Hardinge Engine Lathe

The Hardinge is a versatile and accurate lathe with user friendly controls. Draw-in collets are used frequently on this lathe to hold the parts being machined, allowing very small pieces of bar stock to be worked on. There is a complete set of collets from 3/64" to 1-1/16" in the base of the lathe. Most of the controls are similar those on the LeBlond, like the handwheels, table lock, and half-nut lever. The list of controls below will discuss only those that function differently from those on the LeBlond.

THE CONTROLS

POWER FEED
These two levers control the carriage power feed, one for the longitudinal direction, the other for cross-feed. The handles only turn the drive on and off, the direction is controlled by another switch.

HIGH/LOW RANGE
The Hardinge has high and low range speeds which can be selected with a lever. Higher speeds are attainable in high range but the low range has more power for machining hard material. The lever also stops the motor.

RPM SELECTOR
Unlike the Leblond lathe the Hardinge uses two buttons to adjust the speed of the spindle, one to increase the speed, the other to decrease it. The machine must be running to change the speed.

BRAKE ON/OFF
This lathe gives the option of letting the spindle coast to a stop or automatically engage a brake when the motor stops turning.

SPINDLE LOCK
When this button is pulled out the spindle will be locked, pushing the button in will release the lock.

COLLET HANDLEVER
Collets, after threading them onto the drawbar in the spindle, can be opened by pulling this lever or closed by pushing it.

CARRIAGE STOP
Although the carriage stop is not a control it is an important accessory on the lathe. The stop can be locked down on the bed to stop the carriage at a predetermined point, which can be very useful when turning down the diameter of a part for a particular length.