# "new "south Bend 10l In The Waiting-tolerances



## razinman (Apr 17, 2015)

Hi All,
                         As I start cleaning up the lathe , I was thinking about the tolerances of this one.
  Before I bought it, I tried to do some tests that were recommended , tested main spindle
 with a dial indicator , saddle , handles for backlash, and bedways for unevenness all  fine.
                        As I read , the are a few who actually scrap the beds.  What tolerances are we
 looking for, in the beds, spindle, and backlash.

                   Any help would be appreciated..Thanks


    Regards................Raz


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## 4GSR (Apr 17, 2015)

Forget trying to check for "slop".  Any used machine will have "slop" in it, regardless.  
The first thing I do when looking at a "candidate" machine to buy is a visual inspection.
Feel the ways surfaces for ridges and smoothness and any other irregularities. 
If the ways look good, do this for the cross slide, and the cross slide looks good, no linear streaks on the slides, the machine should be good to go.  
Next thing to do is engage the half nuts and crank the carriage back and forth and see how much slop that exists.
Spin the spindle by hand, should be free and smooth on one of these lathes.
Check the tail stock for slop.
Last, put the machine under power and do some cutting.  Do the simple test of a piece of material about 1"-1 1/2" in diameter chucked up with about 2" sticking out of the chuck.  Do roughing cut then do a finishing cut.  Measure the diameters at each end.  Measuring with mike's, should read "zero" difference in the diameters.  Any difference will indicate wear, alignment issues.  Next do a two collar test.  There is plenty of information on doing this on this forum as well as on others out there.

Regardless, your lathe will not be a perfect machine.  But you can make it do anything you want.  I have four lathes and everyone of them act differently from each other!  And have it's own set of problems and issues I just live with.  Some of the issues I have fixed, others I have not.


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## compsurge (Apr 17, 2015)

Here is an example test card from the SB 9". I think there is a 10L test card floating around as well.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...south-bend-model-tool-room-model-testcard.jpg


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## chips&more (Apr 17, 2015)

4gsr has the right idea, just use it, and enjoy it. Maybe fix the problem(s) maybe not, all depends. For now, I would just use it…Good Luck, Dave.


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## razinman (Apr 18, 2015)

4gsr said:


> Forget trying to check for "slop".  Any used machine will have "slop" in it, regardless.
> The first thing I do when looking at a "candidate" machine to buy is a visual inspection.
> Feel the ways surfaces for ridges and smoothness and any other irregularities.
> If the ways look good, do this for the cross slide, and the cross slide looks good, no linear streaks on the slides, the machine should be good to go.
> ...


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## razinman (Apr 18, 2015)

compsurge said:


> Here is an example test card from the SB 9". I think there is a 10L test card floating around as well.
> 
> http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...south-bend-model-tool-room-model-testcard.jpg


 Thanks......I looked for one for the 10L


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## razinman (Apr 18, 2015)

chips&more said:


> 4gsr has the right idea, just use it, and enjoy it. Maybe fix the problem(s) maybe not, all depends. For now, I would just use it…Good Luck, Dave.


 Thanks............Razinman


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## chips&more (Apr 18, 2015)

razinman said:


> Thanks............Razinman



I should have said a little more. IMHO, if the lathe has chatter then definitely find out why and fix it. But if it cuts a taper, has backlash, can see wear, paint job, etc. All these things can be fixed if needed and at your leisure. Also a good/new chuck would be very high on my list to get. Get the best chuck your wallet can handle. And a set-tru would be the only kind you will see in my shop. And a good tool holder as well…Aloris. You will find that you can easily spend much more on the accessories than the lathe itself…Good Luck, Dave.


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## razinman (Apr 18, 2015)

chips&more said:


> I should have said a little more. IMHO, if the lathe has chatter then definitely find out why and fix it. But if it cuts a taper, has backlash, can see wear, paint job, etc. All these things can be fixed if needed and at your leisure. Also a good/new chuck would be very high on my list to get. Get the best chuck your wallet can handle. And a set-tru would be the only kind you will see in my shop. And a good tool holder as well…Aloris. You will find that you can easily spend much more on the accessories than the lathe itself…Good Luck, Dave.


 
   Hi Dave,

                     Thank you for the info, the test I did was on the headstk spindle was to use a dial indicator with a magnetic base, I noticed when the lathe
  was running it has very little if any movement(+/-0.001) when it was in contact with the threaded spindle (outside measurement) like I said ,I haven't  
  taken a proper measurement of the bedways as of yet.
                 Anyway , I keep on learning new things each day.
                 My moto is "IF IT WORKS DON'T FIX IT"(LOL)!

                   Best Regards...............Kerry


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