# Felt Kits



## doco (Apr 23, 2013)

Been looking for felt kit for a South Bend 16/24 - need complete set: tail stock, head stock, quadrant and lead screw drive, single tumbler quick change gear box, apron, saddle, cross slide, compound, et al.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.


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## Inflight (Apr 24, 2013)

Not exactly an answer to your question but I have successfully made my own custom felt wipers using sheets of felt from mcmaster-carr. I believe they have a selection guide to ensure you buy felt appropriate to your application. Use your old felt as a template and a sharp razor blade.


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## OldMachinist (Apr 24, 2013)

I looked for a kit for my 16" last year and didn't find one. I ended up cutting them myself.


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## doco (Apr 24, 2013)

OldMachinist said:


> I looked for a kit for my 16" last year and didn't find one. I ended up cutting them myself.



The Ilion rebuild manual calls for various types: type 1, type 3, etc. for which I don't see with McMaster and Carr and other online sources. What did you use and where did you get it?


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## OldMachinist (Apr 24, 2013)

I used felt from McMaster Carr for the 1/4" S2 grade wipers and 1/16" felts F1 grade. McMaster doesn't have anything for the 3/32" felts so I bought a piece of 3/32" F50 on Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/F50-SAE-PRE...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item3f2322388d


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## sharpshutr (Apr 24, 2013)

OldMachinist said:


> I looked for a kit for my 16" last year and didn't find one. I ended up cutting them myself.


Old Machinist the felt you sent me worked perfectly.  I slid a pipe cleaner through the counterbalance spindle wick notch.  Stripped down the cleaner almost to the wire then put a hole in the felt with a taper at the end. Folded wire back over the top and  pulled the pipe cleaner back through and  VIOLA!  New felt installed.


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## woodtickgreg (Apr 24, 2013)

Another way to do this might be to buy a kit for a 10 or 13 so you don't have to make all of the felts. Some of them may still be available from grizzly as they are the new distributor for south bend parts. I was able to get a few pieces from them for my 10L restore, they even had the round felts for the micrometer stop. Just might be another way to get things done easier but not necessarily cheaper, but the majority of the felts will be correct.


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## OldMachinist (Apr 24, 2013)

The only parts from a 10" or 13" kit that would work are the spindle capillary oilers and some of the felt strips. The rest of the 16" felt and gasket parts are different.


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## NITROTRIP (May 4, 2013)

Good Afternoon, There is a guy on ebay that sells soft kits and a rebuild book for the SouthBend lathes. I got 2 from him 1 for my 9" model A and 1 for my 14-1/2" The spindle felts/springs were as good as what I got from SouthBend the last time I did them. The book is worth the price alone. I am not a computer guy or I would post the link. He goes by the name stevewb. There are cheaper ones on there and I got one of them first and it was cheaper, not very good quality. His are VERY nice and I will use him again. I think he has them for other lathes as well, Atlas,Clausing, and I think even Bridgeports if I remember right. Good Guy. Take Care, RICK


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## bronk (May 9, 2013)

[I have to agree . I recently finished the rebuild of a 13 using Stevewb's book and felt kit. Saved a HUGE amount of time rather than puzzling it out on my own.


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