# Opinion wanted



## tonnyandre09 (Aug 8, 2021)

Hello

I just bought a Aasbrink lathe which is a Swedish made clone of the South Bend 9 and I knew it needed a good clean and I want to restore it as best I can to it's former glory. Now I am cleaning up the bedways and I know it is a bit worn, maybe alot I dont know. Beside the dings near the chuck, how worn is the bedways judging from the photos?


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## benmychree (Aug 8, 2021)

No way to access wear from pictures, you need an accurate straightedge and feeler gages to measure wear.


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## Asm109 (Aug 8, 2021)

Chuck up a 50 mm diameter chunk of aluminum.  Stick about 8 inches out of the chuck.
Take a light .01 inch cut.  Measure diameter of cut down the length of the bar. 
Is it precise enough for your needs?  Yes. done. Celebrate.


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## markba633csi (Aug 8, 2021)

Doesn't look too bad to me- I've seen worse
-Mark


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## FOMOGO (Aug 8, 2021)

Looks serviceable to me. Check top of the V-way to see if you can catch your fingernail on the top edge.  If so, that would indicate major wear. installing the carriage will give you a better idea overall. With the carriage gib adjusted at the chuck area to where the carriage moves freely with no side to side movement ( a dial indicator is useful here)  As you move the carriage toward the tail-stock it will most likely get harder to move, as most of the wear will be in the chuck area, first stone off any high spots near the chuck from the normal dings and such, then reajust the carriage gib for the best fit over the range of movement. There are much more involved ways of going about this, but this is generally sufficient for machines without major wear. Welcome to the forum. Mike


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## MrWhoopee (Aug 8, 2021)

The ways were apparently never flaked, suggesting they are hardened. Visually, assuming the first picture is from under the headstock, I see little to no appreciable wear or damage. This is far from conclusive, my eyes haven't been calibrated in a couple of decades. The fingernail test will tell more, and checking with an indicator with the carriage mounted even more, but at first blush I'd say you've scored a very nice machine.


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## brino (Aug 8, 2021)

That's looks better then the lathe I use!

-brino


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## sdelivery (Aug 8, 2021)

Brunettes


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## graham-xrf (Aug 9, 2021)

Firstly, looking critically for any sign of unworn surfaces showing manufacture oil retention flaking, there are some.

1. In the first picture, on the extreme left, near side, near the end by the bolt holes, there is unworn surface.

2. See on the right of the first picture, near the slot-head screw, on the tailstock way. This is a place just about where lathe bed emerges out from under the headstock, a place where the tailstock never goes. Usually, one should see unworn flaking surviving from under the headstock, but I am told the flaking can "disappear" over time from the effect tiny vibrational movements at the mating surface. Here we see flaking marks.

3. In the second picture, just to the left of the dings by the chuck position, there are the remnants of flaking. The top flat is a little rounded, but still fully defined. I cannot see any wear significant ridge.

4. In the third picture of the tailstock end, at the right, far side, the mottled effect was once flaking, but still no obvious wear ridge. There is a crazy spread of little scratches and dings on the near side tailstock flat that suggests it was clamped down on hardened chip debris, or abrasive particle junk.

5.  More markedly seen in the fourth picture, looking at the prismatic way on the extreme right, one can clearly see a flaked finish. That said, for everywhere else, there appears to be no wear ridge, or if it is there, it is minimal.

All the way along, the topmost little flat across the prismatics still has clearly defined edges. The dimensions of the Aasbrink lathe bed section may differ a little from the South Bend 9, and are possibly metric, but I am referring to surfaces E, N, and T in my sketch.



The apparent lack of clear, fingernail-drag detectable wear ridges on surfaces D, F, M, O, S, and U  suggest there just is not any significant wear. I wish my 9A looked like that!

It is a bit strange that the flaking should have so uniformly worn away most places, without wear ridges happening. That there were definitely flaking marks suggests that the ways are not hardened. I was going with @MrWhoopee on this, but I just don't know. Can a bed be induction or flame-hardened _after_ finish flaking? Could flaking be done even on a hardened surface? On hardened ways, does one rely on flaking on the saddle mating surfaces? Here is where we need someone who really knows!

To show you what one finds on a 9A strip-down, this picture is more typical of a 70-year old machine. Perhaps the Aasbrink is somewhat younger.




There are, in this forum, many detailed descriptions of how to test, measure, and evaulate a lathe. In the stripped down condition, one would use the saddle as a sliding platform to mount a dial test indicator testing down to the ways, and you can use a precision level, or other tricks to check for twist wind warp. When assembled, and capable of cutting, there is a separate set of tests involving turning test bars.

At least from a first look, I think most of us would be happy if our newly acquired machines looked to be in such good condition.


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## Richard King 2 (Aug 9, 2021)

You have a friend and student of mine in Oslo.   Send him an email and he can help you.  He has dozens of You Tube shows on machine rebuilding and scraping.  He did several on rebuilding Myford lathes

Jan Sverre Haugjord
jsv-h@online.no


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## tonnyandre09 (Aug 30, 2021)

Thanks for the replys. I did buy a new 10x22 chinese lathe last year, but I sold it. And then I bought this Swedish one and I sometimes regret it. I have it now in parts to clean all the debris and old oil off and have all these thick nasty coats of paint and repaint it. The regret is that it is alot of work to do this thing and without having the bed re ground there will be wear no matter how pretty she will be. But she should be able to perform ok for some more years?


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## tonnyandre09 (Aug 30, 2021)

Also here is some photos. The spindle and bearings has some wear. Probably lack of lubrication, but it is not too bad? Also not sure about the motor. It did came with its original motor, a swedish 3 phase motor. I did connect it with a capacitor and it did run, but is this a good longterm solution? 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			


























Sent fra min LYA-L29 via Tapatalk


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## rabler (Aug 30, 2021)

Putting a capacitor on a 3phase motor to run it single phase means you loose a significant amount of power.   I'll let others comment on exactly how much, and will depend on the size of the capacitor, etc.  I'd recommend building a real RPC, or use a VFD.

Bushings look pretty worn, but the real test is how loose the fit between the shaft and bushings, and what those shaft/bushings are use for?  If that's the main spindle, I'd want to polish the shaft and turn new bushings.


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## benmychree (Aug 30, 2021)

A worn spindle can be salvaged by regrinding it undersize and hard chrome application and re grinding back to it's original size.  But as others have said, what is important is the fit between the spindle and the bushings.


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## matthewsx (Aug 30, 2021)

I’d put it back together and run it. You’re unlikely to make it worse as long as there’s oil and it might be good enough for your needs.

John


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