I Finally Bought A New Lathe - Hafco Al 250G

G'day everyone,

I finally bought a new lathe to replace the old 7x14 mini lathe (Sieg C3). I wasn't planning on replacing the old lathe for another 1 or 2 years, especially after adding the big 3HP motor to it. But it still struggled to machine large diameter bar stock, which is something that I needed to do for an upcoming project. With that in mind, I decided to replace the lathe.

I've bought a Hafco Al250 G. The total cost was just under $2700 Aud. It was on sale due to end of financial year sales, but it normally retails close to $3000.

It is marginally bigger than the old Sieg, its a 250 x 500 lathe, but it is much heavier and solid. About 4 times an heavy. It is comparable to a Sieg SC6 or a Precision Matthews PM1022v. However this has the advantage of having a geared headstock spindle and a proper gearbox for the headstock and leadscrew. Which means no gear changes. This also gives the added benefit of giving the spindle a mechanical advantage when running speeds lower than 1400 rpm.

The lathe also has hardened ways, which is an improvement over the old lathe. It has a much larger chuck and carriage, which should help increase rigidity when doing large work. I also think that at this size its no longer a mini lathe, rather it is a bench lathe.

Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
2:04 - Unboxing and getting the lathe up onto the workbench
5:04 - General Overview & Power feed
10:08 - Power feed and Spindle Gearbox
13:18 - Chuck, Electronics and Backsplash
17:09 - First Test Cuts
19:59 - Run Out and Chuck Cleaning
22:11 - Test Cuts in 42mm Steel

#machining #lathe #newmachineday

New Lathe Day

Hafco Al 250g

[j.dietrich]

A tip for anyone who needs to move pallets over grass: if you lay a ladder on the ground and grease up the stiles, you can easily slide a several hundred kilo pallet across it by hand. With two ladders, you can build a kind of crude railway, sliding the pallet from one to the other in a leapfrog fashion.

[fakerfake]

It’s so awesome getting to watch you grow in your machining capabilities! I remember starting out I had a little grizzly lathe and an angle grinder in my parents garage, and now I’ve got 4 full size manual lathes, 2 CNC lathes, 3 manual mills, 4 CNC mills (one of which is horizontal), several surface grinders, heat treat equipment, and much more. It’s just so cool watching others get to expand their machines and abilities as well.

[randyshoquist]

Turning between centers can be a very useful method. You don't need to switch the chuck out for the faceplate and M4 center. Just put a piece of round stock in the chuck and turn a 60° point, and drive the dog with a chuck jaw. I keep such a shop made center and give it a skim cut to true it up every time I use it, so it's always perfect. I made a parallel clamp style dog that fits anything from tiny to about 70mm so I don't need a whole set of dogs.

[merlinpearson]

that intro had such This Old Tony energy, I love it

[MichaelKJohnson]

Consider some neodymium magnets in the gear sump to catch chips. It doesn't take much to take out the spindle bearings. If you have a oil drip channel going to the bearings put a few very small magnets in it.

[doingstufforatleasttrying]

Great video, I cried when you cut those wires to the safety switch. I would have loosened both terminals and moved the one wire to the other and tightened the screws again and put it back in. BASICALLY BOTH WIRES ON 1 TERMINAL.This way if you needed to return it back it would only take a few seconds and nothing gets cut. I’m sorry, it’s my OCD KICKING IN. GREAT VIDEO.ENJOY THE NEW TOY.

[hillonwheels]

The paint on the gear was probably used to check gear mesh. I used paint to check the mesh on the ring and pinion on my truck when I rebuilt it. I want this lathe and will be getting one once I get my shop set up. Looks to be easier to set up and get going then the mini lathe which works for me. Looking forward to seeing you useing this to make some cool stuff.

[NBERLS]

Hopefully, you will be able to get a four jaw chuck and maybe a collet chuck.

[davidbillington]

Nice purchase and hardened ways this time. There was a multi part article by a guy that had bought a Chinese gear head lathe much like this new one in Model Engineer or similar and he detailed the stripping fettling and re-assembly. He was impressed by the quality and accuracy of the machining but not the assembly, likening the assemblers to monkeys IIRC. One main thing he brought up and I've seen it elsewhere as well, there was still casting sand in the headstock which he thoroughly removed and repainted with oil resistant paint inside. No magnets are going to do anything about loose sand in the headstock if any were to break free.

[campbellmorrison]

I too used to have a mini lathe and it drove me crazy due to almost everything I wanted to do would fit and required so much mucking around to complete anything. I then purchased an old Emco V10p which is a similar size to yours and my life has changed. I was so impressed I then went out and bought a separate mill and that was pure luxury. I'll bet you wont regret your new lathe

[MrBricks]

So glad you bought this, I've been mulling over this purchase for weeks and you've really helped. Thanks!

[julias-shed]

DRO was the best upgrade I did for my lathe after a QCTP speeds up lot. 😀 nice to have a brand new lathe.

[AERuffy]

You didnt need to cut and solder the wires for that switch, just move one over and it would have completed the circuit, or put both terminals on one screw.

[ImolaS]

15 years after selling my old Colchester Student, i went a similar route, small lathe very much like your old one, kept working on it to overcome limitations and finally realised a new, larger lathe was called for. Much the same as yours but with DRO and variable drive (actually the same lathe as Blonihacks uses). never regretted it!! I have a Sanou 160mm 6 jaw chuck with around 10-micron runout on a gauge pin - i tapped it in with DTI and soft blow mallet with the huk mount nuts just tight. Be interested to see the runout on yours after tapping in and the cleaning

[RobertLBarnard]

Excellent points about an old-school geared head vs new-fangled variable DC motor.

Regarding the head "loosening up a little bit", the manufacturer recommended running under no load for 20 minutes. I did that in both directions; 20 minutes each way. But mine's a new-fangled variable DC.

[trevorpom]

The blue paint on the back of the scroll is to check backlash. It doesn't hurt the gearing in any way. It's common to see this in differential gears in cars too for the same reason..

[classicbandgeek]

I like that your videos are crossing into This Old Tony territory

[SlotspeedDigital]

Mate, compared to most of the machining videos on youtube, yours are really good and no BS. Coming from a qualified machinist.

[tonywilson]

*You should reference Stefan Gotteswinters vids on stripping down brand new low cost chucks and how to improve them.*
He gets amazing performance out of them.

[sparkiekosten]

With the chuck using three bolts try moving the chuck into 3 different positions rotating the chuck. Also when you find the best setting try backing of the nuts a little and tapping the chuck in as good as you can. If you are happy with the chuck and it is running as true as you can get don't forget to centre punch the chuck to the back plate so you will always know the best position when removing and reconnecting the chuck!
You probably know this already but it saves a lot of headaches. numbering the jaws to their slots on the chuck will help with removing and reinserting them as well!
Enjoy the clean lathe because it will be the last time it is that clean!