HES lathes

I think it's app. 50 pages long and as in your case.. Non standard pages.. 3 x A4 next to eachother.. Could give trouble copying it.
Will keep looking!
Søren

Hello Larry,

Congrats on the machine. I have been looking for on myself. I use to run a HES 16. The rapid is a very nice feature. They also make threading easy. I ran that lathe when I was 16-20 years old.

One word of caution about the rapid lever. Befor you use it disaseemble it and make sure no chips have gotten in over the years. My boss and I got very good with the rapid and could rapid to within .5 of the part. One day his rapid stuck and the spindle was running 2000 rpm. It slammed in the chuck torn off one of the 3 jaws and sent it 16 ft up in the ceilng where it stuck. Thank goodness no one was hurt. The crash did not move the head stock at all when we checked the alignment. The impact was taken by the scroll plate in the chuck. It sheared 2 of the scrolls off and the remander came off the jaw. We had to replace the scroll, the kennametal tool holder and his underwear but that was the only damage.

I am watching for either a machine like yours or bigger or a clausing like I use to run. I need a large thru hole.

Enjoy your machine.

Regards
Don

What was wrong with his underwear?

With the amount of kinetic energy stored in that system when the toolpost hit, it is amazing that the machine didn't suffer more damage. Wow.

Hi Larry!
How's going on getting the manuals?

Just digged' deeper today, and found a set with A3 format, but still in french! But with fully exploded mechanical views, and detailed electrical as well! Talked to an old colleague of mine, who recently bought a 435'er, at work, loaded with extras.. Wish I had the room and money for that ;-(
Anyway, he told me that all of his documentation was in both french and danish. Maybe I could make a list of expressions and translate them if needed (maybe a coop between Nguyen and me?)
Søren

Soren,
I recieved an e-mail from K and D today with the UPS tracking # for the manual. He paid the freight and knocked $5 off the price. I think it would be great reading a manual translated from two distinct languages into a third. Thanks again.
Don,
Mal's Machine Tool in Bristol, CT has a 16x75 with the rapid traverse feature. Howard Waxler quoted a "back to school special price of $4250." He has a tracer attachment for this lathe as well. According to Howard the tracer is not terribly intrusive. I'm not clear on this but I gathered that the change from tracer to manual is quick and easy OR the manual controls are always useable. I had agreed to buy another Cholet 435 by this time and didn't ask for particulars. A dealer down in the Carolinas has a Cholet C435 for sale. The C model variant has no provision for thread cutting. There is a variable pulley and two or three gear ranges. The machine that Mal's has is '76 vintage with a 2.125 spindle bore. I think the machine in the Carolinas was a '78. I'm guessing the C model was ordered when tracing was the work at hand. Just glancing at the C model made me think it a likely candidate for a CNC retrofit.
Thank you Gentlemen.
Larry

Hi Larry!
Not sure what the question you were talking about in the UMA thread.. Please be more specific!
PS. Just kiddin' about the wife.. She laughed wenn she heard about your answer to me...
Søren

I have a HES 550, and have a few questions about it. hopefully you can help. Can the throat of the unit be enlarged? It only accepts 2.5 IN material now, I need to hopefully get it to accept up to 5 IN. Also, was this unit designed to be able to do taper threading? I'm not seeing any mounting holes on the carriage for a taper attachment. Does anyone know where to get a taper attachment for one of these machines?

does the available literature for the 550 have diagrams, or listings of what additional tooling attachments were available for them? I also have a HES copier but am not sure if it is all there. Any help would be appreciated.

I would like to upgrade my chuck to camlock. Can someone help me identify spindle nose on HES AC280? When i check at french manual it looks like Type L but measurements are smaller then L00.

Thanks in advance!