Thread: A Hercus owners register??

Hi BN, welcome to the ever popular Hercus Forum and another Craftsman too

You are our 72nd owner to Register their Hercus, Can you give us as more of the old Girl's background prior to Storage ??

As The Old Hercus has been found in many a strange place

So welcome Big Nose and once the old girl is back and running you have to show us your Hercus

all the best Derek bitza500

Derek,

The history of Craftsman 12544 is not known to me, unfortunately. I purchased it second hand. It came with a few odd change gears. It's 3 phase with the original motor, stand and the flexible arm worklight. The only possible clue I have about its past is the spare parts manual which is marked with the name of a machinists shop in Balmain, Sydney.

I'll mail some pics when she is up and running.

Regards

Two weeks ago I became the second owner of C1643. This lathe is in truly excellent and all-original condition. It has never been used in industry. I look forward to getting another 63 years of service from it.

Hi Adelaide, congratulations on finding such a well preserved lathe
Out of curiosity did you get all or any extras when you bought the lathe and any History of the lathe as finding a 1owner did you get any paperwork from when it was bought as being a low number I be curious to how much it would have be worth back then

all the best derek

Hi all, well it seems we are going through a slow period of new owners so here is the latest
70. Trueman Hercus craftsman 13972V
71REBO Model c Serial No 7852
72.Bignose Hercus Craftsman 12544V
73.Adelaide Model c Serial no 1643

So welcome to the register and all you need to do is ask and someone will be able to help you out if you have a problem

all the best Derek

Originally Posted by bitza500

Hi Adelaide, congratulations on finding such a well preserved lathe
Out of curiosity did you get all or any extras when you bought the lathe and any History of the lathe as finding a 1owner did you get any paperwork from when it was bought as being a low number I be curious to how much it would have be worth back then

all the best derek

The lathe came with: a carrier; a steady; a 3 jaw chuck; and a 4 jaw chuck, but no paperwork unfortunately. Coincedentally, I mentioned my recent purchase to a work colleague last week. As it turned out his mother worked for the Hercus office post war. She may have processed the paperwork. I will try to publish a photo of the lathe in the gallery.

Here is another for the register;
Model: BTMH
Serial: 18646.
Purchased from a local school. Good condition, but needs a good clean, but will get a full restoration soon.
I know it is a model B (with change gears and power feed)
I am told it is metric, but what does the rest mean?
How does one determine year of manufacture?
What gears should come with it?
Parts and maintainance manuals on the way!
While your there!
Have you fitted a VFD to convert Single to 3 phase?
If so, which model and what is the verdict?
Thanks all
Finno

Another Hercus to add to the Register.

Serial AU 13216
3 Phase, previously in a Training Establishment in Sydney. In fair condition considering the punishment it had received.
The Spare Parts Manual for Hercus 9" Swing Precision Lathes and a McPherson's Ltd. brochure came with the lathe. I could provide copies of any pages to members.

Col2310

Hi Col, and welcome, you being No 76 on a list that is just for us Hercus fanatics
It is great that we are getting closer to the 100 I wished after 12Months but 76 is fine by me
the amount of people who have these lathes buried in the shed and never look on the internet as just over 12 Months ago we had no Hercus Forum
I am still wondering when we will get some other hercus product that good old Fred Hercus produced as if it cut,bent twisted or was made for steel work Fred made it

It is a shame all the old machines no History was kept on them bar a few pages out of catolouges

Well it will not be long before I start writing out for the 100Th Hercus machine
if anybody has any objections about having their user name and what their machine is (NO SERIAL NUMBERS ) being poste when we hit the ton please let me know as I feel quite honoured to have started the Forum and to have met many of you in person or talked to on the phone

So welcome aboard Col and any photos would be good
all the best Derek bitza500

Hi all l thought l would introduce my self as l am a new member, this is my first post.
l have just purchased a hurcas ARM serial no 14525 no idea what year. l have a couple of problems the freight company let it fall over, the main problem is the half nut lever has snaped in half , were would l get another. Also what gears should l have and what order do they fit l have 80 and 40 small gear 20 is this right for a metric lathe any help would be great

Thanks Darren

From what I can find an ARM with Metric Quick Change GearBox and Metric Leadscrew should come Standard with 20,50 tooth gear for the Stud.
45 tooth gear on the screw.
And an 80 tooth idle gear.
If you wanted to cut Imperial threads on this lathe from 4 to 60 TPI you would require the following gear.
32,33,36,39.42 and 54 as well as the 120/127 transposeing gear.

Thanks for the info Pipe clay, any ideas were i can get the right gears, and the half nut leaver.

The half nut lever maybe from Bittza or the states(EBAY) or maybe fabricate one.
The change gears once again you could try Bittza,Hercus themselves,you should be able to source some through Ebay (USA) although some of them maybe hard to find,I can make them,they will be similar to Hercus gears but not exactly the same(slight cosmetic differences) but my prices may be to dear.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

The half nut lever maybe from Bittza or the states(EBAY) or maybe fabricate one.
The change gears once again you could try Bittza,Hercus themselves,you should be able to source some through Ebay (USA) although some of them maybe hard to find,I can make them,they will be similar to Hercus gears but not exactly the same(slight cosmetic differences) but my prices may be to dear.

Darren, - You might try Mick Moyle Eng @ Summerhill, Sydney. As for gears, if you have a quick change gearbox, you only need 80,56,40, 2 x 20, for metric you will need at least a 127/100 compound gear plus an array of others, I can tell you them later. All the best - nickeng