[MBX5]

Looking into some live tooling machines....what's the difference between Conquest vs Talent vs Elite besides age? Is quality better with one over another?

[Tolyatti]

We have an Elite 27 (Main, sub, C on both, X, (no Y) upper turret with live tooling) and it has a couple of shortcomings that may or may not be an issue depending on what you're doing with it:
1. According to Sauter's service department, their turret indexer is not designed for the torque demands found on this machine. We have tripped the clutch a number of times, and the cure for that was to turn down the indexing speed below Hardinge factory settings.
2. The sub spindle motor is enclosed and completely without cooling, and although Hardinge doesn't advertise this fact, it WILL overheat if you run it synced with the main spindle for more than a few minutes. The only reference to this is a line in the Programming Manual which says that M32 is used only for part transfer. No other details, no warnings, but if you need both spindles synced, this isn't the machine for you.
The Conquest 42 is a much more robust machine, but then it's a very different configuration from the Elite series.

[Machineit]

I don't pretend to kinow that much about Hardinge lathes. I have my little CHNC 1 that keeps me making parts, but if I were looking for another right now, I would sure look seriously at this one. It is a sweet looking machine.

Mike

Hardinge Conquest 42 | eBay