SB Heavy 10 CL187A Just getting started

[Dale Barton]

I recently found my ultimate lathe deal on Craig's List. I've always hoped that some day I'd hear or read the words "My dad was a machinist for 45 years and he had this lathe with all kinds of junk, we really want it to go to someone who will use it". It was only listed for $1000 and from what I'd learned in recent months I knew this was not a deal to haggle about. I contacted the guy and told him that I'm recently retired from the Army after 30 years as a musician/musical instrument repairman. I'm also a guitar maker. I've got a part of me that always wanted to be a machinist. Anyway

South Bend CL187A serial no. 4649RKL11

I'll post a bunch of pictures and will be seeking help as I learn to use it and get it back into shape.

It came with a ton of stuff. Collet draw lever with full set of 5C collets in original plastic cases. Production style tail stock (The kind with a drill press type lever). 4 jaw chuck, 2 3 jaw chucks, 3 faceplates, Aloris tool post with 5 tool holders. (not sure what it's called) Square style multi tool post. Original tool post with 6+ tool holders, heavy duty knurling tool, steady rest, additional home made steady rest. 3 jacobs chucks, 1 keyless chuck. TONS of cutting bits and blanks (definitely over 100...this guy was a grinding master), 5C indexing rotary thingy. Home made taper attachment. And butt loads of other stuff that I'll need help identifying. Also a bunch of old catalogs and an old but lovely copy of "How to Run a Lathe"

 

[Dale Barton]

I've seen that you can order a "serial number card" from Grizzly. Is there any information on that card that is worth the $25 price for a single scan? I guess I'd be interested to see if many of the features of this lathe were ordered originally or retrofitted later on.

Also forgot to mention the lathe has a micrometer carriage stop and a thread dial indicator. It's got a 110v motor which is good for me. But with all of this stuff...no lathe dogs. Not sure why that bugs me but it really does.

 

[stevecmo]

Dale,

Welcome to the group! Looks like you found a nice old SB. She'll serve you well.

Since you are a guitar maker, you might want to check out Frank Ford's website if you haven't already. He's also a very good machinist.

http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/hstpages.html

Steve

 

[Dale Barton]

Dale,

Welcome to the group! Looks like you found a nice old SB. She'll serve you well.

Since you are a guitar maker, you might want to check out Frank Ford's website if you haven't already. He's also a very good machinist.

http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/hstpages.html

Steve

Thanks for the Frank Ford link. That guy is great. I've got a CD ROM he put together a few years ago from all of his Frets.com stuff.

OK, so now I've found this lathe and need to get it home. I read all kinds of articles and worked myself into a frenzy worrying about doing it right. The place it was located is a little shop built on the side of the house with a very spongy floor.
No driveway, just a nice grassy hill going down from a mile long dirt road with the worst pot holes I've EVER seen. Driving down the road I get visions of the lathe tipping over from the bouncing.

Picked up a ramped Uhaul trailer and drove to Annapolis in the rain. The hill was pretty slick and we didn't think we'd ever get back up with the lathe in the trailer. This is as close as we could get.



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With help from the owner, his son-in-law and my buddy Mike we daisy chained plywood and used an old rope come along to get the lathe up the hill. Those dollys I made were a great Idea. Picked up heavy wheels from Harbor Freight plus a couple of the 1000lb movers dollys. Made the big dolly for the headstock and combined the two movers dollys for the tail. Figured I had at least 3000lbs of support. We did have to do some fun wedging and cribbing to get the lathe up to that level. At that point I used lag bolts and bolted the lathe to the dollys.

Finally got her up the hill and strapped down tight and covered....did I mention it was raining?

 

[Dale Barton]

My phone had died so I didn't get pictures of the truck and trailer at my place. Got help from a couple of guys across the street and wheeled the lathe down the ramp. I'd previously prepared a path to get back to the shop. Again, those dollies helped a lot. Just had to be careful not to go over the edge because my ramp was a wee bit narrow.

Got her into the shop and wheeled in place. Time to let my helpers go. I'd figure out how to get her off the dollies and on to the floor later.

I'm adding some pictures showing the prep of my ramps etc. Also loaded the truck up with a tool chest and a bunch of containers. We went down the night before to load up all of the accessories and to plan out the strategy for the move. There was a lot of tooling with this! Feel like a criminal...not quite.

 

[WallyM3]

Beg, borrow or steal an engine hoist. Lift heavy end 1", remove dolly. Lower heavy end. Lift tail stock end, etc.,....

I've moved Bridgeports alone with an engine hoist.

 

[brasssmanget]

This is pretty exciting. It's nice to see a nice Hvy10 getting set up by a new owner. I went through it myself about two years ago - this brings back memories. )

 

[Dale Barton]

I used a combination of hydraulic jacks, metal pipes, paving stones etc. Got the lathe up and down. I'll do the final leveling and securing to the ground as I clean it up.

First big question. Do I completely refinish this or just do the mechanical rebuild. I'd like to start using it and as long as it cleans up OK I'm fine with the old look. But....if I decide I want to make it cherry and new will I really want to go through the whole tear down again? Is it one of those situations that if I don't do it now, I'll probably never do it...and I'll regret it?

Here's the plate with the model number and the serial number. Anyone who has any extra information about this machine I'd appreciate it.




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Here are some shots of the headstock with the micrometer carriage stop, back gears, cone pully, collet closer and some of the stuff I used to get the lathe off of the dollies and on to the ground. Feel free to berate me. I know I should have used an engine hoist and I was REALLY stupid to do this alone. I'll consider that I have 8 lives left. No more stupid stuff....this is a serious beast (at least it is for me). Looks like someone did a bit of woodworking...that'll be fun!



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OK, time to share the tooling and accessories. Again, I bought this for $1000...I know how incredibily fortunate I am to have all of this stuff already!

large 4 jaw chuck. Large and small 3 jaw chucks (large chuck is on lathe). I need a chuck key for the small chuck. 3 face plates. Also looks like I've got a couple of extra sets of jaws.

 

[Dale Barton]

Apron and cross feed. Aloris tool post. Thread dial indicator. How common was this type of tailstock? I've got lots of dead centers but this huge mondo chuck seemed like it was good for the picture.



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Here's a shot of all of the centers and chucks. I like that huge bull nose center. That'll come in handy for bass clarinet and bassoon repairs. Nice steady rest, die holder heavy boring bar holder.




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Now we move to the tool posts, tool holders and boring bars. I LOVE the knurling tool from hell! Heavy and massive!

 

[Kroll]

Congrats on your lucky find,I say you did very well.If it was me I would ask the owner about the lathe and see if he knows of any problems,if he would recommend anything that should be done before you put it to work.Just to do a good cleaning is alot of work in itself so how far do you go is up to you and if you can wait that long.If he says "put it to work"then do so if your happy with the way it looks.
I should say congrats to both you and the seller,fair price and you don't have to wait or look any longer----kroll