My buddy just scored a 1940-150's Hardinge Lathe with a BUNCH of tooling.....anyone know about these things??

There a good lathe, we have a few of them at work. If you need parts heres the number. Hardinge Bros. Inc. Elmira, NY 800-843-8801

The Hardinges we had in the shop I worked in during the 70's-early 80's were used for simple second operation machining or light turret lathe piece-part manufacturing. The Hardinges I recall were equipped with turrets and did not have lead screws for single-point threading, therefore they aren't the best machine for your garage shop. They were intended for light production machining, therefore you cut external threads with a die head (Geometric, etc) with replaceable chasers for different diameters and pitches. You tapped using a floating tap holder. They worked great for turning using a roll or balance turning tool. Great little conventional turret lathe for the small production shop! Hope this helps.

You have to know which model you're looking at. The one that made Hardinge famous was the HLV-H. I've never used one, but they're widely regarded as toolroom Cadillacs, especially for threading. They're for smallish close-tolerance parts and are not meant for heavy roughing like a Lodge or Monarch or LeBlond. Many people would compare them to the also-famous Monarch 10EE toolroom lathe.

Hardinge made a bunch of different models that went all the way from essentially a stripped down polishing lathe (dsm-59, for example) to second operation machines with turrets, all the way up to the HLV-H.

There is also a HLV-B (or something like that) that resembles the HLV-H without threading....and worth a lot less as a result.

HLV-Hs are all over eBay, some go for $20k.

its definately a toolroom lathe ill get some pics of it....