised at how much it went for, I dropped out earlier than that.

Are the 260Gs that rare?


Jeff

[bwal74]

As a proud Hercus owner I don't reckon they are worth that much. Mal will probably think different but that's a lot of coin to spend on that machine.

Ben.

[allterrain50]

It's not about what they are worth, as how much people want to own one and are willing to pay. Given it had a good tooling collection, that is about what they fetch. It's not that they're rare, but given the 260DGMLH is the longer 49" bed and hardened ways, they tend to have beds that are in better condition than most and are still in use by teaching institutions. There are several hundred in schools I know of that are still being used everyday. They are very young for Hercus machines and sold for more than double that towards the end of their manufacture. That particular one was probably made in the early 90's.
There will be more on the market when the schools release them from service, whenever that may be and as a result the price will probably drop to a much lower level. Lack of OH&S compliance was the main reason the old Hercus's have come onto the market from schools, this is not the case with the DGM. There are some owners who have been lucky enough to have bought them cheaply but that is unusual.
I have seen someone pay $8000 for one in as new condition a couple of years ago. Just a basic machine with minimal tooling stills sells for $3900 whenever I sell one.
Mal

[BobL]

I was amused to see in the ad that a tailstock is an accessory.

[.RC.]

I see they do 2500 rpm.... I would not have thought the change gear setup capable of handling that speed.... I know when I had my 1990's model 260, I had the vfd set to 75Hz and ran it and the gears sounded like they were going to explode...

[scottyd]

I see they do 2500 rpm.... I would not have thought the change gear setup capable of handling that speed.... I know when I had my 1990's model 260, I had the vfd set to 75Hz and ran it and the gears sounded like they were going to explode...

An ole favourite of the little darlings at my last school was to put the tumbler on and the gearbox onto the top speed, then turn the machine on and listen to the noise. Which is not pleasant. Amazingly, I never saw any damage resulting from such abuse, just the god-awful noise.