# upgrades for new South Bend Lathe



## mrtechnologist2u (Nov 29, 2012)

Hi all I am a new SBL 9A owner.  I picked it up about 2 months ago.  It is a 1942 vintage lathe that seems to be fairly well taken of.  But did have some play/runout in the spindle.

I found these videos very helpful:

_www.*youtube*.com/watch?v=5b650nVRInI       replace fibre washer with roller bearings and hardend steel washers
www.*youtube*.com/watch?v=K3c0iwFgORo       add shims to correct wear in spendle play

For the cost and ease these were amazing in their results in restoring some accuracy in the headstock

Adding the roller bearings to the outside left of the headstock made a big difference with out having to excessivly tighten the spindle retaining nut.
I found that for my first time digging into my lathe these were quick easy tasks with immediate tangible results!  Gave me much needed confidence!

The bearing job took less then 5 min.  The hardest part was getting the reverse lever out of the way to get the nut off.


I didnt see any mention of these on the site so I thought I would share.
I have nothing to do with the guy selling the bearings in ebay and in any event I believe they are available directly from auto parts stores

_


----------

