16" South Bend Lathe and other tools

[Rich Fife]

Got around to "restoring" the old South Bend Lathe... still have a few items to address. But, I'm making progress.

 

[Rich Fife]

Went ahead and removed the old paint... degreased, heated and painted it. Rebuilt the Taper attachment and made a new cross-slide nut.

 

[Rich Fife]

Had to fix the gear cover... it was broke and repaired previously. The last repair they didn't line-up the holes properly so I accidentally broken it. Now they line up. Lol

 

[Rich Fife]

The cross-slide has .033" backlash. Instead of spending $75+ for a cross-slide nut, I cheaped out and machined my own. I had to order a tap... LH 11/16" - 8tpi acme tap... China came through. This tap is probably the best acme tap I have used in the past 20+ years... I was concerned about the quality, the geometry as well as the cutting edges being poor. Well, this tap was a pleasant change of pace. Tomorrow I'll be installing the nut.

 

[Rich Fife]

I still have to work on the Taper attachment clamp as well as the tailstock... the tailstock has been basterdized... so if I can't find a new ram/quill I'll have to machine one and use the cnc to engrave the graduations.

 

[64poncho]

Nice work! I made a tail stock ram for my Clausing a long time ago. Used a small center drill in the Bridgeport with DRO, pecked the surface for the graduations, use small stamps for the numbers. Also needed a left hand acme tap for that too!

 

[srcarr52]

Taper attachment and 5" stroke tailstock will be handy!

 

[Rich Fife]

Taper attachment and 5" stroke tailstock will be handy!

Absolutely. Been fixing a bunch of small issues... too many d!ck-beaters have been placed on this lathe. Lol Slowly but surely this "restoration" is coming to an end.

 

[Rich Fife]

Nice work! I made a tail stock ram for my Clausing a long time ago. Used a small center drill in the Bridgeport with DRO, pecked the surface for the graduations, use small stamps for the numbers. Also needed a left hand acme tap for that too!

Thanks man. I have a piece of pre hardened 4140 that's 2" dia x 24". It's looking like I'll be machining a new ram as well. I'll use the CNC Mill and make a pocket so I can stick a graduated metal strip in... I think that'll look good.

 

[srcarr52]

The cross-slide has .033" backlash. Instead of spending $75+ for a cross-slide nut, I cheaped out and machined my own. I had to order a tap... LH 11/16" - 8tpi acme tap... China came through. This tap is probably the best acme tap I have used in the past 20+ years... I was concerned about the quality, the geometry as well as the cutting edges being poor. Well, this tap was a pleasant change of pace. Tomorrow I'll be installing the nut.

I've been meaning to machine a new nut for my lathe as well. I have the 3/4-8 LH tap but I just need the time. I'd deal with 0.033" as I have about a 1/2 turn of backlash which would be 0.125". If you are used to it, it's not a big deal. It can get you when threading... did that take almost 2 or 3 turns to get out of the part?

 

[Rich Fife]

I've been meaning to machine a new nut for my lathe as well. I have the 3/4-8 LH tap but I just need the time.

I've backed away from the saws to make more time for my personal things/projects. I still dont have much time as i always seem to to add irons to the fire.

I'd deal with 0.033" as I have about a 1/2 turn of backlash which would be 0.125". If you are used to it, it's not a big deal. It can get you when threading...

I've dealt with lathes that had a bunch of backlash... like you said, once you get used to it, taking out the BL becomes 2nd nature. I always use dials during threading operations, especially with lathes that have excessive amounts of backlash. Cutting gears and threads I'm a bit particular with...

did that take almost 2 or 3 turns to get out of the part?

To be honest, I wasn't paying attention to how many turns it took... I just fed it through the part in amazement at how good the tap was cutting through the aluminum bronze.

 

[Al Smith]

They must have sold Southbend lathes by the tens of thousands . I think the most were the 9 and 10" models .They are fine for most jobs perhaps short for watch making or making parts for the space shuttle .FWIW I first lathe I ever used was a SB with about a 5 gallon bucket full of change gears .It predated quick change machines,perhaps came over on the Mayflower . I have the books but never actually rehabbed one but did on a Bridgeport model M that also came over on a wind jammer ,like 1940 .

 

[Rich Fife]

Old nut out, new nut in... backlash is better, down to .013"... the issue now is a worn shaft. Snapped a pic of the center of the screw as well as the end... you'll see the thread thickness difference. I can deal with
.013" but, it's not right... so, it's bothering me.

 

[Rich Fife]

They must have sold Southbend lathes by the tens of thousands . I think the most were the 9 and 10" models .They are fine for most jobs perhaps short for watch making or making parts for the space shuttle .FWIW I first lathe I ever used was a SB with about a 5 gallon bucket full of change gears .It predated quick change machines,perhaps came over on the Mayflower . I have the books but never actually rehabbed one but did on a Bridgeport model M that also came over on a wind jammer ,like 1940 .

I'm sure they did as you can find them all over the world.... for this model, my lathe was # 6679 off of the assembly line.
There are a lot of 9's & 10's around here... now it seems people are just scraping them.
They have micro mills and lathes that nkrmal vision people have to use magnifying glasses and tweezers... pretty cool stuff.

 

[Rich Fife]

We have 120v x 2 legs into the converter, 120v x 3 legs out, we have 120v per leg to the switch, blue and red are hot, the middle black wire opposite side is hot... lathe will run for approximately 10 seconds and then trip.
We checked for continuity, ground and shorts... all checked out fine.
I'm going to pull apart the switch and clean it... try it again and if it repeats, I'll have to assume the breaker is bad.... idk crap about electricity.

 

[Rich Fife]

Power to these... though, cycling the switch it looks like center doesn't raise as high as the others.

 

[Al Smith]

A rotary converter is basically a three phase motor with a start circuit .It uses a large capacitor across one winding to create a start circuit similar to a single phase motor and at speed uses a running cap which should be 7.5 microfared per HP . .The running cap balances the induction in the windings so they are about the same voltage .In this case 240 volts . From what you said sounds to me it's single phasing for some reason .

 

[Al Smith]

Note on that start switch it's a momentary contact ,only used to start the rotation .

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

I'm sure they did as you can find them all over the world.... for this model, my lathe was # 6679 off of the assembly line.
There are a lot of 9's & 10's around here... now it seems people are just scraping them.
They have micro mills and lathes that nkrmal vision people have to use magnifying glasses and tweezers... pretty cool stuff.

If there going for scrap I'll take a couple..

That's sad, because out here there hard to find and when you do they sell high.

 

[Al Smith]

Location ,location .In the PNW they have lots of large chainsaws .In the industrial heart land ,Ohio,Pa,Ill.Ind, NY state, Mich .they have a lot of old machinery from a bygone era .