Hardinge HLV super precision Lathe | CNC conversion bits Mesa | Leadshine | UK

I'm selling my Hardinge HLV lathe. I bought it as a spares and repair manual lathe with the intention of converting it to CNC to compliment my business needs. However I've now bought a brand new Haas mill that fulfils all me needs in one go so could do with the space.

Please google Hardinge HLV to understand the quality of this product or look here www.lathes.co.uk/hardinge/ .

In essence they are the pinnacle of precision lathes, everything about them was done to the n'th degree to make sure they were perfect. Even the motor is balanced to within an inch of it's life to ensure no vibration. The lathe sits on a three point bearing system so you never get any bed twist. Parts were ground in place to ensure amazing alignment. The headstock and bed dovetail together to ensure perfect alignment. There's more than I know about it but suffice to say they are the best. On ebay used manual models are advertised at £3500 - £8000 but that's without a bed regrind.

- Currently she's torn down as the bed is at Unislide having just been reground to perfection. I had the top of the saddle / apron reground there too.
- I've purchased two new speed belts for her direct from Hardinge.
- She weighs about 800KG
- Spindle runs sweet.
- Infinite manual speed control from about 350 RPM through to 3000RPM using the amazing vari speed pulley system. No belt changes just wind a handle while shes running and either speed up or slow down.
- Has the 5c Collet spindle with the tapered nose. The tapered nose accepts Hardinge chucks (though these are hard to find) if using a chuck you would simply need a 5c face plate. I was looking at turning 7" / 165mm parts.
- Has Tailstock
- Has all the ancilliary parts that are needed on a manual lathe but not on a cnc conversion. These are deefinitely worth £400 for quick sale prices but if you have time and want to wait for a motivated buyer they are possibly worth £1000

So what needs to be done to get her running as a cnc?

- Needs rebuilding from current state to basic lathe functionality. I am happy to do this unless you want her in pieces so you can respray her to a glorious condition. Happy to help showing what goes where but it is a fairly simple machine to put back together when you're not re assembling gear boxes and the like.
- Saddle / apron will need an anti friction coating to match the bed. I was going to use moglice epoxy putty (£35) but Turcite could as easily be used. To align this you would create a three point bearing system on the saddle / apron assuring the saddle / apron sits on the bed aligned. You then paste the Moglice onto the apron / saddle pop the assembly on the bed and wait for it to dry. Once dry the Moglice takes the form of the bed perfectly and you have a perfect bed with new anti friction coating on the saddle. The same process is done to the cross slide. As both seating areas for the above have been professionally ground the Moglice will produce a perfect mirror of them.
- The motor is a dual wound three phase motor. It will work from either 240 three phase or 400v -ish three phase (not sure exact voltage here) but if running from 240 it is at a reduced speed due to being dual wound. You either need three phase, a rotary converter or a step up VFD (about $175 from China) to power here.
- Leadscrews need machining and fitting. You can purchase whatever accuracy grade you require. The main leadscrew is simpler than the cross slide leadscrew as there is already a bearing housing below the head for angular contact bearings. The cross slide one will have to be fabricated or bought off the shelf and fitted as an add-on but still isn't a difficult proposition. I have some C5 GTEN screws and nuts which could come along by extra haggling / negotiation.

I have some very nearly new Leadshine hybrid stepper motors and drivers that can go with the project if wanted at extra price by haggling or negotiating if you like.

I have a Mesa 7i96 controller card for LinuxCNC which is the ethernet card which cam come with the project at extra price by negotiating / haggling

I have 48V power supplies for those if needed too with extra haggling.

So I think that's about it. In reality I'm sorry to see her go but the New Haas Mini Mill I'm getting will cut the circles I need on one machine with auto tool change and in one go.

Once converted to CNC and with her bed regring and being in amazing condition have no doubts that this will be a £4k - £5k machine in a bad market!

Currently I'm looking to get back what I paid for her, the regrind and the belts. You can convert her and add the extra value to keep. I will look for some photo's and add when I find them or PM me a phone number and I can WhatsApp them over.

Lathe £1500
2 x Leadshine Closed Loop Hybrid steppers and drivers £450
C5 Ball Screws with P0 ball nuts £90 each
Mesa 7i96 £100

Discount available if all taken as a package.

Near Lincoln UK