| South Bend Heavy 10"
Lathe |
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02/16/02
A couple months ago I started looking for a
Southbend lathe. I caught the bug a few months before that
when I purchased a small Asian 7" lathe. As I learned on the
smaller lathe and started collecting projects and ideas I
found that many of the things I wanted to make would require
a somewhat larger lathe. After putting out the word I soon
heard back from a friend about a 9" Southbend that was unused
and unwanted. The lathe was too far away for me to easily
get out to examine it so I relied on my friend to make the
arrangements. All I knew was that it was a 9" lathe missing
the tailstock & drive assembly but it had a quick-change
gearbox and a power crossfeed. No accessories except for a
faceplate frozen to the spindle. Sight unseen the $400 price
was agreed upon and the adventure began.
Knowing that I was in need of a tailstock and
drive assembly (at the very least) I decided that I'd be better
off buying another lathe to use as a parts donor. While I
awaited delivery of my newly acquired 9" I decided to start
getting what I needed. A quick look thru the local Want ads
turned up several Southbend lathes but very few that met my
particular needs. I lucked out towards the end of my search
when someone who had just sold the lathe he advertised mentioned
that he had another for sale as well. I got the directions,
hopped in the minivan and drove 120 miles to go get my parts
lathe. With help at the loading dock we got the lathe into
the van and off I drove for the 120-mile return trip. I arrived
home tired but satisfied, I had everything I needed now and
was just awaiting the arrival of my diamond in the rough.
Finally a week or so later the big day arrived
and my "new" Southbend lathe was brought over. My friend brought
it over on a small trailer and as I looked at it through the
porch window the first thing that struck me was that it sure
looked bigger that the 9" that I'd brought home a few days
earlier. Now I live in a condo with a large basement storage
room that has become my shop, and while it's a bang-up storage
room as a shop it leaves a lot to be desired. Access being
my biggest complaint. Nonetheless with the help of three neighbors
the four of us managed to lug the beast downstairs to the
shop. Once I had it indoors and sitting nest to the 9" parts
lathe I'd just bought, it became quite obvious that me new
9" Southbend was anything but. It was larger in every respect
and clearly not a 9" machine. A few minutes with some WD-40
and brass wool had cleaned up the tag on the gearbox to reveal
this.
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| Lo and Behold, a 10-inch lathe it was. A little
more examining and it became obvious that this was a Heavy 10"
and not a Light 10". I wasn't quite sure how to feel. I was
pleased as could be to have found a Southbend Heavy 10" for
$400 but I was really bummed out in a major way about
having driven 250 miles and spend a fair sized wad of cash on
a 9" parts lathe that was not completely useless to me.
What else can you do other than to just acknowledge and move
on? I had to console myself with the simple fact that I now
had a Heavy 10" and could boast about having a couple
of Southbend lathes while at cocktail parties. When we got everything
off the trailer it looked pretty pitiful and I clearly had a
project on my hands. |
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| One of the real disappointments
I uncovered while cleaning the lathe up was that the ways appear
to have been reground. I had been hoping to take serial numbers
stamped on the end of the way and contact Southbend for information
about the origins of the machine. At the very least I would
have know how old it is. Unfortunately when I got the surface
rust off and cleaned everything up there was absolutely no trace
at all of the serial number. None. I can't imagine Southbend
let one get out the door unnumbered and the only other explanation
would be that the ways were reground at some point in the machines
history. There's no evidence of hand flaking anyplace along
the ways anymore. I'm not sure what to make of it; I wonder
how badly the ways were for someone to have had the bed re-ground. |
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I wish I had some means of identifying this
lathe. If anyone can date the machine for me from the photographs
here I sure would appreciate hearing from you.
03/04/02
This is a picture of the headstock; this is
an underdrive machine with a single lever gearbox. Know the
single lever boxes are the earlier models but I though the
underdrive machine were later models. Any guidance is appreciated.
Seen in this picture is the tumble reverser for the leadscrew
but the detent handle is broken off, a new assembly was located
cheaply and awaits installation.
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| The apron was in pretty poor shape having been
disassembled at some point in its career. If I had to guess
from what I see of the lathe there was probably some sort of
problem in the apron, which caused the lathe to be mothballed.
The half-nuts have been removed along with the clutch assembly
for the power crossfeed. Not having any information at all from
the previous owner I can only speculate that the disassembled
parts were causing problems. |
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Rather than delve into apron repair right away
I took a shortcut and just threw money at the problem. Purchased
a used apron assembly online and was done with it. I also
picked up the leadscrew support that it had been missing and
in stroke of good luck ran across a mostly complete Southbend
underdrive cabinet for Heavy 10" with a 3.5" bed. A tailstock
was located at a used machinery dealer and cost me just slightly
less than the lathe itself. Along the way I've also picked
up a steady rest, micrometer carriage stop, 6" & 8" chucks
and a driver plate.
Now I finally had everything that I needed to
make this a working lathe. The next item on the agenda was
a through cleaning, degreasing and stripping of the paint.
After consulting as many websites as I could find I decided
to use TriSodiumPhosphate (TSP) and strip everything at home.
I went to Wal-mart and bought a turkey frying kit, which came
with a large heavy-duty propane burner and stand plus a huge
40gal pot. I set everything up out on my patio and went to
town. I mixed the TSP and water, fired that baby up and started
boiling my lathe piece by piece. Everything fit into the pot
easily except for the bed, which had to be swapped end for
end ½ way thru, but even that cleaned up nice. The TSP worked
as advertised and removed all the grease, oil and paint from
everything. It turns the paint into a kind of powder, which
is easily rubbed or brushed off when the part becomes cool
enough to handle.
With all of the castings cleaned to bare metal
it was time to start putting it all back together. I haven't
decided on a paint color or method of painting yet so I've
left that part alone for now. I used a zinc-based self-etching
primer on everything destined to see paint. I've been priming
and test-fitting the parts as I go along. This is where I'm
at with it so far.
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Slowly but surely it's getting there. I'm having
a lot of fun and I'm learning a great deal as I rebuild this
classic old machine. I'll continue to add photos and updates
as I progress through the rebuild and hopefully someday soon
I'll be posting pictures of it painted, spinning and making
lots of hot blue chips <G>
05/23/02
As you can see in the pictures, I haven't been
able to get the faceplate off of the spindle, there's just
no telling how long it's been on there. I took removed the
back-gears for a better cleaning. Both gears are in great
shape but there was some surface rust on the shaft between
them and I wanted to clean it up. After taking the worst of
the rust off with a brass wire wheel I mounted the gears between
centers on the 7x20 and polished the shaft on the lathe. I
was pretty happy with the results.
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I was so pleased with the way it came out I
plan to use the same method to clean up the spindle and cone
pulleys which also need attention before being reassembled.
Before I started painting I still had some detail
work to do. The tailstock was completely disassembled before
painting. The ram was polished in the lathe and all of the
unpainted parts were cleaned and polished. The casting was
primed and then painted. Here's the disassembled tailstock.
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| After more work with a wire brush
and some self-etching primer I was finally ready to start putting
some color back on this machine. I caved in to tradition and
went with Machine Tool Gray. I gave Dark Ford Blue some thought
but just couldn't picture it. These are pictures of the headstock,
tailstock and foot castings. The bed is next. |
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| With the bed painted I went at it
with a scuff pad and penetrating oil to scrub the ways. After
about an hour you can see the difference in the before and after
photos or at least I hope you can for as much work as it was. |
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| Here's the headstock partially reassembled
after painting. |
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| In the picture above you can see
the polished back gears and the cleaned up spindle. Once I get
the faceplate off the spindle I'll clean it better and polish
it between centers. I just couldn't wait when I started seeing
everything lying there painted. I just had to set some of the
parts where they needed to be. Nothing is screwed down yet and
there's an awful lot missing but it's good to see it starting
to take shape. Sometimes I need to piece my projects together
like this when I start to lose interest or become distracted
with other projects (I always seem to have 3 or 4 things going
on in the shop). |
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| Some closer pics. |
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| I haven't actually put the tailstock
back together, just partially for the photos, same with the
steady. The difference in the ways can be seen more clearly
at this angle. |
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| The ways look pretty good compared
to it's original condition. |
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| Slowly but surely I'm getting there.
I have a few more pieces to clean, prime and paint. The gear
cover for the back of the lathe had a small crack running through
the casting. It really wasn't that bad and could probably be
brazed but as it turns out I have another cover that's better.
I have the mounting arm for the cover but need to find the hinge
for it. Here's what's left. |
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You can see that the saddle is in pretty rough
shape. The apron and tumble reverser are replacement pieces
and the gearbox is in good shape as is the compound. I have
a large dial feedscrew and a new nut to rebuild the crossslide.
The dovetails are a real mess, might have to clean them up
on the mill, I'll wait and see.
I also need to start working on the cabinet.
I haven't seen any pictures showing the motor placement. I
also need a handle for the belt tensioner. I have the stub
but that's it. I'm looking for a good way to clean and paint
the cabinet in place. It was by far the hardest single item
to bring into the shop and I just cringe at the thought of
moving it outside and then back in just to paint it, especially
in light of my plans to relocate in the next several months.
I also haven't decided yet just how I want to paint the chip
pan. This is the drive assembly that I need to learn more
about.
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I've really been enjoying this project. I'll
continue to update this page as progress continues.
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