Attention: Hare & Forbes BM30 owners and or clones

I have been in touch with the H7F service department and they appear to be useless

The manual describing the and indicating the lubrication points is also useless

Some poits for lubrication are obvious, but others as described or indicated in the manual are very vague.

The service department said the Manual is "generic"...yeah I know that but where are all the lubrication points


There is a hole in the side.....from the manual it appears that you oil something in hereAttachment 266144



on the front name plate it names two (2) points. The slot one I get, but what about the "Oil twice daily"


Any other points ...can any one tell me I mean show me all the points other than Oil wells and grease nipples etc etc

Hi Eskimo,
Have you had a look at the Grizzly manual? They are usually much more detailed.

G0747 Vertical Mill - 16 Speed

Dave

Probably not too great a need to throw lots of oil in those areas... When you pull the head apart you understand how primitive the lubrication system is... And how open it is to contamination from dirt...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dave J

Hi Eskimo,
Have you had a look at the Grizzly manual? They are usually much more detailed.

G0747 Vertical Mill - 16 Speed

Dave

---

yeah had a look there Dave
none of theirs have the hole in the side near the top of the spindle

an old bridgeport manual I have does have sketch with an oil point in that vicinity..???

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by .RC.

Probably not too great a need to throw lots of oil in those areas... When you pull the head apart you understand how primitive the lubrication system is... And how open it is to contamination from dirt...

---

now are saying I dont need to do anything..it will last forever If I dont...thats my type of preventative maintenance:D

no seriously tho ...there has to be some points that are not shown in the chinglish manual....the bridgeport manual shows points where you have to remove grubscrews ?

maybe I f I write a letter to H&f asking for clarification etc etc ...this will (might) cover me if they dont respond with all points in the event of a failure????

has your voucher arrived?

I am sure I remember the same question was asked years ago here.

There are online Bridgeport manuals to look at, have a look there.
http://hardingeus.com/usr/pdf/knee%2...st4302plus.pdf

Bridgeport Machines Inc. - Publication Reprints - Bridgeport Milling Machine Manual | VintageMachinery.org



Dave

Send an email to these guys, I am sure they will know all about it.

Bridgeport "J" (Step Pulley) Head Rebuild

H&F is a joke not even knowing about there own import machines, and there manuals are total crap. You would think with the high mark up they would have the manuals done here.

It still amazes me about there prices, back when the dollar was 67c the AL340 was $4200 as I looked at it before buying mine, now with the dollar at $102 they are $4800, there profit margin must have needed to be a lot bigger, but they can't afford to print good manuals.

Dave

The new mill came with a 3 axis Easson ES14 Dro...but no manual

I have been onto H&F agents (General Tools) several times since delivery regarding getting the manual.

Yesterday this arrived in the post...it was obvious that it wasnt the original

Attachment 267786Attachment 267787





I could have done better at Officeworks..
Its very amateurish if you ask me, and besides, it looks as though it would'nt last a week in the shed...its allready falling apart

Rang late yesterday (poor Andrew copped the lot:ranting2:) and will see what they come up with

Not happy Jan!!!!

What a joke, when I bought this mill from them (under sufferance at that time) it came with a Sino DRO and a factory manual, so they are supposed to come with them.

It amazes me the dollar goes up, the prices go up, then they cut cost and supply dodgy photo copied manuals to cut costs. These machines where cheaper when the dollar was 67c to the US $1.

We both know how bad the HM52 manual was, what is the BM30 manual like?
For what there charging you would thing they would put together a nice manual like the Grizzly one, would save lots of customers ringing.

I see the dollar is just under $1 US, I am waiting for the machines to sky rocket like they did last time, LOL

I hope this is your only problem and the machine itself is fine.

Dave

the BM30 manual is also a joke, by todays standards..it appears to include copied pages from the original ie the very first Bridgeport

They could have got the fitter and turner that works there to do the manuals.
You know the same one that rang me about my HM52 and asked how I was checking the table for twist, then when told he said why are you machining out at the ends? LOL

At least at a car sales the guys know what the car does and it's features/accessories. These guys have no idea.

Dave

I bought a lathe last October from H&F and no manual. After several calls and visits I was given a photocopy with missing pages and it bears no relation to the lathe. Lathe was new but a new model no manual yet. Yadda yadda. Poor to say the least.

I searched and found similar lathes and printed their manuals.

James

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Its a case of you get you pay for.
My experience with a circ 2007 12 x 36 lathe (non H &F ) has taught me a lot,in as far as imported Chine machinery goes. The Chinese will continue to send us sub standard quality quality machines because we keep accepting them.

We are cost driven like everyone else and unfortunately have our learning curve generated by the faults of a cheap machine .

The low purchase cost equates to:

Low weight and therefore little rigidity.
Rough and ready manufacturing
Unskilled manufacturing work force
Lack of of pride in their product
The manufacturer being remote from the end user and no good or bad feedback from their customers
No manufacturers support or back up system - spare parts if you are really lucky.

I can bet Eskimos manual was little better than a parts manual and showed little of the how to operate aspects of the machine concerned.

Mine had some hand written specification checks and that was about it. The manual looked looked as though it was an amateur effort from a jumble sale.

I blame myself for .I did not take the advice of some who had been there before me.I should have spent more and purchased a Taiwanese unit.
Perhaps we should make a sticky of these sort of posts and future forum buyers that come along may be warned.


Our choices
Contact the makers and the distributors- We know we will have to pay more -what about a better quality range of - insert machine tool.
If we do what we always have done ,we shall get what we always have got.

The power is in the numbers.If enough of us speak out ,they have to listen.



Grahame

Hi Grahame,

I generally agree with the gist of what you are saying about low cost machines, but the BM-30 is hardly a low cost machine, it's up around the $8000 mark, and for that sort of money I think it's only reasonable to at least expect decent manuals.

We are being ripped off by the retailers and importers, from just about any yardstick you could choose to measure their performance..

1. Quality (they specify what they want the supplier to provide) the Chinese manufacturers can produce whatever quality you are prepared to pay for.
2. Support.. the best you could say about it is that it's variable.. :)
3. Price, no signs that the high $A has led to any decrease in prices, but they sure jacked the price up when the dollar was low..

I don't think we should put all the blame on the Chinese makers, a significant portion of the blame lies with greedy distributors and resellers..

Regards
Ray

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

I blame myself for .I did not take the advice of some who had been there before me.I should have spent more and purchased a Taiwanese unit.

---

The BM-30 is Taiwanese made. My Al960B lathe is Taiwanese and, I think, quite a deal better made than the Chinese AL320G lathe I had prior to it but the manuals for both were equally as bad.