Thread: Hamilco - Taiwanese lathe spare parts

G'day All

Have exhausted my wife's internet knowledge to try to find where I might be able to find a top slide for my hamilco precision bench lathe and wonder if anyone has any idea where i could look. It looks like whoever I bought it from tried to fix it at one time by welding it and that didn't work.
Thanks for any advice.

Regards,

doubt you will find parts, you will have to repair what you have or make your own replacement

Never heard of Hamilco, I assume they're one of the numerous older 'brands' selling Taiwanese gear who are now defunct? Precision bench lathe covers rather a range of sizes, which makes it hard to be particularly helpful. A photo and a size might help someone come up with something.

But Hare and Forbes sell parts for their lathes, and at some point in time I've definitely seen listed on their site a top slide assembly at least for a 12x36 machine (AL336 or 335, which I now can't find).

Thus, failing any other options, might be worth taking some careful measurements, and wandering around their showroom measuring to see if anything will fit (most likely a whole top slide assembly to bolt to the cross slide), or you can modify to fit with whatever other tools you have. If you do find something, it's just then a question of whether they'll actually order the spare part for you...

Chances are pretty good if it's a more recent machine, as they tend to churn these things out in many factories across both China and Taiwan with minor differences from year to year, meaning a fair few things are interchangeable. If it's from say the 80s, you may or may not get lucky, as they seem to have updated most of the castings and features from that era...

I have recently seen smaller ones available on AliExpress, maybe contact them for a larger one.
If not there are some good welders and machinist out there

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Originally Posted by Jekyll and Hyde

... A photo and a size might help someone come up with something.

Will certainly help identify what may fit.

Michael

This a link to lathes UK,
A look through the following might yield a similar look, lathe.
Somewhere to start from perhaps. A look alike with a different name.?

Taiwanese Lathes by Brazier's Lantaine, Romac, Enco, Wey II Corp, Warco, Peerless, Kin Shin, Carolina with Models: 1122, 1124, 1224, 1236, 1340 & 1327 Lathes

When I read this thread I recognised the "Hamilco" brand so went to my shed and took photos of the Hamilco hacksaw I have. Doesn't help with getting parts as I bought it secondhand so dealer or agent is unknown.Hamilco hacksaw plate.jpgHamilco hacksaw .jpg

Originally Posted by Jekyll and Hyde

Hare and Forbes sell parts for their lathes, and at some point in time I've definitely seen listed on their site a top slide assembly at least for a 12x36 machine (AL336 or 335, which I now can't find).

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/2LX5102

1_Rear-View_1516070114.jpg2_Side-View.jpg

Originally Posted by nigelpearson

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/2LX5102

1_Rear-View_1516070114.jpg2_Side-View.jpg

That cross slide didn't show up the other day for some reason, quite reasonably priced really.

But what I'd seen before was an entire top slide (compound slide) assembly for about $400 - from memory base, slide, and I think gib and handwheels as well. I remember looking at it before I started scraping the one on my AL335, and thinking that would be the cost of failure....

Originally Posted by Michael G

Will certainly help identify what may fit.

Michael

The sizes on this item are 25mm spigot, the top slide is 75mm x 136mm long, the swivel outer base is 108mm and the center to center holes are 91mm. Will try to get to Forbes and Hare to see what they have. Tried to contact a Taiwanese company that manufacturers lathes of a similar size without a response todate. Might try to make something myself if all else fails. IMG_7328[1].jpgIMG_7331[1].jpgIMG_7329[1].jpgIMG_7332[1].jpgIMG_7333[1].jpg

Originally Posted by Barry Bennett

The sizes on this item are 25mm spigot, the top slide is 75mm x 136mm long, the swivel outer base is 108mm and the center to center holes are 91mm. Will try to get to Forbes and Hare to see what they have. Tried to contact a Taiwanese company that manufacturers lathes of a similar size without a response todate. Might try to make something myself if all else fails.

That seems like it'll be very close to the dimensions of the AL335 assembly. Unfortunately I no longer have mine to measure, so I'm eyeballing off the photos from when I scraped it vs my vice jaws and the length of the straight edge I made. Looks like the centre boss would need turning down (easy enough by jury rigging a toolpost), but the other dimensions should be close.

I did manage to dig through my browser history and find the part, but it's no longer listed at all on H&F site. The 'wayback machine' does show that it was $451 (inc) back in August 2020 though. (https://web.archive.org/web/20200814...com.au/2lf9991)

The Tools4Industry shadow site just says 'no longer available'. (https://www.t4i.com.au/2LF9991)

But perhaps you might get somewhere with that order code (2LF9991) anyway if you're persistent (and assuming someone measures their AL335 for you to confirm it's correct, as H&F haven't sold the AL335 for some time). I'd take a guess that the AL336 is fairly likely to use almost exactly the same slide, but I wouldn't be game to put any money on it...

Another option might be from Grizzly in the US - for example, these spare parts for their G4003 (12x36 lathe, similar to AL335/336 but with the Norton style QCGB):

https://www.grizzly.com/parts/grizzl...?op=P4003G0644
https://www.grizzly.com/parts/grizzl...est/p4003g0603

They seem to carry or get spares for most of their models, and I believe are fairly helpful, so might be prepared to measure some up for you? They have a few machines around the 12x36 class, which might have slightly different compound assemblies...

I just came across this and remembered this thread.

If I'm reading it right it comes with
Complete compound
Toolpost
3x tool holders
for $450

You could sell the toolpost and holders and that would be at least half the money back or more.

Give them a ring, they might work you a deal.

https://assetplant.com.au/product/sp...-tool-holders/

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