Thread: Hendey 12 X 30 lathe

Hi All

Does anyone know of these lathes ? Apparently, they are considered to be high quality machines . One was sold here on Ebay recently , a 1940's era 12 X 30 model with geared head .

Mike

High quality is a subjective term...

In any case on a machine that is probably 70 years old it matters not what sort of quality it was when new, as 70 years is a lot of time to wear it out...

American made and yes good quality from new. They have a following in the US and there was a lot made! I think I have seen it written somewhere they were even exported to Germany kinda makes you thing if they were sold in the heart of quality engineering they had to be good

looks built like a brick S-house to

oh I think the 12x30 models were marketed for tool room use

OK

Been reading up on these . They have a unique power traverse system. You can independantly have the cross and side feeds moving under power together .

And , no threading chase dial is needed , they use a reversing idea , god knows how it works .

These things cost $5000 when new in the 1940's

No expense spared in the manufacturing . Even the apron hand wheel runs in a little ball thrust bearing .

There is a little pump inside the gearbox that lubricates the spindle bearings

And a clutch is fitted to the gearbox input .



mike

Yeah I always wondered why more makers didnt make both long and cross feeds independent, The Hardinge tool room lathes had this feature and when they were both engaged the tool moves in 60deg motion so you can true a dead center

Originally Posted by morrisman

And , no threading chase dial is needed , they use a reversing idea , god knows how it works .

Hi Mike,
One of these days I'm going to have a go at making one of those. If I understand it correctly all you need is a single tooth dog clutch that is spinning 1:1 with the spindle(well two clutches, one for forward and one for reverse). If it only has one tooth it cant pick up incorrectly.

Interesting goose neck in the compound slide feedscrew.

Stuart

thanks Stuart I just got my head around that working

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Hi Mike,
One of these days I'm going to have a go at making one of those. If I understand it correctly all you need is a single tooth dog clutch that is spinning 1:1 with the spindle(well two clutches, one for forward and one for reverse). If it only has one tooth it cant pick up incorrectly.

Exactly right. That's what my Monarch CY lathe has. I love it, not only can you not bugger up the thread by engaging in the wrong place, you can also screw-cut at relatively insane speeds because there's also a settable stop that cams the dog clutch out of engagement. No more worrying about crashing into a shoulder or the end of the blind hole.

The stops also work for turning so you can put on a long or fine cut & bugger off to do something else.

PDW

The single tooth dog clutch is wonderful - I find that for shorter threads it's quicker to use that than engage and disengage the 1/2 nuts.
I think that Martin Cleeve in the workshop practice series book on screw cutting modified his Myford to have the single tooth arrangement. It was before CNC but from reading the book it sounds like he was using his Myford to do commercial screw cutting work with that set up.

Michael