Harrison M300 Lathe

[butchlambert]

A friend of mine is a financial backer for an NHRA Fuel Funny Car team. From time to time, they end up with some billet blocks that can't be repaired and put back into the rotation. They make cool coffee tables for a lounge area. -Al

Over many years Ferrys Machineshop in Mesquite, Tx has made a reputation of repairing destroyed aluminum heads and blocks. The Street Outlaw guys keep them busy. I don't think one can be destroyed enough that John can make it like new.

 

[SKWERLZ]

Over many years Ferrys Machineshop in Mesquite, Tx has made a reputation of repairing destroyed aluminum heads and blocks. The Street Outlaw guys keep them busy. I don't think one can be destroyed enough that John can make it like new.

Pretty big difference between SO and top fuel
They start ripping across the mains structure and/or cam tunnel and you can’t repair them strong enough to hold up safely.



It’s amazing how long they live as is.
A simple detonation fart can corner a block.


Looking into those M300’s they look like a nice lathe.

 

[butchlambert]

Pretty big difference between SO and top fuel
They start ripping across the mains structure and/or cam tunnel and you can’t repair them strong enough to hold up safely.



It’s amazing how long they live as is.
A simple detonation fart can corner a block.


Looking into those M300’s they look like a nice lathe.

I disagree and will leave it at that.

 

[jdh47]

About the 10EE. They are wonderfully precise machines capable of turning out outstanding work, but they do have their limits. They have a small through hole in the spindle. Their electronics is a maze of old-world tube technology that would challenge all but an electrical engineer and those tubes can be expensive and hard to acquire. They weigh quite a lot and are difficult to move, transport and set. Their lead screw is ground and parts are difficult to find and replace. Like all used machinery and high-end firearms, condition is everything. Some people have reconditioned them and hats off to them. They make wonderful works of art and precision. Daryl Bane has a good example.

 

[SKWERLZ]

About the 10EE. They are wonderfully precise machines capable of turning out outstanding work, but they do have their limits. They have a small through hole in the spindle. Their electronics is a maze of old-world tube technology that would challenge all but an electrical engineer and those tubes can be expensive and hard to acquire. They weigh quite a lot and are difficult to move, transport and set. Their lead screw is ground and parts are difficult to find and replace. Like all used machinery and high-end firearms, condition is everything. Some people have reconditioned them and hats off to them. They make wonderful works of art and precision. Daryl Bane has a good example.

As much as I’d love to have one you’re correct and for the $$ you can get a really nice modern lathe.

 

[paperpuncher]

A friend of mine is a financial backer for an NHRA Fuel Funny Car team. From time to time, they end up with some billet blocks that can't be repaired and put back into the rotation. They make cool coffee tables for a lounge area. -Al

At a glance that one looks a lot better than the last one i sent off to retirement ; )

 

[butchlambert]

Some of the tooling that came with mine.




A lot of extras were available, ELSR, Variable speed for facing off(maintains a constant surface feed) inch/metric, and that is a small part. New one are electronic drive and are about $250,000.
I think Hal on this forum has or had an inch/metric and maybe in the very rare 30" bed. All of them had variable speed.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I found an m300 about 40 miles away. It seems overpriced. When I ask the guy about price he got pretty pissy apparently somebody showed up and wanted to buy all of his stuff at scrap rates and really made him mad. I guess I don't blame him. But I was thinking about half as much as he's asking for it. I suppose these are the times we are in. A 30-year-old lathe cost more than you could buy a brand new one four years ago. And I don't mean a piece of junk Chinese one either. The good Taiwanese lathes were $5000 to $7,000 five six years ago now they are double that so all of the junk has doubled haha

 

[jdh47]

Grizzly sells good value lathes. So do other companies. Precision Mathews for one. That said it would be worth the drive to check the lathe out. If it's in good shape and is tooled well it might make you a good lathe. With just about any machine the driver means a lot whether it performs well or not.

 

[Bamban]

I found an m300 about 40 miles away. It seems overpriced. When I ask the guy about price he got pretty pissy apparently somebody showed up and wanted to buy all of his stuff at scrap rates and really made him mad. I guess I don't blame him. But I was thinking about half as much as he's asking for it. I suppose these are the times we are in. A 30-year-old lathe cost more than you could buy a brand new one four years ago. And I don't mean a piece of junk Chinese one either. The good Taiwanese lathes were $5000 to $7,000 five six years ago now they are double that so all of the junk has doubled haha

I still love the little green belt drive Taiwanese Jet 1024. Perfect for chambering shorter barrels. I threaded the muzzle on this 18 inch CF wrapped and plan to use an extension so I can chamber it in the 3 yo Taiwanese 1440ev, then switched gear decided to use the 1024 instead. The fit and finish on this little guy is better than new one.

Between spiders.



Suppressed 300WM for 1st rifle season CO Elk drawn hunt.

 

[akajun]

I have 2 on Bridgeports and another on a lathe. I do have 2 rotaries also. One rotary can run multiple machines, but the VFD will do one motor at a time.

You can do multiple motors on one vfd but it has to be able to handle the sum of all motors horsepower
My surface grinder has a spindle motor and a hyd feed motor , both 1 hp
A 2hp vfd runs them fine

 

[urbanrifleman]

I still love the little green belt drive Taiwanese Jet 1024. Perfect for chambering shorter barrels. I threaded the muzzle on this 18 inch CF wrapped and plan to use an extension so I can chamber it in the 3 yo Taiwanese 1440ev, then switched gear decided to use the 1024 instead. The fit and finish on this little guy is better than new one.

Between spiders.

View attachment 1451832View attachment 1451833View attachment 1451834View attachment 1451835View attachment 1451836

Suppressed 300WM for 1st rifle season CO Elk draw hunt

It seems to me that guys that are chambering barrels between two spiders don't need any lathe of any size they just need a short headstock and spiders on both ends.

 

[hpshooter]

10EE has got to be the coolest looking machine.

Machine tool porn !

 

[Carl S]

M300 is not a bad lathe.ive used one for a few years now.just handy for barrel work.(very similar to the Colchester student 1800).the older English M300s have a serial number on the right hand side of the bed ways,at the rear.(may be the newer ones also)if you do a search that number will tell you the year of manufacture.

 

[Bamban]

It seems to me that guys that are chambering barrels between two spiders don't need any lathe of any size they just need a short headstock and spiders on both ends.

Yes, the 1024 for shorter barrels, the 1236 for medium length, the 1440 for the longer ones to avoid too much stickout on the outboard side.

Not in the business, just hobbyist.

 

[Kiwishooter]

Somewhere I have an article on converting a M300 to run on a vfd.
If you want a copy please send me a pm with your email details and I will send it to you

 

[Hal]

SK
Thanks for sending me that link.
The owner is Donnie that use to post over on the Practialmachinist forum.
That 10EE has the RARE up graded spindle bearings.It is in Very good shape with little wear.
What was Donnie asking for his 10EE ?

Hal

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

If you can afford it, get a Phase Perfect, get it over with once and for all...I say that with one that is not actually hooked up. I plan to run all of my 3 phase machines off the Phase Perfect, just getting the shop dried-in as I type...I would listen to Butch, he's giving you about the best advice and uses his lathe for gunsmith work. I have an Anderson RPC I've used to run most of my machines on a 30 amp dryer circuit, including a Rivett 1020F for years. But for my retirement shop I decided to bite the bullet, for lack of a better analogy, and buy a Phase Perfect. My Anderson RPC is a 7-1/2HP and the Rivett is a 5HP main motor machine. A friend moved from an RPC to a Phase Perfect and it eliminated his slugish start issues with his Rivett 1020S.

I have never seen a Chinese Harrison M300, but don't doubt it could be. I almost bought one for my main lathe about 15 years ago, but ended up with the Rivett 1020. It was a beautiful machine, asking price was about $5k at the time. Those M300s will swing 15" as I recall...nice machine, probably nothing you couldn't do on that machine in most home shops.

 

[SKWERLZ]

It seems to me that guys that are chambering barrels between two spiders don't need any lathe of any size they just need a short headstock and spiders on both ends.

And enough spindle bore.

 

[lyle2231]

Does anyone have experience converting a 3-phase Harrison M300 lathe to run on single phase?

You can change the motor to single phase-or-
get a phase converter