Hendey Tool & Gage Restoration

jwearing · Oct 27, 2018

Today I picked up my Hendey Tool & Gage Lathe, #30757. I spotted this on our local Craigslist last week, the seller had been planning to restore it but decided to sell due to moving out of state. It's in pretty rough shape but the price was right. I have been looking for an upgrade for my Southbend 10L and this will be perfect.

Unfortunately the front doors are missing, it does have the side and rear doors, and taper attachment. The tailstock is not in the photos but it's there, also got a 3-jaw chuck, face plate, couple other things. It did not come with a steady or a follower.

There are a few missing gear teeth somewhere in the apron, and most of the knobs are frozen solid. There is some wear on the ways - I'd guess 0.010-0.020 but I'll know better after I get it cleaned up. This is going to be a huge project, but I'm looking forward to it.

If anyone is parting a T&G, please PM me, there will be a few things I'll need.

Hendeyman, I will be very grateful if you can give me any information about my machine. Thank you!

jwearing · Oct 27, 2018

Last weekend when I first saw the lathe I was disappointed it was missing the steady rest, because I knew it would be hard to find. And the followers are unobtainable. But I left the deposit, went home, and searched ebay for "hendey". And what do you know...

It was definitely premature to buy these given the condition of my machine, but I knew it was my only chance. Totally lucky actually... hopefully I can get the machine running and get my money's worth from these.

Anyone want measurements or anything? I might consider doing a run at Cattail foundry at some point, if it's feasible to use an original as a pattern.

SIP6A · Oct 27, 2018

Did you get a tailstock with it?

M.Latham · Oct 28, 2018

I can send you the door to the piv drive, and if you need other piv parts I can see what I have. PM me an address and I'll send it out.

Mark

Paolo_MD · Oct 28, 2018

MY suggestion is that, before accumulating spare parts to fix it, make sure that it is worth fixing it and not better used as part donor itself. Check if all the gears are sound, if the apron is in good shape and everything inside there works fine, check the actual wear on the ways, etc.

I understand that you live in a machinery desert. But, sometimes, it makes more sense to buy a second machine sight unseen from far away and have it shipped to your place overall for less than what you would invest in trying to fox this one (it's true that this model is not extremely popular. But, especially because of this, think twice, before investing too much into it.

Paolo

JBoogie · Oct 28, 2018

.010-.020 wear on the ways!?!?!?

jwearing · Oct 28, 2018

SIP6A said:
Did you get a tailstock with it?

Yes, I took it off for the move and forgot to put it back for the photos.

M.Latham said:
I can send you the door to the piv drive, and if you need other piv parts I can see what I have. PM me an address and I'll send it out.

Mark

That is very generous, thanks for the offer. Do you mean the cover to the PIV itself? In that case I do have it already. Not sure why it had been removed though, so I expect I might need some spare parts eventually.

JBoogie said:
.010-.020 wear on the ways!?!?!?

I just measured and the wear is about .003. I guess I'm pretty bad at estimating wear by eye.

Most of the black grime is scraping right off of the metal surfaces. There is a little rust but it's not that bad.

jwearing · Oct 29, 2018

I dug in a little bit today. Overall the rust and wear is not too bad, my Southbend was worse. There is grime and petrified grease everywhere.

The pinion is missing three teeth, as I had expected. The halfnut is a little worn but not too bad. I made the mistake of pulling the pinion stud without marking it first - didn't realize until later it was on an eccentric. It was probably due for readjustment anyways.

Doozer · Nov 1, 2018

If you decide to scrap it
I would like to buy your steady
and follower rests.

-Doozer

thermite · Nov 1, 2018

Doozer said:
If you decide to scrap it
I would like to buy your steady
and follower rests.

-Doozer

?? "If he decides to scrap it", lots of folks would be happy to take the whole shebang, and not all that cheaply.

Not that I see any reason it is even a candidate for "scrap" to begin with.

Probably the closest "stateside" competitor as ever was to a Monarch 10EE that actually SHIPPED in any quantity.

M.B. Naegle · Nov 1, 2018

Doesn't look like to big of a project. Even worn out, it'll have better rigidity than a South Bend. I'd prefer to find an old Hendey T&G lathe than a Monarch, but I have weird taste too.

jwearing · Nov 1, 2018

Thanks, Thermite. Yeah I'm not scrapping it, or parting it out. Internally it is in pretty good shape (other than the pinion). I have been inside the gearbox and headstock and inspected every gear. Almost everything is moving now. And there isn't much rust -- at least not where it counts. It's just dirty.

thermite · Nov 1, 2018

M.B. Naegle said:
I'd prefer to find an old Hendey T&G lathe than a Monarch, but I have weird taste too.

Warsh your mouth out with brown laundry soap for even putting that Iron-deficient hobby-noodle on the same page as ANY Hendey!

Otherwise, yah. I even BOWED to the first one I set eyes on. Ask TRboatworks!

So not exactly "weird taste". You might simply be queer for PIV drives?

shapeaholic · Nov 3, 2018

Been there done that

I'm not sure how far along the line hendey started to use hardened bedways, but I can tell you from experience rebuilding my T&G that if they are hardened the only way to go is bed grinding.
My lathe was worn considerably, and also had a small twist. This necessitated removing 0.032 (aprox).

Once the bed was done, considerable work also had to be done on the carriage, as it had worn more on the front headstock side. After machining I used probably 0.50-0.60" of moglice to bring the carriage back to correct height so that I didn't have to mess with leadscrew or feed rod alignment.

Overall it took me about 3 years of part time work to get mine where it is now. Quite a bit of time was spent reviving the original magnetic amplifier drive. (Success due in large part to Cal Haines, on the monarch board)

It is a great lathe, but if I was to put in that much effort again I'd look for a monarch 10ee, as tooling and parts are much more available.

Peter

thermite · Nov 3, 2018

shapeaholic said:
It is a great lathe, but if I was to put in that much effort again I'd look for a monarch 10ee, as tooling and parts are much more available.

I have a growing collection of ex-Hardinge-system tooling, most of which needs jacked-up for 10EE use.

I'd surmise it would be closer to a drop-on with the slightly lesser swing Hendey T&G. Might want to see if any of it catches your fancy. Short ton of it around, and not ALL of it is junk, over-priced, or BOTH!

browniesharp · Nov 3, 2018

I wouldn’t be discouraged by that .003 bed wear. My Hendey T&G was acquired at a tag sale held in a local tool and die shop which was closing down. Many people at the sale felt the “ridge” on the front way by the headstock and walked away. When it was cleaned up and leveled, I turned a piece of 12L14 and found about a 4 tenths taper over 8 inches. I don’t recall the exact wear but probably similar to your 3 thousands. The long contact distance of the carriage on the bed must be responsible for the minimum taper.

thermite · Nov 3, 2018

browniesharp said:
I wouldn’t be discouraged by that .003 bed wear. My Hendey T&G was acquired at a tag sale held in a local tool and die shop which was closing down. Many people at the sale felt the “ridge” on the front way by the headstock and walked away. When it was cleaned up and leveled, I turned a piece of 12L14 and found about a 4 tenths taper over 8 inches. I don’t recall the exact wear but probably similar to your 3 thousands. The long contact distance of the carriage on the bed must be responsible for the minimum taper.

Got waay more wear than that here, each 10EE.

I want to fix it, but don't HAVE to. A bearing fit is seldom even a full inch long.

And it IS those long lever-arm, even-wearing carriage lengths. Carriage is about two inches longer on a 10 X 20 10EE than the 20" inches it can traverse. A portion of the ways never sees daylight from new until the carriage comes back off for rework.

A wide carriage is one of the most reliable tell-tale signs any of the "Grand-old" high-grade lathes were built to hold their numbers longer than lessers would.

maynah · Nov 3, 2018

shapeaholic said:
It is a great lathe, but if I was to put in that much effort again I'd look for a monarch 10ee, as tooling and parts are much more available.

Peter

I think Hendeyman told me were probably less than 400 T&Gs made, including the BCs.
So parts are a little scarce, but so much more satisfying when you find them.

thermite · Nov 4, 2018

maynah said:
I think Hendeyman told me were probably less than 400 T&Gs made, including the BCs.
So parts are a little scarce, but so much more satisfying when you find them.

That isn't far off the combined count of the "big" Schaublin's totals - all sizes in that sub-tribe counted as rare, some just more so than others.

jwearing · Nov 4, 2018

shapeaholic said:
I'm not sure how far along the line hendey started to use hardened bedways, but I can tell you from experience rebuilding my T&G that if they are hardened the only way to go is bed grinding.
My lathe was worn considerably, and also had a small twist. This necessitated removing 0.032 (aprox).

Once the bed was done, considerable work also had to be done on the carriage, as it had worn more on the front headstock side. After machining I used probably 0.50-0.60" of moglice to bring the carriage back to correct height so that I didn't have to mess with leadscrew or feed rod alignment.

Overall it took me about 3 years of part time work to get mine where it is now. Quite a bit of time was spent reviving the original magnetic amplifier drive. (Success due in large part to Cal Haines, on the monarch board)

It is a great lathe, but if I was to put in that much effort again I'd look for a monarch 10ee, as tooling and parts are much more available.

Peter

Big project! I had my eye out for a 10ee for the same reason, but I wasn't going to pass on the T&G once I found it.

To be honest I am glad I have the PIV drive. I'm sure the electrical drives are great, but it seems very complicated. Maybe I'll change my mind after I open this PIV.

browniesharp said:
I wouldn’t be discouraged by that .003 bed wear. My Hendey T&G was acquired at a tag sale held in a local tool and die shop which was closing down. Many people at the sale felt the “ridge” on the front way by the headstock and walked away. When it was cleaned up and leveled, I turned a piece of 12L14 and found about a 4 tenths taper over 8 inches. I don’t recall the exact wear but probably similar to your 3 thousands. The long contact distance of the carriage on the bed must be responsible for the minimum taper.

I think I will get the lathe cleaned up, repaired, lubed, and repainted first. I'll save the regrind for last, and maybe skip it altogether if it performs well enough.

maynah said:
I think Hendeyman told me were probably less than 400 T&Gs made, including the BCs.
So parts are a little scarce, but so much more satisfying when you find them.

I wonder how many of those 400 are still around...

Hendey Tool & Gage Restoration

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