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BillTodd
23-09-2009, 07:13 PM
Can anyone point me at info for a Richard Haighton Ltd 'Major' Horizontal Mill?

I've been offered this one (which I mistook for a Tom Senior) and I'd like to know a little more about it.

BillTodd
06-10-2009, 08:23 PM
Well, I found out it is an rather unusual copy of a Hardinge UM so I bought it to keep the HLV company.

BillTodd
02-11-2009, 10:08 PM
Just a quick update on the rebuild....

Robin Hewitt
02-11-2009, 11:11 PM
So what are the bearing surfaces like?

Enquiring minds need to know :naughty:

BillTodd
04-11-2009, 12:00 AM
So what are the bearing surfaces like?

Enquiring minds need to know :naughty:

Good - even for a 50 yo machine, better in fact than my RF30

The vertical column still has the original hand scraping all the way up

BillTodd
14-11-2009, 08:42 PM
Almost finished - just the universal (vertical) head to do.

irving2008
14-11-2009, 09:52 PM
Very nice Bill, seems a pity to make it dirty after that...

pfincham
19-11-2009, 01:18 PM
It's looking great Bill. How come you get it done so quick?

BillTodd
19-11-2009, 03:20 PM
It's looking great Bill. How come you get it done so quick?

Low standards! :naughty:

I always rush and later regret it (I keep telling myself it's only a machine tool)

I finished the 'universal head' the other day, I now need to work out what to do with the 1ph/3ph conversion.

Robin Hewitt
20-11-2009, 10:01 AM
Way to go Bill :beer:

Just by cleaning it up it starts to look like a really useful machine.

Love the splined shaft for the table feed.

BillTodd
10-02-2010, 12:04 AM
I've been digging up the history of the firm:

http://haighton.webhop.net/

Bill

irving2008
10-02-2010, 12:25 AM
its interesting this research lark... you seemed to have more luck with detail than I with mine (http://www.kisolutionz.co.uk/History.html)

BillTodd
10-02-2010, 05:06 PM
I'm finding the research as interesting as the restoration work. The real shame though is that this machine was sitting in my mates workshop while Jack K Haighton was still alive, if I'd have spotted it then I'd have the whole story :( Once things have passed from living memory they are often lost forever.

How many Relms have you been able to trace? (apart from the picture of the prototype on the lorry, I haven't seen another Major.)

irving2008
10-02-2010, 07:00 PM
I'm finding the research as interesting as the restoration work. The real shame though is that this machine was sitting in my mates workshop while Jack K Haighton was still alive, if I'd have spotted it then I'd have the whole story :( Once things have passed from living memory they are often lost forever.

How many Relms have you been able to trace? (apart from the picture of the prototype on the lorry, I haven't seen another Major.)Only the ones on my website plus one other I am still waiting on pictures for.

BillTodd
12-02-2010, 05:22 PM
Added a site with pictures and description of the milling machine

http://haighton.webhop.net/ (history is link from here)

BillTodd
22-03-2010, 12:34 PM
Stop press: Number of Haighton Majors doubles !

I've just been contacted by Niall from Southampton who has a near pristine HSU1 recovered from a university workshop :)

BillTodd
06-10-2010, 10:17 PM
Wow, another Haighton surfaces! That makes a total of three known to still exist - almost enough for a breeding programme :)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280571036693&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

http://haighton.webhop.net

BillTodd
05-02-2011, 01:00 PM
A fourth Haighton Major has turned up....


At a Gun shop here in Colchester. :toot:

Bill

BillTodd
09-02-2011, 05:32 PM
Oops, I bought it - to save it from the scrap man :whistling:

I now own two of the four known to exist

irving2008
09-02-2011, 06:20 PM
:lol: dare i ask how much?

BillTodd
09-02-2011, 08:13 PM
:lol: dare i ask how much?

Well put it this way, I've enough room to put a few hours into the old girl before flogging her on eBay (or wherever)

:)

Bill

BillTodd
23-03-2011, 09:22 PM
Tucked away amongst the junk in the workshop where I found the fourth Major (http://haighton.webhop.net/), I found what must be, for me, the find of the year :toot::)

I've been searching the web for over a year now just trying to find a picture of this thing.

It is no less than the Haighton supplied Victoria universal dividing head (http://www.lathes.co.uk/victoria/index.html) and Haighton manufactured gear casing.

It allows the machine to cut spiral, helix gears etc. etc. by rotating the work piece as the table moves.

There's probably less than a dozen of these around and one turns up in my home town - amazing!

Annoyingly, someone has sawn a 4 " square chuck out of the corner of the backing plate, but I should be able to weld a piece in to fix it up.

BillTodd
13-09-2011, 07:55 PM
Out of the blue (green?) this even came and email from Tom in Ireland telling me of his friend with Haighton Major serial number 0007. This is the earliest one known so far probably from late '53 or early '54.

I await pictures ....

BillTodd
06-12-2012, 05:47 PM
Hi,

As many of you will know, I've been collating the history of Richard Haighton Ltd.

I've recently acquired a Cadet lathe (in need of TLC) and thought it would be worth starting a Yahoo group to help keep these fine little machine going.

Any one with an interest is welcome to join:

HaightonMajor : Haighton Cadet & Major machine tools (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HaightonMajor/)

Regards,

Bill

BillTodd
31-10-2013, 01:46 AM
Well well well, a sixth major has surfaced.

This one is designated HSU2 and must be one of the last machines made:D 10538

Stu B
14-05-2022, 02:17 PM
Hi Bill,
I have recently been left a workshop of machinery which looks to include a haighton major milling machine. In researching it I came across your post here.