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3rd party machine inspection in NYC area?

Wow!

The least expensive option for precision work has long been the level. Gravity has always been pretty reliable from what I've heard. For example, I've never heard of a "gravity storm".

The earth is not stiff enough to resist deformation. If you walk by a sensitive level it will notice the earth around it move under you. You think an HLV is stiffer?

You are far beyond the type of help anyone on a internet forum could possibly provide.
 
The earth is not stiff enough to resist deformation. If you walk by a sensitive level it will notice the earth around it move under you. You think an HLV is stiffer?
What are you leveling lathe to?

If you can not get test cuts: an unleveled lathe (any machine) hides less lies.

Flashlight is a good inspection tool.
 
Wow!

The least expensive option for precision work has long been the level. Gravity has always been pretty reliable from what I've heard. For example, I've never heard of a "gravity storm".

The earth is not stiff enough to resist deformation. If you walk by a sensitive level it will notice the earth around it move under you. You think an HLV is stiffer?

This is from the Hardinge manual


page 11

xxxx.jpg
 
Thanks for posting the manual link. I've become a proponent of 3 point machine mounts whenever possible. It's a good way to avoid problems.

The effect of wear on the bed of a lathe is to cause the carriage to tilt downward at the front in the worn area. That tilt is easily measured with a precision level placed on the carriage and the wear calculated with some modest mathematics.

Don't take my word for it. Put a level on the carriage and run the carriage back and forth. Shim the level with feeler gauge leaves if needed to center the bubble. Unless the lathe is new you'll see the tilt.
 
"How can I buy an expensive manual lathe far away without getting fucked?"

1) as far as HLV lathes go (and note althhough the drive is like an HLVH, it has a narrow bed) this is not expensive as they go.

2) The biggest chance of getting screwed on this is to have it dinged during shipment I think.

3) yes hardinge lathes have three point kinematic mounts for the beds. Headstock is pulled down with stiff springs on two rounded points, and the tailstock end of the bed rests on a steel ball constrained in a longitudinal V-way.

4) does anyone have a link to the 'in praise of clunkers' discussion?

5) the lathe is probably too small and light for the original desired specs.
 
To the op, you’ll be better off handling this yourself. The FaceTime idea is silly.
I think you already have a lathe, take a video of the thing and play it back with the machine off. You will quickly notice that a microphone is not that good at capturing machine noises.
 
I think that the HLV and Hardinge chucker are lower risk machines to buy as IIRC you can get the spindle rebuilt and reground as a cartridge, and you used to be able to buy a new bed. Sure, not going to pay all the money and then have to rebuild, but compared to the cost to do the same on many other machines, it is a better risk
 
1) as far as HLV lathes go (and note althhough the drive is like an HLVH, it has a narrow bed) this is not expensive as they go.

Bingo, I kept looking at the picture thinking something doesn't look right about the bed. Also there's no spindle lock plunger on the headstock.
 

By Dave Ficken of Meridian Machinery ;-) I bought my 8520 mill from Dave. Talk about a blast from the past.
I bought a few machines from Dave back in the day. A good guy and quite honest... He actually reached out to me recently on Linkeldn. He recognized my name and remembered he sold me a SB 10L which was over 25 years ago. He is doing well...
 
Thanks. Last I heard from him he was going back to work as a marine engineer. The advent of ebay killed his niche business. I'd love to find a dealer of the same character.

Rather than chasing deals online I'd rather have someone like Dave looking out for what I wanted and giving me a call. If Dave is dabbling in machine sales please send me a PM with his contact info. He's got a very satisfied customer that would love to buy a lathe from him. No schedule. I've got a well tooled klunker. It does what I *need* even if it's not what I want.

I bought an "as new" 8520 from Dave and it was exactly that except for the grease in the bearings. Which was original :-( It came with the original factory inspection sheet and matched every test.

I'd called him to ask about one a few days before he was scheduled to go look at my machine. He called me when he got it home. I had to make a quick decision and am very glad I bought it.
 
Thanks. Last I heard from him he was going back to work as a marine engineer. The advent of ebay killed his niche business. I'd love to find a dealer of the same character.

Rather than chasing deals online I'd rather have someone like Dave looking out for what I wanted and giving me a call. If Dave is dabbling in machine sales please send me a PM with his contact info. He's got a very satisfied customer that would love to buy a lathe from him. No schedule. I've got a well tooled klunker. It does what I *need* even if it's not what I want.

I bought an "as new" 8520 from Dave and it was exactly that except for the grease in the bearings. Which was original :-( It came with the original factory inspection sheet and matched every test.

I'd called him to ask about one a few days before he was scheduled to go look at my machine. He called me when he got it home. I had to make a quick decision and am very glad I bought it.
I'm not sure if he is dabbling in the machine selling world but I PM's the email address he gave me a few weeks ago. You can touch base with him. I'd be curious if he was selling machines again as all my experiences with him were quite positive, a good guy.
 
Hello everyone,

I posted the lathe in the FS section of the commerce forum. I am not the owner of the machine, but I'm local and would make a few bucks if I find a buyer. That being said, I hope I can answer a few questions.

1. The lathe is not currently leveled, its sitting on 4x4 wood blocks, oiled and sitting cozy under a tarp indoors.
2. If you like, I can power it up, take a video, some cuts and show you how its cutting by taking some measurements.
3. If you are looking for a next to new machine, then maybe purchase a donor machine and send it to Babin. He does beautiful work, but it comes at a price. Last I asked someone how much the rebuild cost, it was north of 30k, not including cost of the machine. I wish to own a Hardinge from him one day, to put it behind a glass cabinet, they are that nice.

I don't think many of us on the forum have next to new high precision lathes, and we are still able to make good parts with them. I don't know what your application for this lathe would be, but it was being used till it was replaced by a CNC lathe. Like most used lathes, I'm sure this one has some wear, but its far from being clapped out.

One last thing, IMO, I think its reasonably priced considering a new import lathe of similar dimensions runs about 7k, and it has at lot of Hardinge original tooling.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Remember you can always make an offer on it.
 
yup, but Brooklyn is a BIG place.
more than that, it can take longer to cross Brooklyn than it does to cross a few entire states...:crazy:

😭🤣🤣🤣

Can easily take you an hour or more to go 2.3miles. People don't believe me when I tell them I've been stuck in traffic for 1hr+ to only go 1 block.
 
I had a job opportunity in Industry City, Brooklyn. After figuring out how to get there from westchester county, and more importantly, how to get home, I abandoned that plan. The Gowanus parkway has an exit for that place. Getting back northbound on the Gowanus requires driving about four miles on surface streets! If I didn't already have several lathes at home, this would be on my 'how do I get this into the basement shop' list.
 
I had a job opportunity in Industry City, Brooklyn. After figuring out how to get there from westchester county, and more importantly, how to get home, I abandoned that plan. The Gowanus parkway has an exit for that place. Getting back northbound on the Gowanus requires driving about four miles on surface streets! If I didn't already have several lathes at home, this would be on my 'how do I get this into the basement shop' list.
after 4 miles it's not the Gowanus expressway any more, its the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, and you can get on at Atlantic Av N bound, (and I think Hamilton av too, where the Gowanus part of 278 ends) don't think that's quite 1.5 mile, but the BQE can be worse than going local so getting on it isn't any bargain at rush hour. (and that can be any hour in NYC).
looks like the lathe (remember THAT?, lol!) is not in Industry city, 11211starts 3 blocks from me..
 
I had a job opportunity in Industry City, Brooklyn. After figuring out how to get there from westchester county, and more importantly, how to get home, I abandoned that plan. The Gowanus parkway has an exit for that place. Getting back northbound on the Gowanus requires driving about four miles on surface streets! If I didn't already have several lathes at home, this would be on my 'how do I get this into the basement shop' list.

You can never have enough lathes. 😂

Then you can collect all the accessories all over again.
 
My read of the maps thing is northbound requires a drive to atlantic ave, there's even a traffic jam on the sat image!

Too many lathes: Cataract 5/9, Pratt&Whitney 7", Hardinge ESM 59, Southbend 10L, and a mothballed SB heavy 9. Oh, and a vintage seneca falls machine, too. Whoops, also the SA Potter project. This ignores the machines at work...
 








 
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