Hercus 260 lathe

[speedy]

My son is looking at purchasing a Hercus 260 belt drive lathe from a mate. I had a looksee at it the other day and it is so much like a scaled down version of my old Lantaine that it occured to me that it may be an Asian manufactured machine.
Did the asians clone the Hercus, is Hercus cloning the Asian machines or is Hercus sourcing from Asia ?

[matador]

Hi ya,Ken.There are 3 Hercus 260 lathes on "trade me" at the mo,from Kerikeri high school.Up to around the $1000 mark right now.
I thought the Hercus were Australian Southbend clones.Or am I getting confused with another brand?
Anyway,the Hercus 260 looks quite a useful lathe.If it is a southbend clone,parts shouldn't be too much of a problem.
I don't think the Asian makers would bother to clone a Hercus.That name just isn't famous enough.
Since you have sold your Lantaine,what do you have now?I'm still very happy with my Taiwanese "Lantaine".I've only just discovered how to do screwcutting on it!Yeehah.Regards from a rapidly cooling south island.

[speedy]

Hello Hans. Yes I had a look at those and asked a couple of questions but I believe that the person doesn`t know much about lathes. I would be bidding on an unknown quantity and it is too far/too late to check out before hand. Lets see what happens though.
I`ll drop you a line later .

[wbleeker]

Hi Ken
How are you going?
I have seen a few of the 260's around and think they look a bit Taiwanish too, but I don't think Hercus will admit to it.
But they do look like they are well enough built for home use.
Will

[speedy]

Gidday Will. Yes everything is ticking over reasonably smoothly.
Have you moved yet and if so how is it panning out?
I had a go at the lathes with instructions from my son. I had a top bid ceiling of $1600 but went a tad further; pulled out at $1800.
According to the specs they weigh in at 155kg which is still 100kg lighter than the Lantaine short bed. My old Lantaine long bed topped out at 300kg.
The 260 looks like a nice enough unit but there is not much mass there at 155. So I`m still looking.

[wbleeker]

Hi Ken
No we haven't moved yet I only went to town today and paid 5% of the new house price to get it all approved by council etc, which should take about 6 to 8 weeks. Then this afternoon I went to find and organize a new shed, it is going to be a step backwards going from 18m by 30 m down to 12m by 15 m but hopefully I won't take as much crap with me!
We will be leaving here on the 1st of June for our annual holiday which this year takes in Singapore, England, Nottingham England, Crete, Santorini, Nottingham , Cairo and the Nile and then Singapore on the way home again. So hopefully by the time we get back everything shoud be ready to go and then just hinge on the sale of our farm.
Will

[Alan in Oz]

I visited the Hercus facility in Adelaide around 8-10 years ago and got a quick tour of what remained at the time, they had about 4-6 castings for the 260 remaining, which the fellow mentioned were cast offshore in an attempt to remain competative. When these were sold however there were to be no more as the cost of producing lathes in Oz too high to compete with similar size imports.

[speedy]

Yes Will, the local council is always ready to assist and offer a helping hand; right into your wallet . It cost me the best part of $600 to get the OK for my deck roofs, that was at least 20% of the total build cost.... grumble, grumble mutter.
All that touring, what a miserable life. Don`t you go getting lost on your walkabout will you?
Thanks for that input Alan. It confirms my suspicion. Were they sourcing the complete lathe or just the headstock? I hope that all is well with you mate. It was a shame about the Anzac test don`t you think?

[Alan in Oz]

Mate, didn't know about the Anzac test, but I heard something about a beach and not much sun protection. They were castings only, gears etc made in house. I'm currently in my not so favourite location but due back in Oz next week. Need some workshop time to readjust. All the best.

[aostling]

Gidday Will. Yes everything is ticking over reasonably smoothly.
So I`m still looking.

Can you please translate your Maori signature phrase? I recognize nui as being "big", the rest is Greek to me.

I lived in Wellington, 1971-78. Is that where you are from too?