# South Bend Heavy 10 Basket Case And Rebuild



## Rodney Young (Jun 12, 2016)

I was in the market for a bigger lathe than my little 6 x 12 Atlas. Its a great little lathe and I was able to put it in my basement so was/ is a good idea for those cold winter days when I want to play.
  However after using it a few times the limitations were obvious...being a newbie I of course had to start somewhere and it was so darn cute I couldn't help myself. It was also a good learning experience in rebuilding an old machine that gave me the confidence to take on the Heavy 10 basket case!
  I saw this one on Kijijii a while ago for $450.00 so I knew there were likely to be some issues, I knew before hand that the bull gear was broken, no tooling, motor or belts included either. Looked like it had likely been purchased for the parts that were removed which turned out to be the case.
  Made arrangements to see it and since it is almost 4 hour round trip I told the guy I would take it in whatever condition it was in providing all the parts were there, you know, covers, legs, gears and stuff? I knew he had partially disassembled the unit so we would have no problem loading it on my little tilt trailer.
  When I got there he had it all set out in front of the storage unit so I got a good look at the various parts. 
  This is where it gets interesting!! I'm definately no detective but it was obvious that someone had spent a lot of time cleaning, painting, and SORT of rebuilding the unit. First thing I checked was for play in the main spindle bearings and yup, at least .015 to .020 of play!! I could see the shims and knew they were not standard and the seller told me he had the spindle out and it was if pretty fair condition, I figured parts are still available if worse came to worse and the rest of the unit appeared to be in very nice condition, especially for a 70 plus year old unit.
 Time for some pictures?




The parts shown of the tooling, chuck etc. was a separate purchase from the seller but the price was very good as we were able to make a trade for a rotary table I had that was too big to be of use to me! Got a steady rest from him also that was pretty nice of him to throw in on the deal.
	

		
			
		

		
	



   I'm in the process of stripping everything down to the last nut , bolt, and screw. Including the reversing switch that had badly burnt contacts......oh and did I mention I'm also proceeding with repairs to the parts on the headstock assm. that I damaged when I dropped this part on the nice soft concrete floor in my garage!!!!     I had it removed from the bed as a separate assembly so this type of thing wouldn't happen then proceeded to drop it off the cart and onto the floor (probably 2 1/2 foot drop!). Oh well nothing another $100.00 or $200.00 wont fix. I think I hurt my pride as much as my wallet when I pulled such a bone head move.
  Rodney


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## woodtickgreg (Jun 12, 2016)

And the journey begins! I'll be watching. I love this kind of stuff.


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## Rodney Young (Jun 12, 2016)

So I'm going to detail the specs. of the machine here so I know where to find them, recorded them about 3 times already and keep losing the paper!
  The machine is a South Bend 10L as noted before.
  Serial number 1202RKL8
  Cover says Swing 10", Bed length 4 feet, and catalog number 187R
  From what I have been able to find its a 1948 vintage.
  I also found a separate smaller stamping on the bed between the ways towards the back of the machine. (UB103) directly across from the serial number. Any idea what this is anyone?
  As I disassemble the machine I am finding an odd light green in some places and a cream color white in others so not sure what the original color was.
  More pics from this morning, I have started disassembly of the components but put the bed back on the legs so I could bolt some of the components back on so they couldn't fall off the bench again!!


  The beginning of the reassembly of major components.


Not a very good picture of the ways near the head stock, but shows the minor scratches/ abrasions, and wear, I had expected much worse, will not know the extent of the wear until I check out the saddle and apron and reassemble them no gouges or lip that would show where the lathe was most used and the way area on the saddle looks really good also. Has its share of dings from items being dropped on the bed and the ways though!!



  The lead screw actually looks like brand new, don't think it could be the original.


The spindle is actually in a lot better shape than it looks in the photo with all the reflections from the flash! The only real wear is in the back gear area, likely wasn't oiled often enough.


  New (to me) replacement bull gear was purchased yesterday from Ebay. This is one of the reasons I got the lathe for such a good price!
	

		
			
		

		
	



  Is this wear on the outside of the bushing that is obviously from the expander normal?


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## woodtickgreg (Jun 12, 2016)

No that is not normal, that is from someone installing the bearing cap with the expander still attached and crushing it into the bearing. I would just do a little work with a small fine file to smooth it out and make sure the dovetail angle is still good. Your lathe has a lot of potential! I would also buff the spindle to polish it.


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## John C (Jun 13, 2016)

Recently completed a similar restore of a 10L. Lots of time involved, but it was well worth it.  Find the SB publication that describes how to adjust the bearings. It's a very specific sequence of tightening the bearing caps and dovetail screws. I think it's in the Keep your lathe in trim bulletin which is stickied on the forum. Allow yourself several hours, and your complete attention while adjusting the headstock for spindle play. Those bearings should fixable.

Have fun!


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## John C (Jun 13, 2016)

There's a guy on eBay who makes and sells die cut laminated shim kits for 10L - Heavy 10 lathes for $50US. After making my own shims, his offering seems like a real bargain.


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## Rodney Young (Jun 14, 2016)

John C said:


> There's a guy on eBay who makes and sells die cut laminated shim kits for 10L - Heavy 10 lathes for $50US. After making my own shims, his offering seems like a real bargain.


Thanks John,
  I'm going to make my own, just bought about $100 worth of various thicknesses of shim stock as I need some for my Milling machine vertical adjustment and some for the head stock and for the saddle on the 10L. Also got some to make gas checks for my cast bullets so figured get it all at once and I should be set for life!
  Rodney


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## Rodney Young (Jul 7, 2016)

So the parts are finally rolling in, got the back gear shaft, the bull gear , the shim stock and other items. Went to check on the counter shaft bearings that I had to special order. They told me 3 weeks and hadn't heard anything.......they can't find the order!!! So I guess another 3 weeks for those!
  In the mean time I have been working on the head stock getting it ready for the shim replacement and fixing the bearings where they had been damaged by the previous owner. The brass or copper sleeves where the main bearing wicks sit were pushed into the housing (one flush and the other just barely protruding) Had to damage the one that was down flush getting it out. I am assuming these parts are no longer available so am going to make my own. Was going to use a bronze bushing and bore it out but will be too brittle I think when it is bored thin enough for the wicks to fit in them. Any reason why I shouldn't make them from stainless?
   Or if the proper ones would be available any ideas on who I should contact to try to order them?
  Rodney


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## woodtickgreg (Jul 7, 2016)

Rodney Young said:


> Any reason why I shouldn't make them from stainless?
> Or if the proper ones would be available any ideas on who I should contact to try to order them?
> Rodney


Because the stainless would wear out the shafts. I would make them out of brass.


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## Rodney Young (Jul 8, 2016)

woodtickgreg said:


> Because the stainless would wear out the shafts. I would make them out of brass.


The sleeve would not protrude through the bearing to contact the shaft but I think I will try to find some brass just to keep it as close to original as possible.
  Rodney


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## Rodney Young (Jul 15, 2016)

So I made some new brass sleeves for the headstock wicks to sit in and also to protrude into the bearings properly, had to sacrifice an old friend as the only brass I had was brass shaft that I have been using for over 30 years to drift pins in and out as well as the occasional bearing cup when desperate!


The caliper is holding part of the old one so you can see the angle that the part protruding into the oil reservoir is cut at to the left is one of the new ones that just needs the oil holes drilled in it, top is the solid brass shaft that was sacrificed, still will be long enough for most of what I use it for anyway.
   The angle was milled and the bore drilled out on my chinese lathe/ mill combo that I bought last week because the price was right!


This picture shows the original sleeve in the rear bearing it only protrudes about 1/8 inch and when I probe the drain holes they are partially blocked from this sleeve being too low so "out it comes", the front one is already out as it was pushed completely flush with the spindle bore.
  As you can see in the first picture I had to cut out a portion of the original sleeve so I could extract it, with the angled part at the bottom I couldn't get any purchase on the sleeve to pull it up.
  Rodney


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