- Joined
- Sep 25, 2014
- Messages
- 1,152
Not many post on S&B products, so I’ll get the ball rolling. This was another “treasure from the auction”. It is not the prettiest machine around, I’ve done a good bit of cleaning and servicing – everything works. There were a few must fix and quite a few nice to fix issues. I suppose the nice to fixes could go on almost indefinitely, however I’ve decided to call it good for now and use it. The machine is a joy to run. It is 50+ years old and configured nicer in a number of ways than my other lathe (a conventional gear jammer ~1980). Nicer as in: speed change on the fly (except for the back gear), longitudinal and cross feeds set up as to the left and inward (instead of to the left and outward), enough room between the saddle and the headstock for the micrometer stop, 5C collets direct into the headstock, quieter and the 40 position QCTP that I’ve added.
This machine also came from the local government surplus auction (used to be at one of the technical colleges here – one that I went to nearly 35 years ago) – same source as the Maho mill. Not too surprising that one of the mill accessories (the swing away, machine mounted shelves) were bundled with the lathe! As was the case with the mill, I was able to get original documentation for this machine.
It came with the standard kit: 3Jaw, 4Jaw, face plate, both steadies, collet drawbar, taper attachment. It has the same spindle mount as my other machine – I had been looking for a small 4 jaw chuck for the other machine. The one that came with the S&B is a very compact direct mount chuck and on one job I did on my larger lathe I needed the extra 3” of bed length that the low profile chuck provided me.
This machine was a more of a project than other machines I have taken on:
- cross slide thrust housing was broken (meaning the handwheel and bearings were in a plastic bag). The hypothesis is that the back end of the cross slide was hit during moving the machine out – which drove the slide outward. Ouch. I made a new one out of plate (turns out it would not have been very expensive to have purchased new).
- cross slide lead screw was worn pretty good (seems to be a common issue on this machine). This I made on my other lathe. I discovered 2 things making the lead screw:1. some jobs require use of a follower rest, 2. the follower rest that came with the lathe did not fit (looked to be correct as far as the paint job and the mounts) – I’d never used it in 32 years of owning the machine.
- quite a bit of play in the carriage hand wheel. Turned out the bearing that supported the pinion which engages the rack was worn – allowing the pinion to move away from the rack. The pinion is integral to the shaft. I made a new shaft, then bored out the center of the pinion and pressed/pinned the pinion onto the new shaft.
- I ended up disassembling the entire apron.
- purchased new saddle way wipers. This machine uses small little casings to capture felt wipers. None of the mounting screws lined up.
- the machine came with a Rapid Original tool post, but no holders. I fussed with the Aloris style holder from my other lathe. Finally purchased a 40 position set – really like it.
- the usual cleaning, lubricating and fixing of numerous little things.
Right now, this is my goto machine. The spindle brake is non-functional (pieces missing), so there is always a few seconds to wait for the spin down - that will be my excuse to get a VFD one day.
Regards, David
This machine also came from the local government surplus auction (used to be at one of the technical colleges here – one that I went to nearly 35 years ago) – same source as the Maho mill. Not too surprising that one of the mill accessories (the swing away, machine mounted shelves) were bundled with the lathe! As was the case with the mill, I was able to get original documentation for this machine.
It came with the standard kit: 3Jaw, 4Jaw, face plate, both steadies, collet drawbar, taper attachment. It has the same spindle mount as my other machine – I had been looking for a small 4 jaw chuck for the other machine. The one that came with the S&B is a very compact direct mount chuck and on one job I did on my larger lathe I needed the extra 3” of bed length that the low profile chuck provided me.
This machine was a more of a project than other machines I have taken on:
- cross slide thrust housing was broken (meaning the handwheel and bearings were in a plastic bag). The hypothesis is that the back end of the cross slide was hit during moving the machine out – which drove the slide outward. Ouch. I made a new one out of plate (turns out it would not have been very expensive to have purchased new).
- cross slide lead screw was worn pretty good (seems to be a common issue on this machine). This I made on my other lathe. I discovered 2 things making the lead screw:1. some jobs require use of a follower rest, 2. the follower rest that came with the lathe did not fit (looked to be correct as far as the paint job and the mounts) – I’d never used it in 32 years of owning the machine.
- quite a bit of play in the carriage hand wheel. Turned out the bearing that supported the pinion which engages the rack was worn – allowing the pinion to move away from the rack. The pinion is integral to the shaft. I made a new shaft, then bored out the center of the pinion and pressed/pinned the pinion onto the new shaft.
- I ended up disassembling the entire apron.
- purchased new saddle way wipers. This machine uses small little casings to capture felt wipers. None of the mounting screws lined up.
- the machine came with a Rapid Original tool post, but no holders. I fussed with the Aloris style holder from my other lathe. Finally purchased a 40 position set – really like it.
- the usual cleaning, lubricating and fixing of numerous little things.
Right now, this is my goto machine. The spindle brake is non-functional (pieces missing), so there is always a few seconds to wait for the spin down - that will be my excuse to get a VFD one day.
Regards, David
