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Cincinnati hydrashift in red deer

Blue Wall said:
I talked with the owner and it sounds like this is a decent machine.
It is 5 hp three phase. What are the thoughts on phase converters? What about the spindle conversion and live centers for the tail stock?
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You could probably buy a 5hp single phase motor and Re/Re the motor for comparable price. Could reduce the motor size too but of course then you can't run at full capacity meaning lighter cuts. Quite frankly if this was near me I'd be all over it. There is a hydrashift for sale in Toronto 2 hrs away from me for 10K
 
Is the condition decent? The price feels very good - maybe I should think about buying it. I do not like the spindle nose type and I already have a large lathe that would be hard to junk.

That 10k lathe better be like new condition, which it is not - good luck to the seller over the next few years at that price.
 
Thanks Ryan for the info and encouragement. Tom you mentioned earlier about being able to find a different spindle nose. What is involved in that?
 
There is a good video of one of these in use so you can see what it sounds like. Near the end you can see the motor and it looks proprietary so I don't think a motor swap is feasible but it may be dual voltage and able to run on 240 three phase. It has some really nice features. You can power feed the carriage and cross slide at the same time. That would be interesting. It has hardened ways which I think is unusual in this vintage.

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Well its an L spindle nose. Nothing bad about it other then it is a bit "old" and outdated. You can still find back plates for it. making your own backplate is very difficult due to a key setting - there is a key on the spindle that is also on the chuck. The chuck has a thread on it as well as long taper inside with an angled keyway. So if you are making a backplate you would need to machine from *huge* chunk of steel (or weld two together) and then figure out a way to make angled keyway.

I have one of these Ls in a shop I am converting to a D. I plant on to cut the thread off and machine flat with a setting ring (like flat back chuck) and then screw onto it the D plate.
 
If it has two speed motor you are boned - i.e. next to impossible to get one replaced. If it is wired for 400V and cannot be run on 240V you will need a transformer. It can be straight 440V motor.

Alternate is to swap to a 3ph 240V motor and add a VFD to make it "two speed" or have a 1ph motor and a VFD to both deal with speed issue and phase issue.

1960s machines did have hardened ways - just not "cheap" stuff such as SouthBend and Atlas. I know it is strange today to think of SB as bottom feeder but that is where it place was in the machine hierarchy of the US.
 
John Conroy said:
There is a good video of one of these in use so you can see what it sounds like. Near the end you can see the motor and it looks proprietary so I don't think a motor swap is feasible but it may be dual voltage and able to run on 240 three phase. It has some really nice features. You can power feed the carriage and cross slide at the same time. That would be interesting. It has hardened ways which I think is unusual in this vintage.

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Great video. Especially for me as I am a newbie!
 
YYCHobbyMachinist said:
What spindle conversion? Looks like it comes with 3J and 4J chucks. Centers for the tail stock shouldn't be hard to source. States wired for 400 volt 3 phase, I wonder if it can be wired for 220 volt 3 phase?
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Ill check the owner is an electrician. Have a look at the pictures and can you tell if it has the right thread cutter dial. Thanks
 
Mechanically speaking, I don't think much has ever been invented that can not be r-motored with the help of a jack-shaft & pulley/sprocket or two . The motor might not sit exactly where the original did but really, on a jury rigged affair...who cares as long as it does the job. The low voltage switching on the lathe might require some creative hook-ups that any electrician or used truck owner should be able to design over a smoke & coffee.
 
Blue Wall said:
Have a look at the pictures and can you tell if it has the right thread cutter dial. Thanks
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There is something on the right hand side of the apron which is where the chasing dial should be but can't really tell what it is from the pictures.
 
Dabbler said:
it looks attractively priced for someont that wants a sturdy lathe in this size range. You can still get L1 adapters to mount a 3 jaw if you want it. not bad for a 4000 lb lathe.
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Hey Dabbler.....it looks like the lathe may be missing the thread cutting dial. is this a big deal? I am going to look at at tonight. Thanks Ron
 
Dabbler said:
it looks attractively priced for someont that wants a sturdy lathe in this size range. You can still get L1 adapters to mount a 3 jaw if you want it. not bad for a 4000 lb lathe.
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Nah not a big deal at all - you can get a threading dial online or make on or buy used etc. You can thread without it if you do not mind keeping her engaged and going back and forth.
 
I made a deal for the lathe and just have a couple of more questions. 1) the tool post, it looks like a quick change, but it doesn't look like the newer style. the tailstock needs a live center and a chuck. What are some other handy tools that would be great for a newbie. So I can keep an eye out for them. Thanks again for all the info.
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Congrats on the new machine. That's a heck of a lot of machine for $2500.

Now the games begin.... moving the beast....

What you have is an indexable 4 position tool post. That's all I'm using currently. According to the manual your tail stock is MT3 taper, so not hard to source centers and a chuck.

What did you discover about the threading dial?
 
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