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  1. #91
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
    Location
    Ballarat
    Posts
    7

    Default

    Hi all,

    This is my first lathe, bought it this past week. Hercus 9" Model A, No. 3535

    It's not minty, has seen some use via its previous two owners. I bought it to strip down, clean, restore, and learn by doing so.

    I'm only 23, so decided to start with something small-ish (cost wise). Hopefully still has enough life left in the ways, and I end up with something I keep for a long time.

    Look forward to the journey.

    72884512_2567456846673042_6117658241401880576_n (1).jpg74216823_2512698162116754_6766942045404659712_n.jpg76602145_2447100128660379_4650803386558447616_n.jpg

  2. #92
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Holbrook, NSW
    Age
    73
    Posts
    490

    Default

    Keep the numbers coming guys, now at 2502 machines registered. Mal

  3. #93
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Camden NSW
    Posts
    75

    Default Hercus 260 ATM serial number

    Mal

    I have acquired a Hercus 260ATM ex TAFE lathe serial number 17934 painted in a beige colour

    Regards

    Garry

  4. #94
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Sydney between denial & paranoia
    Posts
    88

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Garry Edwards View Post
    Mal

    I have acquired a Hercus 260ATM ex TAFE lathe serial number 17934 painted in a beige colour

    Which TAFE, Gary?

  5. #95
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Camden NSW
    Posts
    75

    Default ATm 260 lathe

    Boris sorry cannot help you out there as the owner had it for several years and bought it of someone who was not in involved with purchase

    Regards

    Garry

  6. #96
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Sydney between denial & paranoia
    Posts
    88

    Default

    No problems, Gary.

    I just thought you might know as I was interested since I'm a TAFE employee.

  7. #97
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    64
    Posts
    221

    Default Three Hercus 9's

    Mal, as discussed over the phone, I have just picked up a model A, 9" with three speed belt pulleys, but only a single speed range on the primary drive (with the motor mounted directly on the back of the drive frame. The motor is the trusty old GMF Cadet, 1HP). Needs restoration, but worth preserving I reckon after I got it home and gave it a good look over. Serial number 2100 (with matching numbers). Painted a dark green, plus a lovely shade of rust in quite a few places!!

    I think you will already have my other two on your register, both 9": model C, serial number VB911, and a model AR serial number 12065F.

    Cheers, Tony

  8. #98
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    Gippsland
    Posts
    1

    Default The long and winding road to ownership...

    This is my first post on this forum and I thought I would share a little info about my Hercus Model A.

    I bought it 4 years ago from a used machinery dealer in Cheltenham. This was the realisation of a dream to own a centre lathe since the time I used one in high school metalwork classes in the early 1980's.

    I had read all sorts of info about what to get when looking for a lathe, but the chinese made Hafco offerings just didn't seem to be what I was looking for.

    While sniffing around on ebay I saw a secondhand Hercus lathe and looked into the name a bit more. I always liked the old school looks of old Myford lathes and Hercus was Australian made! - so this was the brand I went for. I was able to scratch my other nostalgia itch relating to buying things from when we used to make stuff here and not buy imported.

    So - I splashed out on the Hercus Model A (bed serial number A5011, headstock and tailstock number 8860). This was fitted with a half h/p 3 phase McColl motor and associated 3ph cabling. It looked like it came from a factory somewhere and was filthy with grime and chips, but it was mounted on a Hercus stand, with a cupboard at one end and a little open shelving unit at the other, both sitting under the tray intended to catch the chips and cutting lubricant.

    This then sat in the garage for a few years until finally I decided to get it into working order. It now has a VFD and a new 3 phase 1 hp 240 volt motor fitted to it and had quite a bit of cleaning by me. It has multiple layers of thick indifferently applied grey paint over what seems like everything - I suppose that is a new apprentice's job - plenty of paint, and slap it on.

    This brought me to another nostalgic moment - The bed had a metal tag pop riveted to it on the "non-operator" side at the tailstock end, which had the old "Email" name and the lion in a circle logo next to it, as well as an asset number stamped into it. Those old enough to know will recall that Email Ltd was a big Australian company who made air conditioners, fridges, gas meters, stoves etc - which began in Sydney in the early 1920's. It had nothing to do with inboxes, sent items or spam!

    Like all things here though, it wasn't going to last and Email sold off the parts of the business that by the 1990's couldn't compete with imports. This meant that a whole lot of manufacturing tools from these chopped off limbs of Email Ltd became available. It struck a chord with me that these machines and factories turned out tradesmen as well as whitegoods - and the loss of the ability to make those things in Australia can't be a good thing, can it?

    And so the Hercus Model A found it's way from Email Ltd to me, for a quiet time in a shed in the countryside making bits of metal smaller.

    Cheers.

  9. #99
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    13

    Default a kiwi lathe

    I got one! It's a model AR. Number 12199.

    WaysStamp.jpg

    It came with some parts, without others, and picked up some cheeky damage during delivery.
    Curses.jpgDang.jpgOops.jpg

    A new tailstock and nut came from Mal, the tailshaft casting is currently held together with a zip cable tie (seems to hold up OK), and the countershaft bearing yoke was brazed together by my buddy who Knows What He's Doing.

    I've been figuring out what to do and what not to do, I've made some great chips, ground some great tools, and am currently trying to figure out the slack in the headstock / spindle.

    All best )

    Eric

  10. #100
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Sydney between denial & paranoia
    Posts
    88

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Erolgo View Post
    I got one! It's a model AR. Number 12199.

    WaysStamp.jpg

    It came with some parts, without others, and picked up some cheeky damage during delivery.
    Curses.jpgDang.jpgOops.jpg

    A new tailstock and nut came from Mal, the tailshaft casting is currently held together with a zip cable tie (seems to hold up OK), and the countershaft bearing yoke was brazed together by my buddy who Knows What He's Doing.

    I've been figuring out what to do and what not to do, I've made some great chips, ground some great tools, and am currently trying to figure out the slack in the headstock / spindle.

    All best )

    Eric
    Hi Eric,

    She's been abused!!
    Is that the lead screw that's bent in your hand?

  11. #101
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    13

    Default abused

    Sure has. It was rolled off the forklift. Bent all sorts of things including that screw which is actually from the tailstock. The cross-slide screw was also bent, but I managed to straighten that one more or less, using a thumb-locator. The knob was broken off the cross-slide handwheel, but I drilled it out and put in a replacement. The countershaft bearing yoke broke clean in half, but an Engineer friend brazed it back together for me, and it's held up well since then.

    There's quite a bit of wear in the slide ways, and the compound has quite a few gouges out of it from prolonged contact with the chuck, but compared to some other lathes I've seen pictures of, this one is an absolute beauty.

    I managed to get all the slack out of the spindle, see other thread on that. It was a case of tapping the bearing home, as it was too tight on the spindle for the take-up nut to shift it.

    Eric

  12. #102
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Location
    Melbourne Aust
    Posts
    21

    Default Cr11635

    Quote Originally Posted by allterrain50 View Post
    Hi Guys,
    If anyone is willing I would be interested in adding your machine numbers to the website database. It is not my intention to publish this document but it does help me keep track of changes that happened over the years and makes supplying the right generation of part for each individual machine much easier. Apart from this I am curious as to how many are still in circulation. The list I currently have is approaching 2000 machines both living and dead. Please reply by personal message if you don't want your number displayed on the forum.
    Mal
    Australian Metalworking Hobbyist

    G'day Mal,
    spoke to you about a year ago regarding a Sheraton of Melbourn 9 lathe I bought.
    Well I bought a Hercus 9 as well now, serial no CR11635
    Hope to restore both of them .

    Darren

  13. #103
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Murray Bridge S Aust.
    Age
    71
    Posts
    5,942

    Default

    Welcome to a TOP FORUM Darren.
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  14. #104
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Location
    Leichhardt NSW
    Posts
    42

    Default Hercus A #5408

    I'll add my newly purchased Hercus A to the list. It is a 1956 model that, according to the tags, spent most of its working life in the navy, specifically at RANRL (RAN Research Labs, here in Sydney). After RANRL was closed in 1988 it went to one of the guys working there, then to a mate (also Navy, also a machinist), and now to me. It looks in good shape, and well looked after, but I have no idea of how much wear it has. It's going to be fun finding out. Hooray!

    A quick motor change coming up, some new belts, then we'll see where we're at...
    Attached Images Attached Images

  15. #105
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    64
    Posts
    221

    Default

    Welcome Mark. Plenty of assistance on the forum. Keep the photos coming!
    Happy swarf making.
    Cheers, Tony

    Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk

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