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Thread: Hafco al320g lathe
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19th Sep 2021, 04:12 PM #1Intermediate Member
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Hafco al320g lathe
oil1.jpgoil2.jpgAs a beginner, I decided to have a lathe that is not too small and a better a quality than Chinese lathe. I am not saying Chinese lathe is no good, but general consensus is that Taiwanese or international brand will give better quality assurance even manufactured in their Chinese factory.
Hare and forbes market Hafco as Taiwanese brand and have better quality than Chinese lathe. My brand new AL320G is a bit of disappointing. As I am new to metal work, I do not have any knowledge and experience as to what I should expect. I expect to pay a bit more and getting better quality and support from the retailer.
After receiving the lathe, I am very enthusiastic and ready to make first chip. The carriage is too tight and I cannot crank the handle without using both hands. I have loosened all the stops and gibs however, it is still far too tight.
But making my first cut, the oil glass window become so muddy I have to open up the top and have a look. In the end, I have drained all the oil out and flush with kerosene. I have attached a photo of the oil. This oil is disgusting.
So if I am in the market again, I would probably go for something cheaper and expect to improve it as I go. There is a lot of Youtuber uploading video on how they improve cheap Chinese lathe.
There is also a lot of sand everywhere on the surface of machine, gears, leadscrew, gearbox and ways. I think I may have to disassemble to wash with kerosene.Last edited by davekwok; 19th Sep 2021 at 04:15 PM. Reason: photo is needed
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19th Sep 2021, 04:54 PM #2Diamond Member
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If its brand new, sent it back and ask for a replacement. Its obviously not a correctly functioning product.
They probably won't swap it but they should fix it.
Good luck.
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19th Sep 2021, 05:23 PM #3Diamond Member
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QUOTE 'Hare and forbes market Hafco as Taiwanese brand and have better quality than Chinese lathe.'
No they don't market Hafco as Taiwanese. The Hafco Machinery be it a Lathe or Mill or whatever that is Taiwanese is labelled in their Catalogue and on their Website. Just some examples https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/K007A the AL-320G is Chinese as no Taiwanese label, https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/L237D the AL-960B is Taiwanese as it's labelled as such. In stating the latter I have no affiliation with Hare & Forbes I'm just a happy customer.
I agree with Sterob. I would be contacting Hare & Forbes and get the Lathe sent back as it doesn't function correctly. A lot of people in the past have found casting sand in their gearboxes which is bad enough, but all over the machine that woeful quality control. I bought a Toptech DM-45 Mill some years ago and ended up having a sample of the gearbox oil tested to find out what viscosity it was, the test results came back that it was ISO-68 but also that it was RECYCLED OIL so the dirty oil doesn't surprise me.All The Best steran50 Stewart
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.
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19th Sep 2021, 05:32 PM #4Most Valued Member
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You keep mentioning that that the carriage is too tight to turn hy hand.
Are the half nuts engaged?
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19th Sep 2021, 05:55 PM #5Intermediate Member
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19th Sep 2021, 06:54 PM #6
Hi Guys,
Casting sand under the saddle would cause that effect !
Look for scratches on the ways.Best Regards:
Baron J.
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19th Sep 2021, 08:23 PM #7Most Valued Member
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The best advice I could give you now would be to stop pulling things apart and pick up the phone and ring Machinery House. The more you fiddle, the less likely they are to honour any warranty claim and the less your chances of a successful resolution.
The advantage of paying the price premium that you do when dealing with Machinery House is that they have a presence and reputation to uphold and are generally willing to fix problems. By attempting to fix it yourself, you take away that advantage and might as well buy off Ebay or Aliexpress.
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20th Sep 2021, 08:51 AM #8
H&F products I have a few, a couple of them have been received defective one had handling damage and one had a manufacturing fault(must've had a goon swinging hammers in the keyway assembly section...).
They come to the party on both issues, the keyway issue would have been at considerable cost to them.
I wouldn't call their domestic market products high end as they are far from it but what you get is a tool that functions as described and value for money.....................................................................
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20th Sep 2021, 10:41 PM #9Most Valued Member
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Just to be clear.
You do know there is a carriage lock?(perhaps that is what you mean by "stop"?)
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21st Sep 2021, 01:36 PM #10Member
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More and more it seems almost all Lathes need a good “going over” when brand new.I guess it’s the price we pay, for an affordable product.
My main issue, apart from the time and effort, is the risk to warranty - mentioned in the thread.
EG “If you hadn’t cleaned the sand out, and replaced the recycled oil….. it might not have broken.”
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21st Sep 2021, 09:31 PM #11Most Valued Member
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That's why the ACCC has examples on their Web site concerning warranties.
A company's warranty cannot exclude 'fitness for purpose' claims and they can get themselves a hefty fine for even suggesting that you don't have a claim if in fact you do. Disassembly would not void a warranty claim.
I think most of their products are pretty poor but that's what's available unless you're lucky or prepared to spend a lot of time rebuilding older machinery. So - shrug.
PDW
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21st Sep 2021, 11:00 PM #12Most Valued Member
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They certainly can exclude claims where the end user has either caused damage or caused an out of adjustment condition. In the case that Davekwok has posted about where we have an end user with little to no experience attempting to solve an issue, there is great potential for him to muddy the waters and make any issues worse.
Disassemble your car or even your computer and see how you go getting warranty honoured. The first response should always be to contact the manufacturer/retailer and that is what we would all expect a customer to do in relation to a product that we manufactured.
I am aware or a case where a logging contractor purchased a very expensive processing head for an excavator. This processing head did not perform as he felt it should and he decided to go it alone and rectify what he saw as the issues. He was unable to make the device perform as he felt it should and only then contacted the agent for said processing head. When they sent out their rep to investigate the potential problem, they discovered that their product had been molested by the contractor and their predictable response was to wash their hands of it as they could not be reasonably expected to take responsibility for a disassembled, then reassembled and modified product. At this point the contractor all of a sudden decided that he was unhappy and took the matter to court. He lost. Part of the decision related to the fact that he had not given the manufacturer/agent a reasonable opportunity to rectify any defect/shortcoming and that he had interfered with the product as designed and delivered, thus removing the ability of the court to determine if in fact there had been a manufacturing defect in the first place. Not only did he end up with a very expensive boat anchor, but he was also saddled with a substantial legal bill totalling both his and the defendant's costs.
Hare and Forbes gear is far from top end and we all know that, but it does generally work to an acceptable level out of the box.
With the exception of Milwaukee Power Tools, I've never had any great issue with companies honouring warranties.
lk'
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24th Sep 2021, 09:26 AM #13Intermediate Member
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After contacting Hare and Forbes, they do want to help. After opening up the lockdown, they will send a technician over to have a look. I have flushed out the gearbox oil with kerosene. Now it is refilled with new ISO68 oil. There was a lot of sand in the bottom of the gearbox. While I continue to check on the movement of the carriage, I discover a 12mm damage on the underside of the ways. It is hidden on the inside and would not be detected if I am not looking. It seems that the machine should go back. They also play down the expectation on quality, saying different factory may have different quality and that AL320G is not a $10K machine level of quality.
Anyone can tell me if the grind surface should be in good condition whether is the vertical or underneath surface. I thought it is important because it provide the contact surface for sliding of the carriage, right?
20210924_071220 (002).jpgLast edited by davekwok; 24th Sep 2021 at 09:29 AM. Reason: formatting
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24th Sep 2021, 12:55 PM #14Most Valued Member
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Hard to be certain from the picture where exactly it is.
Based on where I think it is, it locates the tailstock. I would say it will as near to zero effect on function to call it zero.
Did you find the carriage lock?
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24th Sep 2021, 02:14 PM #15Intermediate Member
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20210924_071220 (002).jpg[/QUOTE]
The location of this chip/crack is the middle of the ways but on the other side away from the operator. We are looking up from a lower position as the chip in on the underside of the grind track. As it is the middle, the carriage will be slide across it every time.
The carriage stop is just next to the thread chasing dial. It is not even tightened at all at the moment. The carriage is still hard to slide along the ways.
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