Thread: I Just Joined the Hercus Club

i have been looking for a lathe since moving to adelaide about 10 weeks ago. foolishly i didn't buy one in melbourne where they are abundant. Anyways i did what i am sure most lathe shoppers did and went to paramount browns and felt up their machines. i continued looking - most of my limited time has been spent on a harrison or colchester so its hard to go from that to a lesser lathe.

additionally i recently became a citizen so it was only fitting to treat myself to an aussie lathe.

Patience is not my strong point but i held out until this came up on gumtree and after driving to clare sa and $1400 she now has a new home.
IMG_20160507_222643.jpgIMG_20160507_222630.jpgIMG_20160507_222809.jpgIMG_20160507_222719.jpgIMG_20160507_222711.jpgIMG_20160507_222702.jpgIMG_20160507_222650.jpg

so on the to do list is a vfd conversion

also what is this:
IMG_20160507_222801.jpg

i am planning on running the motor directly to the spindle with the vfd which will make the idler and cover system redundant - i will probably sell these parts in the future.

the number makes here a 72 model but it has the letters ARM - is this metric roller bearing?? i saw a chart detailing these options but now cant find it.

i am dead chuffed.

That last item is a radial indexer. I've got one, but I've never really been able to exactly work out how to best make use of it. I think I'll make a fixture to use it on my mill. They have a MT3 in them and 24 divisions, but I think additional division plates were available. They mount on the milling attachment that you have to the left of it in the pic.

ARM - Model A, Roller Bearing, Metric.

And welcome!

welcome to the hercus clan looks like you got a good buy there with quite a few accessories that dont usually come with a lathe for that price . one upgrade you might consider is changing the lantern type tool holder to a a quick change type lots on the internet but ozzie dollar is making them a bit more expensive. I agree on the vfd changeover but i wouldnt sell the bits left over if you ever want to trade up to another lathe the hercus police will arrest you for not having the original bits

First can I say welcome on both fronts, it's always good to know another hercus user and a new citizen looks like you've found yourself a great lathe at a decent price. We look forward to enjoying your company and projects here. Many here have a real passion for Hercus and passions are always great to talk about

Cheers
Stephen

Originally Posted by jon doe

i am planning on running the motor directly to the spindle with the vfd which will make the idler and cover system redundant - i will probably sell these parts in the future. .

I wouldn't recommend doing that even using a Vector drive VFD.
Most basic (non-Vector-drive) VFDs have usable speed range of 6:1 e.g. 20 to 120 Hz
In between 20 and 50 Hz they don't put out full power especially at the slower speeds so you only get truly serviceable power between about 30 and 120 i.e. 4:1

A good lathe will have AT LEAST a 15:1 speed range and preferably 30:1 so you have to use the gears to get the full power at low speed plus you can get a bit more speed out out it with the higher gears.

That is a nice piece of machinery, I must have missed it on gumtree or it was not listed under Hercus as I look fairly well look everyday, I am in Adelaide as well and if you need a hand setting anything up or going through a few things on it I would be more than happy to help you out, just private message me if you are interested. Nice pick up though.

Steve

bobl; your bang on. the idler will stay as the over-centering is really well designed. this also keeps the motor spinning for slow work.

runout 0.025mm
faceplate 0.3 on face so a skim is required

what oil do you guys use? and what goes on the bed?

the idler is a bit tight - i found one of the bushes installed the wrong way up so evidently there has been no lubricant for a while. i am planning on running it (having oiled it) to see if it settles. why did mr. Hercus not put grease nipples on these?

also are the blue guards original hercus kit or aftermarket?

Probably original just painted , grease would retain foreign bodies but if you want add them there is a market out there for OEM and AM parts.

Originally Posted by jon doe

bobl; your bang on. the idler will stay as the over-centering is really well designed. this also keeps the motor spinning for slow work.

runout 0.025mm
faceplate 0.3 on face so a skim is required

what oil do you guys use? and what goes on the bed?

I use a light Hydraulic oil on the bed and a Guy Lautard brew on the shafts.

i use hydraulic 64 on everything maybe a bit of chainsaw chain lube on the gears if you want it to stick but its a bit messy .mine is a a hercus 260 geared head dglmh with chinese vfd i still use the gearing and leave vfd fixed on 50 hz i have slowed it down to about 20 hertz on one occasion to wind some wire to make a coil but mostly 50htz for normal operation
john

i got the vfd in today and ran her for the first time and found the following problems;

i have a light knocking when the lead screw is engaged - (bad tooth somewhere perhaps?)

the cross slide moves back when i take a cut - as if there was some slack in the system

i need to get some carbide cutters - the hss dont seem to cut through the skin on laser cut parts

photos tomorrow.

The knocking may be due to the bronze bush being worn in the gearbox as well as that is what I found wrong with mine when I stripped it down.

The cross slide nut may need to be changed out which is only a 30 second job or you are not taking the backlash out when you move the cross slide back and forth.

i am taking the backlash out. As the movement is equal throughout the range of the cross slide i suspect that it is the nut - it would be nice if this had a backlash mechanism on it.

when i take a cut with the hss cutter it is as if the lasercut edge has become to hard for them to get under. i ordered some carbide cutters...

what is the taper inside the spindle? i am thinking that this may be the next addition;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbyvweO8sNI

some photos and a short video
Attachment 362409

how does the milling attachment fit to the cross slide? is it missing a part?

https://youtu.be/nMMS4u5ycJY



the vfd will get linked to the fwd reverse lever. i now have a spare hercus wiring box...

The taper in the spindle is a Morse taper No.3, there are collet systems available with the draw bar going through the head stock as per the photos attached.

The milling table just goes in where the compound slide is fitted, you will need to wind the screws out and and get out the locking pins as sometimes these get stuck in the hole.

It also looks as though you are missing the other change gear off your gearbox for the different screw pitches.