Hardinge dividing head

[1smalljohnson]

For those of you who followed my prior post regarding my Hardinge dividing head and how I managed to break the lock-ring...well, I'll not go into it again. I re-diagnosed the thing, and YES, sure enough, I broke the lock ring which surrounds the turning spindle.

I'm looking for assistance in how to disassemble the unit in order to get to that lock ring. I've got a schematic and a parts list, but that ain't cutting it so far. It seems I might need a 2" spanner wrench to unscrew a spanner nut on the tail end of this unit, whereby it appears the rear bearing set can then be slid out.

I may call Hardinge today to see if I can find a "Royal Smart Person" to assist this stupid, ignorant poor excuse for an air-breathing organism...

Any other advice out there???

[Jim Caudill]

The 3rd Hand section doesn't get the visibility that the general section does. You might want to repeat your post there. Also, consider making your request in the Bridgeport Hardinge sub-section over at PM, they have a broader base of Hardinge participants.

The dividing head is not very well known. I have owned 2 of them (1 currently) and probably made the drawing available that you have. I belong to the Hardinge Group on Yahoo for the lathes, and doubt that they would be able to offer much help. I also doubt that the Hardinge factory would have anyone that could tell you anything regarding the disassembly of that head. They haven't really supported that head for years, and with all the changes the factory has gone thru, I doubt if anyone is left that knows much about the old products.

About 6 years ago I called them for help with my HC (chucker) lathe (hotrod model) and they couldn't even figure out the year of manufacture, nor what it would look like (in terms of drive motor and features). They thought it must be a very early model, and yet the carriage feature and drive motor suggested it was much later in the series.

You might want to join the Hardinge Mill Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hardinge-Mill/

The dividing head was really a horizontal mill accessory. I have one of the bed-plates that the dividing head and tailstock could be attached and then the entire assembly placed on a mill. The mill folks probably regard the dividing head as a "mill accessory" and are much more likely to own(ed) one than the lathe folks.