Thread: Hercus AT260

That helps to narrow it down Thanks Bruce.If they sold one a week that would make it a 1991 model.

Michael,
where did you get the info that were selling around 1 per week? If that's true it would make mine a very late 90's to early 2000's build. Does anyone know when they stopped making 260s?

Hi Chris, That was only a wild guess for one a week.If they had production runs of 400 a year back then it is still a guess for us.
I was just looking at the numbers and mine is 458 after Bruce with yours a further 249 after that.Somewhere into 91 and 92 for my next guess.

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

Were you ever tempted to acquire the cut off slide Bruce?

Also, was your turret attachment part of the original purchase and therefore factory fitted or purchased later and bored to suit?

BT

Bob
I did consider the cut off slide but really did not have enough use for it. Instead used the standard cross slide & toolpost with rear toolpost for parting off.
The rear toolpost is a real winner for parting off & is set up most of the time.It provides a firm chatter free parting off operation that one can be confident with.
The Turret Atachment was purchased some few years later, it was new, still in its grease, but was offered by a dealer at a reduced Hercus price.
I bored out the 3/4" holes in the Turret head by using a boring bar in the headstock 4 jaw chuck. The feed to the boring bar was made by hooking up a piece of heavy gauge wire to the Turret head to the saddle & then providing longitudinal feed to the saddle.
Next operation was a 3/4" reamer morse taper shank, located into the bore of the headstock spindle to bring the 3/4' holes to finish size.
This last operation was removal of only a few thou.
Handy attachment, the Turret particularly if the job requires
1 Stop to length
2 Centre drill
3 Drill pilot hole
4 Drill tapping hole
5 countersink
6 Tap.
Or similiar operations on many workpieces.
regards
Bruce

The rear toolpost incorporating a cut off blade is the best improvement I've made on the ARL. Purchasing the extended slide made it possible.

BT

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

The rear toolpost incorporating a cut off blade is the best improvement I've made on the ARL. Purchasing the extended slide made it possible.

BT

I think the extended cross slide & rear toolpost should have been standard issue on the Hercus Lathe.
They were on a big winner with this combination. It would have been nice to have a bit longer movement of the slide back towards the operator, but apart from that its very useful.
I still have the original cross slide that came with the lathe but have not had any need to revert back to it.
regards
Bruce

My 260 ATLMHN s/n 20805 was purchased new in 2000 from Axmell P/L (Hercus). Inspection cert is dated 23/3/2000. Purchase date was 6/4/2000. Cost was $10549!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still have the 1999 and 2000 price lists if anyone is interested.
They stopped making them shortly after 2000 I believe.
Cheers Phil.

Hi Phil,

Are you going to post some pic's of your lathe? Everybody would like to see them.

Cheers Ben

Originally Posted by philmc

My 260 ATLMHN s/n 20805 was purchased new in 2000 from Axmell P/L (Hercus). Inspection cert is dated 23/3/2000. Purchase date was 6/4/2000. Cost was $10549!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still have the 1999 and 2000 price lists if anyone is interested.
They stopped making them shortly after 2000 I believe.
Cheers Phil.

Hello Phil,

I am interested in the price lists.

Regards
Bob.

Could you upload the price lists as some PDF. files for us Phil.
It would be interesting to see the breakdown of your invoice at that time as well.These are a great little machine and I have had a lot of fun with mine already and don't imagine I will ever be without one again.

Here is the 1999 and 2000 price list, as well as my inspection report. The highlighting (yellow and green) of the part numbers is stuff I already had or wanted, but being scanned on a black and white scanner it doesn't show the difference.
I have the invoice somewhere in my tax records. I have a dig and see if I can find it.
I ordered a lot of goodies with it; taper turning attachment, milling slide, vice, dividing head, stand, control panel, coolant pump, micrometer stop, threading stop, chuck guard, etc. I still have 3 chuck back plates I haven't used.
Cheers Phil.

Thank you Phil.

BT

Great stuff Phil . It will take a while to digest but it does give plenty to think about.
Did you look at other lathes at the time before deciding on the Hercus?
What else was around that was in the same class?

I didn't want anything larger than about 10" swing. There were no good second hand bargins after looking for about 18 months.
So the new lathe search started with a Hardinge, well who doesn't want one, but they were half a house at that time.
Next wanted a Myford Super7, Aussie dollar was 1/3 of the pound. Was approximately $22K.
Next wanted a Southbend, Aussie dollar was about 60cents US. Was about the same as the Myford, approximately $19K landed in Oz. Both of these were before accessories or tooling.
Thought about Emco, but too expensive again.
If only the dollar was where it is at the moment.

Hercus was my next option. I had used them at school and I still remember seeing a few Hercus 9" at University and another one at ADI Bendigo's metrology lab in about 1996. I knew one of the guys who worked at ADI and he reckoned it was the bees knees.

I had a Chinese 12x30" one previously to the Hercus, which I gave to my brother, and it was a hunk of crap. It had metric increments, an imperial leadscrew, and a metric thread dial indicator! Every thread had to be with the lead screw nuts shut the whole time. It still scares me when I read stuff like this album from Model Engineer. Chinese lathes have certainly improved in the last decade though.

I have no regrets, does everything I ask of it. I will post a few pics soon.