Thread: Hafco AL-320G

Unfortunately Melbourne is the import and export center for most machinery and as a result we in the other states suffer the consequences .
A lot of second hand stuff is shipped to Melbourne for sale and if they can't sell it it goes overseas.
When I bought my lathe I could not get the one I wanted in NSW had to get it up from Melbourne.
How many times have you heard from a parts sales person. " Oh we don't have it in stock but we can get it up from Melbourne in 3 days"
It seems that ships don't want to go any further than Melbourne .
Wa , South Australia and Victoria get a good cheap service from Asia and we get it in the neck with extra dilivery fees .
Forget second hand lathes mate , Old lathes can be worn out. have damage and faults that are difficult and expensive to repair . You can just be buying someone elses troubles.
Also old lathes do not have the safety features that newer lathes have.
A good older model lathe that is English or Aust. German or US made can be very precise in the way they are made and do very nice work but they are not as handy and quick to use as a more modern lathe. They require more skill to use. The big old lathes with no safety devices are very dangerous for the learner driver.
Also the lathe size needs to be matched to the work you mostly do. So the handyness of the unit is not lost. Nothing worse than trying to turn tiny part on a huge lathe or the other way round also.
If it is within possibilities I think you should save for a bit longer and buy an AL 336 . It has better safety features , greater capabilities and will be easier to actually learn on and use than the cheaper model.
Go through the specs of both and you will see you get a whole lot more functioning and safety for an extra $1000 .
It has 18 spindle speeds for a 240 single phase motor 65 to 1810. That is better than my lathe that cost twice as much.
It gives you enough speed adjustment range to use HSS tooling and carbide inserts to there full capability.
Not negative rake stuff.
Also low enough speeds to learn threading easily.
With a foot brake lathe you can cut a thread while the others are still thinking about how to use a thread dial.
Just my honest opinion.

Thanks for the reply Retromilling. I would love to step up to the 336 and if I could, I would buy a Taiwanese made lathe. Space is a problem. I have other expensive equipment I have to purchase and equipment I have to make. I can compensate for the lower specs of the machine but I'm curious if anybody has had issues with the machine.

I bought an AL320G a year or so ago, have been very happy with it since. The only issue I had was that the gearbox lost oil when I first got it, the H&F agent came to my house and fixed that under warranty with no argy bargy required, the problem was simply that the gasket at the TOP of the gearbox (the one under the lid) was leaking oil thrown to the top of the case under power. The fitter replaced the gasket with a custom made gasket made on site and it hasn't leaked since. It would have been an easy fix for me but given it was under warranty they were happy to come and do it.

The gearbox makes it easy to adjust speeds to suit the work and it will run down to a good slow speed for knurling, parting off and threading - it must be said that for all these lathes with multiple speed ranges I usually end up using 3 or 4 speeds for most of the time so I rarely find the need to do a belt shift (the AL320G has a 6 speed GB with 2 belt positions thus giving 12 speeds overall).

The lathe seems robust enough, I aligned it early on after getting it and it hasn't shifted since - I tested the alignment the other day and it's still spot on.

If you want see the sort of work that can be done on this lathe have a look on the Homer Model Engine Machinist website, there's a guy on there who is based at Port Adelaide who has made a couple of small diesel engines on an AL320G. Search for Maryak 10 or check out http://http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=3712.0 and http://www.homemodelenginemachinist....p?topic=2907.0

Hope this helps with your considerations..... Rgds - Gavin

Hi, I just purchased an AL-320G. I'm a new metalworker and looking forward to the challenge. You mentioned you aligned the lathe - can you provide any tips or references on how to perform this, especially on this model?

Parrot

Welcome to the AL-320G users - prehaps we should have our own sub-forum (only joking ).

The best method I've come across to do the alignment is "Rollie's Dad's Method" which doesn't require a precision test bar. The link to the method is http://www.neme-s.org/Rollie's_Dad's_Method.pdf

I've used this method on my lathe and a couple of others I aligned, my AL320G was fairly close out of the box, I spent about an hour tweaking it and it's stayed stable ever since.

Get hold of a pack of shim material (it's handy for cutting tool shimming as well), these can be got from most machinery supply places, mine came from General Tools in Adelaide, the place you got your lathe from should have some.


Good luck with your new toy, let's know how you get on with it.

Hi Gavin,
We may end up with a sub forum if this keeps up. I've been back to H&F twice now and gone up in price and machines as far as thoughts are concerned. I've then come back down through the process and come to conclusion that for the money I save, I can buy reasonable quality tooling and make the mods that the 320G may need once I've given it a workout. The Taiwanese AL-960B is where I would like to go, as the build quality and finish are way ahead of the Chinese machines. But then at that price ($4994) and that size I would have to be doing some pretty serious machining. One fellow elsewhere on this forum spent a lot of time and money setting up his 960B to get it right, so there are still the same issues in the more expensive lathes.
The main concerns I have with the 320G are that it uses the lead screw for all its saddle drives through half nuts. But then the half nuts are available as spares and keeping things clean and well lubricated should give reasonable life. There are no bed wipers on the saddle, but I will fit a rubber mat to the front of the carriage as shown on Steve Bedairs 12x20 site.(Worth a look) The tailstock doesn't use the V bed, although from your comments, Gavin, that doesn't seem to be a problem. The apron hand wheel is a little floppy on its shaft, but OK on the lead screw. Nothing that can't be fixed. Does yours have the same problem? Same question to you Parrot.
Gavin, are you using HSS or carbide and have you used a boring bar on yours yet? What parting tool are you using? How do you find the H&F tooling? I'm going back over to H&F later this week and the rep is going to open a few boxes to see if there is one without the loose handwheel. Almost there. Paul.
P.S. I've never had so much trouble making a decision on buying a piece of equipment!

Paul

I went through the same process, started looking at the little lathes (AL50 etc), rapidly worked my way up and, like you, looked longingly at the 960B but worked out that this would put severe strains on the arrangements with the domestic overlord. In my case this could be catastrophic - I race Superkarts for fun and She Who Must Be Obeyed is also the Chief Scrutineer for our club and, as such, has the power of veto over any kart including mine being allowed on the track. So the AL-320G was the result and it hasn't disappointed yet.

You are mistaken about the drive always being through the half-nuts though, if you look at the lead screw you'll see a keyway machined along the length. This keyway is what provides the drive for the powered long feed and cross-slide feed. There is a handle on the top right hand side of the saddle, pulling this back starts the long-feed, pushing it forward through the neutral position gives cross-feed. The half-nut lever is only used when threading.

I also fitted a rubber mat to the front of the saddle using the threaded holes intended for the following rest attachment.

Haven't had any problems with the tailstock moving around yet and I've used it to run some fairly aggressive drills (up to 7/8" into steel and 1.25" into aluminium so far).

My feed wheel is fine, no excessive movement that I can feel - in any case once I finish my ball turner I intend replacing the wheel with a balanced ball handle, just because I prefer the feel. A presonal preference not a criticism of the standard wheel. Along the same lines I've replaced all the black plastic knobs with aluminium handles i machined up. I made one for the toolpost as an exercise, liked the result, and it sort of grew like topsy so now I done them all.

I'm using HSS tooling, mostly 3/8" that I grind myself, carbide requires a lot more speed and feed for good results and the cost puts me off. I get good results with HSS and I don't have to worry about the tool chipping with interrupted cuts which can be an issue with carbide. I've made my own boring bars by brazing small bits of HSS onto the end of mild steel shafts and then grinding to suit.

I did buy the H&F clamp style knurling tool ( https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=L080 ) which I reckon is a bit flexible for my liking so I will be making my own with a bit more beef. I also bought the parting off tool ( https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=L074 ) which has been fine, generally I part steel at the 60 rpm or 90 rpm speed (depending which belt setting I'm on, either seems to work OK) with plenty of cutting oil.

I don't use water based coolant on my lathe, mostly I turn dry but if I need coolant or oil I have an overhead tank from an old AJS stationary engine which feeds by gravity. I cut a hole in the chip tray and that feeds into a catch bucket so I can filter and re-use the cutting fluid if I need to.

I agree about the difficulty deciding which lathe to buy - you can analyse yourself to a stand-still but sooner or later you have to step into the unknown.

Rgds - Gavin

deciding on tooling can be as much of a headache as deciding on the machine to put it in.
If cost is a factor, HSS is ample for machining mild steel and alloys, harder materials like stainless it will struggle and not really want to work for you, not impossible but can be difficult.
HSS gives you plenty of flexibility across the range of materials you can machine with it simply by changing relief angles, nose radius, rake, feed and speed etc to suit what you are trying to do.
Inserts on the other hand can be costly, as you may find that you require several different types depending on what you are doing. With HSS, you just re grind it to suit the job at hand, with inserts if what you have isnt suitable, buy the right ones.
As has been mentioned, inserts usually require higher speed and feed rates.

Hare and Forbes tooling is on par with other ISO tooling available. They have sets of insert tooling that are not ISO standard therefore buying inserts means that if you buy from H & F, they sell them in a pack with 1 insert per tool.
If you can afford it, get ISO tooling, then get general purpose inserts to fit them and set the machine speed and feed to suit insert, material type and diameter, machine something and see what the finish is like, if it isnt acceptable you may need different inserts, if it is, then all is good.
The ISO tooling takes standard inserts, in the turning tool kits I beleive it is a TCMT style insert. This gives you the flexibility to get different grades etc for different applications.

My personal preference is insert type, but this is coming from a full time workshop point of view where it isnt my money paying for the replacements.
Reason its my preference, no time spent having to regrind tools, if it gets blunt just replace it, if its the wrong type for what im doing, just get the right one, you can run the machine more aggressively with deeper cuts, faster speed and feed meaning reduced time to finish a job, AND if somebody else uses the machine and breaks the tool, just get another insert or rotate the existing one, less aggravation involved in changing a broken insert than regrinding a broken tool when it isnt your fault to begin with.

End of the day, HSS gives flexibility provided you can grind it up accordingly, Inserts give flexibility at an increased cost but remove the need for tool grinding. My advice, get some literature on tool grinding and see if you can make sense of it, if you can, youre half way there.

Just to add to what brisbanefitter has said, something to be aware of with carbide is it doesn't really like light cuts so if you don't have a lot of experience with turning you might have trouble getting a decent finish if you are trying to take a light finishing cut. I actually haven't used many pos rake carbides so I can't comment on them. Most of my experience with carbide have been neg rake and with them the machine needs a fair bit of grunt to use them properly. In fact I have quite a few toolholders that I had accumulated when I was working in the trade which I can't use on my current lathe at home which is a belt head "McMillan" (rebadged Honden) about the size of the AL 330A. (all the more justification for a bigger machine one day LOL)
For a beginner with a small lathe, (sorry, but for me anything under 400mm dia swing is a small lathe) I reckon the most cost effective is HSS. Learn how to sharpen it properly (which isn't really hard to do) and in the long term it will save you a lot of money over carbide. The trick is to have several (but preferably lots of) different bits, all sharpened for different applications. A lot of work if you do them all at once but not too bad if you grind them up as needed. Once you have them ground to shape they will last a long time with only occasional touch ups in the grinder. I have bits that I have been using for years.
Another tip for someone learning how to grind tools. Try and get a bit of mild steel square bar a similar size to your HSS bits. Practice grinding that to shape until you feel you are getting it right, then change over to the HSS. It means you are not wasting good HSS during your practice. (this is how they teach tool grinding in the TAFE where I work)

hope this helps

regards
bollie7

Warren

Like Sterob and Gavin mentioned the door does need some space to open fully so not only to get to the belt and the gears but the drainage tube for the sump and to get to the oiling points....as well as allowing plenty of light to see what's happening in there...., you shouldn't have too many dramas with the 320G...I've had one for some time now and managed to butcher lots of metal and break all sorts of tools without too much difficulty.......the more room on the left hand side of your lathe, the longer bits of metal you can feed through the spindle......but you will need to support it if hangs out more than a foot or thereabouts for the wobble.......if you need some info on setting it up can always drop me a PM - it's done all I've asked of it so far without arguing to much........hope that helps....Lee .

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