Hardinge VMC 1000II Vertical Machining Center Testimonial H&H Machining is a job shop located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Established in 1989, Paul Heezen started the business in his garage with a used Hardinge HC Lathe, which is still in use today. Gradually he has expanded and taken on more machinery. Eventually he made the decision to purchase a vertical machining center. After much research, he decided to purchase the Hardinge VMC 1000II in May of 2000. Paul took time to say a few words about his new acquisition. "I bought the VMC 1000II because of its low cost, solid structural design and Hardinge's outstanding reliability." "Upon receiving the machine, I had it outfitted with a Haas Model HRT210 indexer that was wired into a spare M-code on the machine's controller, (see below) also available by Hardinge." "With the purchase of the VMC, a training program was provided by the good people from Iverson & Company. We found the class to be very informative, and well worth our time." Paul continued, "Since I've had the machine, I've been most impressed by control's ease of use, its fine precision and its excellent repeatability. "I could not believe the results and the difference this machine has made. Not only has this purchase pleased my current customers, it has allowed me to take on new accounts and other various types of work." "My experiences with Hardinge and the machinery they provide have been great. I look forward to continuing my business with Hardinge and the people at Iverson & Company." Kevin Heezen & Paul Heezen President H&H Machining Green Bay, WI

Hardinge VMC 800II Vertical Machining Center Testimonial Brian Sullivan has been a good Iverson & Company and Hardinge customer since he began his shop in 1990. His first purchase was a Conquest 42. Since then he has grown his shop to 18 employees and 5 Hardinge machine tools. His most recent acquisition was a Hardinge VMC800II. Brian recently wrote to say, "I am writing to thank you and update you on the performance on our new VMC800II, which we purchased after our visit to the Hardinge booth at IMTS. At the time, we were looking to purchase a low-cost, high precision machining center with a quality brand name." "This machine has surpassed all of our performance & quality expectations and even more than we imagined. Our VMC800II is currently performing operations on aeronautical components which have bi-lateral tolerances on standing bosses of .0002" & holding in high volume capacity. There is true validity in the published repeatability statement of .0001" in each axis." "We have more than 10 years experience with the Hardinge CNC Turning Centers. We are well aware of the high standards Hardinge puts into their equipment. We knew with standards so high we could not go wrong with the purchase of our new VMC 800II. Brian Sullivan, President Sullivan Manufacturing Mequon, Wisconsin

Hardinge VMC 1000II Vertical Machining Center Testimonial Barnant Corporation is located in Barrington, Illinois & manufactures pumps, flow meters and laboratory equipment. They have been a good Iverson & Company and Hardinge customer since the days of their DSM-A purchases. Their most recent acquisition was a Hardinge VMC1000II. Bob Krejci is the machine shop foreman at Barnant who was involved in the decision to buy the Hardinge VMC. Listed are some of Bob's comments on various facets of their Hardinge VMC purchase: TURNKEY "The turnkey we received from Iverson & Company was completed on time. We were very happy with the service we received from the applications personnel at Iverson. We are happy with the fixtures designed by Iverson. It was a lot less costly than we expected." TRAINING "With the local training that we received, we were able to set up & operate the machine at Iverson using our parts -- that way when the machine was delivered we were able to run parts right away!" MAINTENANCE "We like the use of grease instead of way lube because it eliminates the contamination of the coolant. The flood coolant removes chips from parts & fixtures." REPEATABILITY "The accuracy and repeatability of the Hardinge VMC allows us to hold the tight tolerances of our parts. We have to hold .0005" total on our bores." MACHINE FEATURES "The rapids of the Hardinge are faster than other machines we have in house." EASE OF USE "We really like the air blast on the spindle that keeps the tools free of chips. The ability to service the tools from the side door, and the remote handle jog both make it easier for the operator." Bob Krejci, Foreman Barnant Corporation Barrington, Illinois

Hardinge Quest 42 Sp Multi-Tasking CNC Lathe Testimonial Hi-Point Machine & Tool of New Paris, IN was started in a basement in 1985 with one hand screw turret lathe. Over time they moved up to a DSM-A and then onto CNC, specializing in CNC turning and milling. Don Muhlnickel and his wife Mary run the company, while running many machines themselves. Don had this to say about his Hardinge machines: I have since acquired three new Hardinge CNC turning machines from Iverson & Company. The first a Conquest T42 in 1994, a Conquest GT in 1996, and now this year a Quest 42SP with live tooling, Y axis and subspindle. All three machines are equipped with bar feeds for increased productivity. Reliability of the Hardinge machines have been very good, and what little service I have needed Iverson & Company service technicians have been very professional and do a great job! They are good at answering questions over the phone. With the Y axis, live milling, and subspindle on the Quest 42SP, I have reduced the number of operations from 7 , for a 2 part blank down to one coming off complete on the Quest 42. This part used to go from lathe to lathe, to CNC mill for 2 more operations and back to a lathe for 2 more. NOW THE PART IS DONE COMPLETE IN ONE OPERATION ON THE QUEST 42SP. ALL WE NEED TO DO IS DEBUR & CLEAN. Hi Point Machine Services A wide variety of industries such as medical components, electronic housings, hydraulic valve components, products for the archery enthusiast, and our latest cannon shell flashlight. One of the options I really like is the through sub-spindle coolant, pick off fingers and part detector for the subspindle and highly recommend these. The subspindle coolant option keeps chips from building up in the subspindle and therefore keep parts free from nicks and dents caused by chips. With the service and support I have received from Iverson & Company, I would not hesitate to buy another Hardinge from them! Don Muhlnickel, President Hi-Point Machine & Tool, Inc. New Paris, IN

Hardinge Conquest GT27SP CNC Lathe Testimonial Craden Manufacturing of Richfield, Wisconsin has been a true blue Iverson & Company customer since the days when Sol Craden owned the shop. They were always a big collet user, & eventually bought a used Automatic Chucker from us for their secondary work. Years later the business was sold to the Richmond family. Tim Richmond recently commented on his newly acquired Hardinge GT27SP: "With my screw machine business expanding, I needed a machine to help us meet the growing demands of the aerospace and computer markets." "We already have two Hardinge CNC turning centers to complement our 12 automatic screw machines. We needed a machine to produce high precision parts using hard to machine materials such as stainless steel and nickel-based alloys." PRECISION & HOLDING SIZE "I turned to Terry Iverson of Iverson & Company to recommend a Hardinge machine to meet our requirements. Terry recommended the Conquest GTSP with a magazine bar feed. (See Above) In addition to producing high quality parts, this machine holds size from the moment we turn it on in the morning until we shut it down at night." DECREASES PRICE TO CUSTOMER "As an added benefit, the increased productivity we have realized from the Conquest GT has allowed us to offer price decreases to our customers while still maintaining our profit margins." REAL PARTS CYCLE TIME COMPARISONS "As an example, we were running a bushing out of 12L14 steel on our Brown & Sharpe screw machine. The cycle time was 30 seconds. Because of the higher RPM's on the Conquest GT, it allowed us to take advantage of using a high-performance coated drill and we were able to reduce the cycle time to 18 seconds." "A second job we moved to the GT started on our Conquest 42 turning center. The part is .375 diameter and about 2" long. This was not an ideal part for the Conquest 42 and was not even an option on our screw machines because of the tolerances we had to hold. By moving the job to the Conquest GT we reduced the cycle time from 90 seconds to 50 seconds. The cut-to-cut time is drastically reduced with gang-tool configuration - no time wasted on turret indexing." REDUCED SET UP & CHANGEOVER "We bought a second top plate for the machine because we run a family of parts that range in size from .750" to 1" diameter. This allows us to pre-tool one top plate for these jobs and utilize a second top plate for all other jobs. The initial expense in tooling is high, but the pay back is fast because set-up time is dramatically reduced as well as the cycle times." THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT "We hope to see continued growth in 2003, so we can justify purchasing our next Conquest GT." Tim Richmond, President Craden Mfg Richfield, Wi

Hardinge Conquest GT27SP CNC Lathe Testimonial NG Instruments is a manufacturer of cutting tools for the orthopaedic industry, located in Warsaw, Indiana. NG Instruments was founded in 1995 and has 24 employees. Jim Nicholas who is President of family-owned NG Instruments, had these comments to share: "We had a Compact machine before and it was very light duty and inexpensive. This company (Compact) didn't seem to have the strength of support we needed on the machine. A friend of mine decided to buy our Compact, and we decided to buy a Hardinge Conquest GT27SP." "We bought this machine primarily on Hardinge's reputation. The repeatability and accuracy is much better than our previous machine. It's like the difference between a small compact car and a luxury car." HARDINGE & RIGIDITY "The Hardinge was bigger & heavier than I expected, when it hit our floor. It really adds a lot to the strength and rigidity of the machine. The tooling is more readily available and the dimensional characteristics are more accurate." "With the previous machine had to use shims to find center. Our tool life is dramatically better than our past machine. This was to due to the extra mass of the machine." HOLDING SIZE is A BREEZE "We don't have to warm the machine up. We are not getting any change at all on the tolerances on the machine. It has been excellent!" BETTER TOOL LIFE "We do a lot of threading and are able to get a lot more pieces per threading insert, than our past machine." RELIABILITY "The good news is that we have not needed any service. The machine has been very reliable. We have not had the problems that we had with the other machine" EASE OF USE Hardinge & Fanuc "We had training in our shop for about 2 days. The applications engineer from Iverson & Company went through the ins and outs of what we were accustomed to. It is more straight forward than the Fagor control that we had before. The Hardinge GT has the Fanuc control, which we really like. It is a good control." Tony Nicholas, President NG Instruments Warsaw, Indiana