Need Help with Rockwell Tester

CDHumiston

CDHumiston

Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
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I have a chance to buy this HR-150A ROCKWELL HARDNESS TESTER. It's in good working condition and can be delivered, set up and calibrated to me home.

Add says diamond indenter included...

What do you all think?
 

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Hi, looks like the standard Chinese unit, you can see some reviews and how tos on YouTube and Google. From what I understand they are quite reliable units. If you don't mind me asking, what is the price tag? I would probably think half the price of a new one would be fair if everything works as it should.
 
I suspect that's an older model of the HR-150A. Can you read the date on the tag? I wouldn't think it mattered too much about the age as long as it's in good condition. As mentioned price is important - having it delivered to your home, setup and calibrated is worth something. They're not hard to setup or calibrate once you know them a bit.

A new indenter isn't very expensive: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YN2H8MF/ $22 shipped, and there are some on ebay also.
 
How are you guys faring with cheap indenters? For me it was reading 3-4 HRC too high..

Quality indenters are expensive, in Europe up to 200 Eur.
 
CDHumiston said:
The guy selling is asking $550, but may be negotiable. I may be able to get it setup in the cost?
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Its reasonable, I think these machines are around $1000 new. If its not too far, you could pick it up, let the vendor show you how to use it and test it against a HRC hardness block in the range of 60-65 HRC couple of times to judge the accuracy of the machine. If you are willing to pick up, maybe you could negotiate the price some. Check the youtube vids how the machines are operated to have an idea.
 
FredyCro said:
How are you guys faring with cheap indenters? For me it was reading 3-4 HRC too high..
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I've got one I use - ordered it for a spare. I can switch between them and not tell the difference, doesn't even need recalibrating. Remember, these cheap Chinese indenters are what's put in the HR-150A from the factory. No reason they shouldn't work just fine. Perhaps I lucked out? OR, you just happened to get a lemon? Does calibration take care of the difference in reading?
 
I bought it for $500. He performed two tests on it at his house with a 65HRC test block and it was very accurate.

For that price he is delivering it, setting it up and calibrating it for me. He's keeping his test block set though...
 
CDHumiston said:
I bought it for $500. He performed two tests on it at his house with a 65HRC test block and it was very accurate.

For that price he is delivering it, setting it up and calibrating it for me. He's keeping his test block set though...
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Test blocks can be expensive, at least the ones I have looked at. You can get precision milled steel and HT it to full hardness and two different tempers and have some of the makers test it for you. Maybe someone from BF will jump in.

There is a particular satisfaction in doing your own HT and hardness testing it yourself, I think you will like it a lot. Good job!
 
FredyCro said:
Test blocks can be expensive, at least the ones I have looked at. You can get precision milled steel and HT it to full hardness and two different tempers and have some of the makers test it for you. Maybe someone from BF will jump in.

There is a particular satisfaction in doing your own HT and hardness testing it yourself, I think you will like it a lot. Good job!
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I see test blocks for $90 to $150 range. I would assume I only need one at around 60 HRC?
 
CDHumiston said:
I see test blocks for $90 to $150 range. I would assume I only need one at around 60 HRC?
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If your machine works good, yes. I would prefer to have at least two, maybe one in lower (61/62) and one in higher HRC (65/66) range. A small plate of precision machined D2 at full and tempered hardness measured against 2 other devices would be good enough IMHO for personal/hobbyst use.
 
This looks like a good deal all the way around. For others searching for one don’t automatically dismiss an inaccurate unit. They can just be out of adjustment. If nothing is actually broken they are not that difficult to calibrate.
 
Britt_Askew said:
Got a new one this spring, with shipping and tax it was
$1,409.10 USD
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I looked at some new ones. They were $1600 plus tax. Not sure about the freight fee. I usually buy new, but the deal was just down the street!

This one works great for the $500 I spent and the guy I bought from lives les than a mile away. He said he'd come over any time and adjust it if I needed.
 
Britt, you did pretty good at that price it seems. I looked at Grizzly and it was $1550 shipped!! I think it was $750, plus $75 shipping a few days before I ordered it from Grizzly (8-30-13)........ when the price went up to.... seems like it was $1,004 shipped. Boy those things have gotten expensive.
 
CDHumiston said:
How do you like yours?
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Happy with it but to be honest I think I would have been happier paying 500 ;)
Ken H> said:
Britt, you did pretty good at that price it seems. I looked at Grizzly and it was $1550 shipped!! I think it was $750, plus $75 shipping a few days before I ordered it from Grizzly (8-30-13)........ when the price went up to.... seems like it was $1,004 shipped. Boy those things have gotten expensive.
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I got mine the first part of Feb, was shopping for a milling machine at the time but everywhere I looked milling machines were out of stock so I went ahead and got the tester. At the time seems like grizzly had more things backordered than in stock and I think they used that as reason to raise prices on everything they sell.
 
My calibrated test disc came in today. It's calibrated at 62.2 HRC. I did three test and the results were, 61.9, 62, and 62.2.

I'm happy to say the least! Now I just need that Evenheat to get here!
 
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