Hardinge Lathe project

[darrin1200]

My brother-in-law spotted this, he was attracted by the price. It says it’s a cnc project, but it also looks like a specialty lathe.
Its not a project I’d take on, but for $700, I thought someone would be interested.

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[Dabbler]

It wants resurrecting from its current condition. If anyone wants a project like this it is a cheap starting point.

 

[Gennady]

I visited this guy yesterday. It is REALLY tempting, but it will require a LOT of money to be poured into this project. Even controller for the main motor is missing. Mechanically it is in OK'ish condition/ Note: collet chuck and turret is pneumatic.

 

[Dabbler]

It is a big project for sure. A typical refit for a CNC lathte is going to be north of 4K$. For someone that wasts CNC lathe in the small, that's still a bargain.

 

[combustable herbage]

$500 now

 

[TorontoBuilder]

I wish I had access to the software from a servo lathe. Then this would be a no brainer project. I just can't tackle full blown cnc

 

[Gennady]

software from a servo lathe

You can use LinuxCNC with suitable Mesa card and servo/driver combo. There are some attempts even to use LinuxCNC with encoders fed in directly to the printer port. It is slow but works.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

You can use LinuxCNC with suitable Mesa card and servo/driver combo. There are some attempts even to use LinuxCNC with encoders fed in directly to the printer port. It is slow but works.

I dont want to learn any CNC I only wish to use a GUI that prompts me for the operations I wish to perform, and that is control by wire so I can turn knob and a servo will move the appropriate component.

 

[Gennady]

That is exactly what LinuxCNC offers. There is so called CLI or MDI interface with line by line commands with ABS or REL coordinate system. Learning curve is not that steep.

 

[gerritv]

That is exactly what LinuxCNC offers. There is so called CLI or MDI interface with line by line commands with ABS or REL coordinate system. Learning curve is not that steep.

you are asking Torontobuilder to learn line-by-line GCode programming then, which is specifically what he doesn't want to do. He actually wants Conversational, not sure how good LinuxCNC is with that (I use PathPilot where that is quite good for one-offs)

 

[Gennady]

Sorry, If I was understood incorrectly, I am not asking anything. I am just gently stating that to operate CNC machine on entry level, one does not need to know anything about G-code programming, All what is needed is two commands - fast move from point to point and move with specified feed from point to point. Everything else is GUI. When I was complete noob ( I did't had a much of a progress since that) I started with those two commands and use them for a long time until I learned anything else.

 

[gerritv]

Ok, G0 and G1 then but that is pretty simple stuff. I use the jog function for those I have a Shuttle Express that lets me do fine and coarse moves easily.
Thread milling and holes get much more interesting as do pockets at which point you will belearning hand coding or using a Conversational helper. (CAM with Fusion360 is not always the answer there due to lack of convenience)

 

[Gennady]

Hey, LOL I still don't know how to program thread milling, but this is not stopping me from using my DIY portal Dremel mill. And I am planning to add 4th rotating axis to engrave dials. "One who wants - looking for opportunity, the one who does not want -looking for excuse"

 

[PatrickT]

I dont want to learn any CNC I only wish to use a GUI that prompts me for the operations I wish to perform, and that is control by wire so I can turn knob and a servo will move the appropriate component.

I've been following this guy. (There's an operational Hardinge Turret lathe in Guelph if you're looking for a project, but it would be epic). I've got one of these units on order that I'll be installing and practicing with(i.e. crashing repeatedly) on my 10X22 king, with the hopes of migrating it to my 1440 for repeatable threading & boring process.