South Bend A 9" 3 1/2

[Dragon]

HI,




I just bought an Old south bend Model A 3 1/2 from somebody bought it for some wood work and he didn't want it anymore, somebody told me I paid little high for it!

I paid $500 and the lathe is missing tail stock, thread dial, counter shaft, motor


it comes with old tool post and original south bend 3 jaw check!


first I got it home I test the check with my dial (run out indicator) and show about .001 thousands of an inch) then I removed the check and test the spindle from the inside and from the outside was little space after the thread and the reading for both was 0.00 so there was no movement, the head stock is holding nice and tight!


then I took the saddle in parts to check the gears and all seems to be good!


The BED and the way are fine but there are a lot of dent and heavy scratches near the head stock , don't know if that will effect the quality of the precision!


the Goal is to use this lathe for my RC helicopter parts fabrications, everybody may know that the Helicopter motors and the shafts run in High RPM's and any run out will cause a big vibrations and my could crash the model!


so I need almost 0.000 run out! it's may sound impossible to have that quality with these old lathes but I am trying to spend around $3000 total for getting what I want


now I need your guys advises about either keep it or sale it and get an another one!

I am very new to this and need your help please!


Thank you

 

[atwatterkent]

3 jaw chucks always have runout. Some more than others depending on wear. You only need a thread dial if you're planning on threading and even then it's not absolutely necessary. I would suggest that for repeatable near zero runout that you pick up a spindle nose adapter, draw bar and some 3C collets to cover what you need. They are readily available by 64ths from 1/16" up to 1/2". These accessories are readily available on flebay.
You will also need a tailstock, countershaft, on/off switch and motor.

 

[Dragon]

thank you for the quick responding! that is why I love this website always good people and great info
do you know what kind of dc motor I will need I saw some ebays vfd and motors for around $200 but not sure what kind and what kv and rpm I will need

I will start looking for for the spindle nose and the draw bar with some collets, but is there any different between the SB model C and model A? let say if I find counter shaft, spindle nose, draw bar and collets for model C or B are they all the same and will fit my lathe?

I asked some ebay seller about his tail stock for model C and he reply to me and said (sorry C model tail stock will not fit on A model)!!

can you please give me some idea if these parts will fit any A B C models?

thank you again!

 

[atwatterkent]

A SB Model A has a quick change gear box, Model B uses change gears to set threading and saddle feed. Model C uses change gears for threading and has no separate saddle feed except with the half nuts. The head stock and tail stock are interchangeable between models unless it's an old "heavy 9" which you don't have. Many people add a QCGB to convert a Mod C or B to a Mod A. Yours is a standard Mod A with both x and y axis auto feed.
Most SB collet systems also include a thread protector to protect the spindle threads.
All the spindle nose threads (1 1/2-8) and inside tapers, regardless of model, are the same on a 9" lathe.
Any AC, 120V, 1725 rpm, 1/3 or 1/2 motor will do just fine.

 

[Dragon]

thank you for sending these pic's, so any AC motor or maybe vfd with dc motor will be good start
I will finish this lathe getting the tail stock, I just bought the Gear Guard and the hunting is continuing!

also I found this lathe on ebay, I emailed the owner, he lives in Texas and I asked him for more pics for the bed and the ways, if it's good enough and worth the shipping, I will then get it to my garage!
just to own an excellent and perfect lathe will be a bonus.

here is the link for it
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SOUTH-BEND-...373?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25a1e3906d

 

[atwatterkent]

Seems awful high to me. I bought my first 9" in better shape for half that with more tooling.

 

[Dragon]

wish I can get one in that price ($500) I will pay another $500 just to get fine machine man! frustrating

 

[Dragon]

I found this 4" Bed on ebay, I sent the owner request to send me some more clear pics to the bad areas, the goal is to get excellent condition bed, so he was a nice guy and sent me these pics;

what do you think? what you give this bed from 100% ? is it really excellent? again I need really accurate machine for my hobby use, any bad bed with run out will get me to more problems with the High RPM's

http://www.ebay.com/itm/South-Bend-...213?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a4d355105

thank you for taking the time to get me in the right line!

 

[compsurge]

Don't chase 0.000" runout too much. Your machine will only get you so far - hopefully it will meet your needs. You will have to use your skill. I'm not sure what materials you will be using, but if you are using steel, you may want to look into a tool post surface grinder to meet your accuracy requirement.

You can get your bed and saddle reworked. Depending if it is a hardened or soft bed, you can have this done with a planer and hand scraping (soft bed) or a bed grinder (flame hardened). The rebuilders can also work your saddle and put Turcite on the underside to create a new surface and bring the saddle height back up to alignment with the leadscrew, tailstock, and headstock. I would venture to say for your accuracy requirement, this would likely be the route to take.

 

[Dragon]

Thank you Tim for your explanation, I will definitely go with the tool post grinder since it can get me close to .000 !

I don't know about my bed and my saddle if they are hardened or soft! so did you mean what I need is finding somebody can grind my bed and my saddle?

see that is why I was looking to buy just better Bed or just better lathe and save more time and headache, I heard from somebody that this can cost almost $1000

yesterday I rechecked the chuck, I put the shaft in, and I start spinning the chuck with my hand and the indicator reading was less than .001 . BUT when I push the chuck hard against me or against the wall the reading is .002 -.003 maybe there is a movement in my spindle !!

the problem is that most of the lathes out there are not in a great shape anymore, and I understand it's simply because they are super old, and IF I will again say if I find some good once then it's far a way from where I live or the seller refuse to sale them by shipping (local pick up only)

here is the other found just today;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SOUTH-BEND-...9221&clkid=4647927694943446685&_qi=RTM2062266


I think in my very simple experience this lathe is original in a great shape and the paint is original (please don't take my word as it's 100% right! but this is what I see through the listing photo, but again the seller refuse to ship!!! what a problem..

thank you