Lets call this a learning experience....

[dbb-the-bruce]

Ugg, I'm an idiot.
A bunch of years ago I acquired a 9A in very good shape. At the time I was a woodturner and used it initially for mostly precision (for wood) small parts and occasional metal parts, mostly brass. The intent from the beginning was to learn the lathe and eventually transition to brass and steel mechanicals. So it's seen a fair amount of use and I've learned how to operate it.

For the last couple of years i've been focusing almost entirely on metal. I've been learning / improving my skills with steel and was practicing on some 1018 which is somewhat difficult to get a great finish on off of the tool (I use mostly hand ground HSS). None of this is that important, however....

I got really obsessed with refining and polishing the finish on a practice 2" bored cylinder and managed to get abrasive grit all over my ways, saddle, wipers etc. Fortunately I realized this the next time I went to use the lathe.

Moving the carriage now sounds and feels like a lapping operation. I'm at the Don't move anything before I clean this up stage.

I've reviewed a bunch of videos on removing and disassembling the carriage and it doesn't look to bad. I expect that I just need to do a deep clean on ways and saddle and to replace the felt wipers. Once it's apart I'll have a better idea.

I don't think (and REALLY hope) that the guts of the apron won't need to be disassembled and cleaned. Looks like I could handle it but way more work than I'd like to take on if I don't need to.

I think the spindle head stock side is also probably fine. I discovered my F-up really soon and the grit probably mostly fell on the ways and worked into the saddle and maybe the carriage.

Feels really stupid - I knew better and just thought it wouldn't be a problem (I've done small amounts of sanding/filling before without issue)

So a bunch of questions and a request for advise.

Should I get a rebuild kit or can I just replace the felt wipers?
All I've been able to find is this KIT I'm thinking that I might as well get it as I may need more of it later. Is there a good source for just the wiper felts?

Should I try to flush out the apron internals while I have it apart or are the a few parts I can remove and clean without full disassembly?

I've had the compound and cross slide apart before, and will do so again and give them a through flushing.

Once the carriage is off, I'm going to give everything I can get to a really good flush clean wipe and oil. Anything I should specifically do while I can? Remember that this lathe is (was?) in very good shape and if I didn't screw something up, it is probably better to just do deep maintenance rather than tear down and rebuild.

I'm just sick over this, the machine has changed my maker life.
-Dave

 

[benmychree]

Take it apart! SB lathes are simple in construction and easy to work on.

 

[dbb-the-bruce]

Take it apart! SB lathes are simple in construction and easy to work on.

That's been my experience with it so far.
It will come apart, at least to the point of removing the whole carriage assembly. I've got no problem with disassembling the full "top side" - saddle and cross slides and cleaning throughly.

I'd really rather not disassemble the apron unless the consensus here is that I should (because of the exposure to sanding grit). I intend to clean the apron as well as I can without disassembly, but if it's deemed necessary I will.

How big of a screw up is this and how far do I NEED to go cleaning it up?
That's pretty much my question, in addition to and specific "how to" advice.

 

[RJSakowski]

Abrasive grit has a habit of embedding in cast iron. I would thoroughly scrub all surfaces in addition to wiping and flushing. The good news is that you stopped use immediately once you realized the problem. It takes a fair amount of movement to remove a significant amount of material so you probably haven't done any damage.

 

[dbb-the-bruce]

embedding in cast iron

Yes, that's my understanding - just like a lap!
The intent is to scrub the cast sliding surfaces pretty thoroughly - with a brass bristle brush? Clearly I don't want to abrade the ways and mating surfaces.

Do you think I need to get too deep into the machine? I do not use compressed air and clean with a vacuum. Also stopped using immediately. I don't think that grit would have been forced into the rest of the parts (much).

 

[benmychree]

The lesson for the future is to cover those wearing surfaces up with a closely woven cloth when doing that sort of work with abrasives, and perhaps go to free machining metals to avoid so much abrasive polishing. filing before polishing will also help reduce abrasove finishing to some degree/

 

[RJSakowski]

Yes, that's my understanding - just like a lap!
The intent is to scrub the cast sliding surfaces pretty thoroughly - with a brass bristle brush? Clearly I don't want to abrade the ways and mating surfaces.

Do you think I need to get too deep into the machine? I do not use compressed air and clean with a vacuum. Also stopped using immediately. I don't think that grit would have been forced into the rest of the parts (much).

I would also clean the chuck and spindle. Check the lead screw as well and if the tailstock was in the proximity of your lapping/polishing work, that too. the drive train and gear set are probably OK.

 

[benmychree]

Yes, that's my understanding - just like a lap!
The intent is to scrub the cast sliding surfaces pretty thoroughly - with a brass bristle brush? Clearly I don't want to abrade the ways and mating surfaces.

Do you think I need to get too deep into the machine? I do not use compressed air and clean with a vacuum. Also stopped using immediately. I don't think that grit would have been forced into the rest of the parts (

(much) is the key word here, abrasive grains do not break down quickly, and they will continue to wear your apron parts long after their introduction,

 

[DavidR8]

Ugg, I'm an idiot.
A bunch of years ago I acquired a 9A in very good shape. At the time I was a woodturner and used it initially for mostly precision (for wood) small parts and accessional metal parts, mostly brass. The intent from the beginning was to learn the lathe and eventually transition to brass and steel mechanicals. So it's seen a fair amount of use and I've learned how to operate it.

For the last couple of years i've been focusing almost entirely on metal. I've been learning / improving my skills with steel and was practicing on some 1018 which is somewhat difficult to get a great finish on off of the tool (I use mostly hand ground HSS). None of this is that important, however....

I got really obsessed with refining and polishing the finish on a practice 2" bored cylinder and managed to get abrasive grit all over my ways, saddle, wipers etc. Fortunately I realized this the next time I went to use the lathe.

Moving the carriage now sounds and feels like a lapping operation. I'm at the Don't move anything before I clean this up stage.

I've reviewed a bunch of videos on removing and disassembling the carriage and it doesn't look to bad. I expect that I just need to do a deep clean on ways and saddle and to replace the felt wipers. Once it's apart I'll have a better idea.

I don't think (and REALLY hope) that the guts of the apron won't need to be disassembled and cleaned. Looks like I could handle it but way more work than I'd like to take on if I don't need to.

I think the spindle head stock side is also probably fine. I discovered my F-up really soon and the grit probably mostly fell on the ways and worked into the saddle and maybe the carriage.

Feels really stupid - I knew better and just thought it wouldn't be a problem (I've done small amounts of sanding/filling before without issue)

So a bunch of questions and a request for advise.

Should I get a rebuild kit or can I just replace the felt wipers?
All I've been able to find is this KIT I'm thinking that I might as well get it as I may need more of it later. Is there a good source for just the wiper felts?

Should I try to flush out the apron internals while I have it apart or are the a few parts I can remove and clean without full disassembly?

I've had the compound and cross slide apart before, and will do so again and give them a through flushing.

Once the carriage is off, I'm going to give everything I can get to a really good flush clean wipe and oil. Anything I should specifically do while I can? Remember that this lathe is (was?) in very good shape and if I didn't screw something up, it is probably better to just do deep maintenance rather than tear down and rebuild.

I'm just sick over this, the machine has changed my maker life.
-Dave

Don't beat yourself too much. Ok that's enough...
I'd buy the rebuild kit since it includes all the felts.

 

[tq60]

And the manual is the idiot's guide to teardown and repair.



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