Thread: Hardinge DV-59 second operations lathe

Originally Posted by .RC.

As shown in Ueee's thread yesterday I purchased a Hardinge DV-59 second operations lathe..Waiting four hours while mountains of junk sold first, then waiting another two hours as the forklift driver loaded three cars (yes three cars) was a challenge.

Today among other things I did a little bit of work on it.... Checked it out etc etc....

The Hardinge DV-59 lathe is a variable speed lathe, it has no lead screw or feed screw and only has a tailstock and a cross slide and top slide that can be clamped at any point along the bed and used manually... The top slide does swivel, with the angle graduations hidden under a protected sight glass..

The next model along from this lathe came equipped with a turret and lever operated cross slide... These attachments fit the DV-59 as they all share a common bed...

The lathe is 1hp variable speed, speed changes by a reeve drive, actuated by an electric motor.. Top speed is 3500rpm.. The electrics seem rather simple, the motor is a two speed, plus you have forward and reverse, plus a brake.... The lathe only has a total of four relays, as the high/low and forward/reverse are all operated through a cam system operating little switches..

The spindle has a 5C collet for the inside and the outside is a propriety Hardinge spindle nose, essentially a straight taper with a groove for locking the chuck or faceplate on...


Back to the lathe..... I asked the auctioneer where it came from, but he had no idea... I would not have thought this a sort of lathe to pop up in this area, but surprises happen. The serial indicated it was post 1960, most likely 70's or maybe eighties....As the serial number is in the 15 000's, and in 1960 when they changed the headstock design, they were only up to 7000 or so..

Initial inspection showed a machine that had had little use, but had obviously been neglected over the past few years...I would say stored in an open sided shed, and got rained upon at times... Protected areas were still in good order..

Cleaning up the bed today revealed some minor pitting in some small areas but as the bed is not a sliding point it is not an issue..

Came with a fixed steady, faceplate and 3 jaw chuck (no reverse jaws) which I believe is a rebadged Pratt Bunerd chuck...

I powered it up and came across yet another three phase plug where the electrician has no idea on what the colour codes for L1, L2 and L3 are... The lathe ran backwards of course...

Put a DTI on the spindle, about 1.5 to 2 microns runout...

Sorted that out and found the speed settings had been nerfed... Low speeds was not attainable nor high speeds... This was from adjustment screws being moved... I changed them back and noticed one of the A section V-belts starting to fray. Also on high and low speeds one belt went very loose, It was opposite belts getting loose on high or low.

I did some research and eventually came up with what I hope is the right belt size... It came up a variable speed cog belt......Hmmm but this lathe is fitted with A section belts..Yes a previous owner has modified the lathe to take A section belts, and of course it did not work very well... They actually turned off part of the original pulley on the motor and the headstock to fit a A section pulley on it... NOT HAPPY JAN!!!! I guess in pre-internet days finding the right belt would have been harder then it is today with the world at your fingertips... But I would have thought there would have been a Hardinge dealer in the country they could have called...

But it is repairable as luckily they left one side of the original V on both pulleys... I will hopefully be able to find the specs for the belt section and reproduce the missing side.... I have done it before for a damaged V section pulley...

I will most likely put this into storage for awhile now, I have to get the 10EE finished first, before delving deeper into this one.... It should complement the 10EE very nicely... I would say I will sell the Hercus lathe down the track now.....

Comparing it to the 10EE, sizewise the 10EE is a much much bigger lathe...At least twice as heavy a build, but comparing the Hardinge to the Hercus 260, the Hardinge is much more stout..

nice score . congrat .
it is my dream lathe
Peter

Do you mean the HLV-H your dream lathe? It is the one that is a more conventional lathe, except it has features like fully variable electric feeding and high speed threading capabilities... I saw one of them sold on Gray's a few years back, second hand but might as well have been brand new, sold for I cannot remember if it was just over $20 000 or $30 000...

Which may sound like a lot.... But as a person once told me, what would you expect to pay for a car that will last you maybe fifteen years, compared to a lathe that will last the rest of your life....

Originally Posted by .RC.

Do you mean the HLV-H your dream lathe? It is the one that is a more conventional lathe, except it has features like fully variable electric feeding and high speed threading capabilities... I saw one of them sold on Gray's a few years back, second hand but might as well have been brand new, sold for I cannot remember if it was just over $20 000 or $30 000...

Which may sound like a lot.... But as a person once told me, what would you expect to pay for a car that will last you maybe fifteen years, compared to a lathe that will last the rest of your life....

I've heard people apply that logic to Deckel mills, too.

The HLVH was the one lathe that I wasn't game to ask to use, in a toolroom full of nice machinery. The supervisor would have killed me if I'd even scratched anything on it. It was an old machine in absolutely perfect mechanical condition, with practically every accessory.

Naturally it was a Government R&D toolroom. Your tax dollars at work.

PDW

Originally Posted by .RC.

Do you mean the HLV-H your dream lathe? It is the one that is a more conventional lathe, except it has features like fully variable electric feeding and high speed threading capabilities... I saw one of them sold on Gray's a few years back, second hand but might as well have been brand new, sold for I cannot remember if it was just over $20 000 or $30 000...

Which may sound like a lot.... But as a person once told me, what would you expect to pay for a car that will last you maybe fifteen years, compared to a lathe that will last the rest of your life....

yes yes . that is the one but only when i win the lotto , for now if i can find one like your in good cond then i'd e happy like hell too.

Peter

Very Nice RC.

Much like the Rivett only it has a dovetail bed doesn't it? Shame the cabinet isn't full of tooling.....

It really does make you wonder were these machines have come from and what the first owner thought when they were delivered new.

With the reeves drive, how does the system come with the change in pulley size changing and keeping the belts tight? An idler, or do both pulleys change to keep the belt length the same?

Cheers,
Ew

Congratulations RC on picking up another classic machine.

Hardinge 5C collet and taper nose spindle tooling comes in a most amazing variety of types, the mind boggles at it all. It's possible to buy collets in hex, square and rectangular as well as round, metric or imperial. Morse taper? not a problem. Need to hold something bigger than 1 & 1/8"? no problem there, just use a step chuck, all the way out to 6" diameter or perhaps an expanding collet. You can also use normal 3 or 4 jaw chucks, if the desire takes you!

My limited experience with 5C collets has been enough to convince me to only buy Hardinge collets.

I've been looking at the HLV-H and TFB-H for awhile. The biggest issue is finding one in good condition at an affordable price. Any Hardinge equipment seems pretty rare in Australia. Encouraging to know that they were imported at one time, if perhaps not now.

Cheers

The Beryl Bloke

I scanned and posted the pages of a Hardinge 5C collet catalogue a couple of years ago. I still have a chuckle when I look at that thread. GQ in fine form.

Might be of renewed interest. https://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/ha...3/#post1371538

I purchased a couple of Hardinge turret tools thinking that one day I might have more than one thing to make where I could justify the purchase. I'm still waiting. Hardinge quality is a good as anything I've seen.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/co...9/#post1279459

BT

I have removed the rusty items from the lathe, like the handles and dumped them in molasses to derust them.... I thought it worth a try especially since we have about 25 000 litres on hand at the moment, and our tanks are only half full..

About two weeks it should take according to the internetz...

It is interesting how it is substantially smaller then Pinky, but takes up the same amount of space as the cabinet is big..

Once I get Pinky up and running and this one going, I will be selling my Hercus 260... There will no longer be any need for it.. 5 lathes is too many for one amateur to own...

I am wondering if it is possible to motorise the cross and top slide with servo motors...

Also considering what a turret would cost, but they would be too heavy to ship here from the US.... I found it amazing that the cross slide like mine has sells for more on US ebay then the turret as a stand alone item... In fact more then I paid for the entire lathe...

Originally Posted by .RC.

Once I get Pinky up and running and this one going, I will be selling my Hercus 260... There will no longer be any need for it.. 5 lathes is too many for one amateur to own...

Agree. I downsized to 4 and the one I sold was my Hercus. Flexible, feeble and I almost never used it, so it went away.

PDW

Originally Posted by .RC.

I am wondering if it is possible to motorise the cross and top slide with servo motors...
.

What about an electronic lead screw? encoder on the spindle... could be a good upgrade.

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

What about an electronic lead screw? encoder on the spindle... could be a good upgrade.

Regards
Ray

Hi Ray,
I'm trying very hard not to hijack .RC.'s thread here but, what 'roughly' is involved in doing this.
I have thought about tgoing this way for the Servian lathe at work.
Apologies Richard.

Phil

Hi Ray,

They are a nice upgrade but for a Hardinge HLV-H or TFB-H the quotes I've seen are about $3,500. Not sure if that includes all the electronics to run it as well, but I somehow doubt it.

You can check the it out at Babin Machine.

Cheers

The Beryl Bloke

Originally Posted by RayG

What about an electronic lead screw? encoder on the spindle... could be a good upgrade.

Regards
Ray

Hi Phil,
go and have a read about the ELS (electronic lead screw) at Electronic Lead Screw Main Page
I've been building one and getting close to installing it on my lathe.

Originally Posted by .RC.

Also considering what a turret would cost, but they would be too heavy to ship here from the US.... I found it amazing that the cross slide like mine has sells for more on US ebay then the turret as a stand alone item... In fact more then I paid for the entire lathe...

Hi RC,

If you are interested in a turret, I can make some enquiries for you. I am seriously looking at bringing in a TFB-H at the moment, I'm sure there would be room in the box for a turret. Not looking to make any money from you just a few bucks towards postage. Besides, your just down the road a bit, nearly a neighbour!

Hope this post is OK with the moderator(s)

Cheers

The Beryl Bloke