# New (to me) SB 10L, aptly named "Heavy 10"



## Halfnuts (Nov 6, 2013)

Last Sunday I picked up my new SB 10L It's a model CL187A, Ser#13097RKL16.  Underdrive, cabinet model.  4' bed.  Came with a 6" 3-jaw, a 6-position turret and a bucket of tooling and assorted doo-dads.  Appears to have been made in 1962 when I was just 6 years old.  I'm its third owner.  Answered an ad in Craigslist and after talking with the seller arranged a deal whereby he agreed to hold it for me until I got there (115 mile drive) a few days later with a U-haul low bed trailer.  Now, this is my first lathe, and I'm a rank amateur, having only turned using a friend's Rockwell 10" lathe.  I figured a 10" lathe is a 10" lathe.  So it would be no problem rolling the lathe into the trailer on pipes.  Boy was I wrong.  When we backed into the driveway I first took a look at the lathe and was sort of taken aback by the sheer mass of the castings.  The 10L headstock compared to that of the Rockwell (which is a nice lathe) was like comparing the business end of a bulldog with that of a beagle.  I realized very quickly that loading the extremely top-heavy lathe was going to be a challenge.  

But first I inspected the ways and found that there were no dings or scratches or gouges, no ridge, and the scraping marks were still clearly visible on all the way surfaces, even just barely discernible in the high-wear area near the headstock.  Checked out all the gears, ran it in forward and reverse throughout the gear range and heard no funny noises.  Engaged the feeds and they worked.  So I paid the seller and then the fun began.  Most folks say I'm pretty well-growed, and I've never shied away from lifting heavier stuff than I should,* so I walked over to the light end of the lathe and lifted, expecting to be able to at least lift it onto a furniture dolly.  It didn't budge.  So I removed the tailstock and unbolted the bed from the ways and gave the light end another lift.  It didn't.  Hmmm.  Seller had a shop crane/engine hoist and I rigged a length of old rusty 3/16" chain to the cast webbing between and beneath the ways on either end, and tied rags around the spindle to keep the business end upright, and took a strain on the hoist.  The chain links began to stretch and would have broken had I kept at it.  So got some newer 1/4" chain and this time the bed came off the chip pan an inch or so.  Bounced the lathe this way and that to make sure if something was going to break it wouldn't have far to fall.  Then picked it up a little higher and rolled the shop crane over to the trailer and set the lathe in the bed on 4x8 blocks.  Drove 16D nails through the mounting holes into the blocks and secured the lathe in place using ratchet straps.

Then got under the ridiculously heavy cabinet (made from 1/4" steel plate -- Whose idea was THAT?) with a floor jack and balanced one end and sort of lifted the other end over to the trailer.  Managed to roll it up the ramp on rollers and tied it in place with clove hitches around the rails of the trailer.  The whole process actually took two of us 2 hours of nonstop work.  And had it not been for the floor jack and the seller's cherry picker, I'd still be there.

Drove home and Friend backed the trailer into my 2-car groj and easily lifted the lathe out of the trailer with a chain hoist suspended from an overhead joist.  It's nice to have a skyhook!  The ridiculously overbuilt cabinet rolled down the ramp without much difficulty and I placed the lathe back on top.

Now, while the lathe was in good physical condition, it had been sitting for some time unused.  There was no rust, but it was very dry and dirty.  So now I've got a project.  Need to strip a couple of coats of peeling paint off of most everything and thoroughly clean it before reassembly.  Ordered the SB recommended lubricants and a rebuild manual and "kit" from Ebay

I'll probably eventually get around to posting some pics of this very cool, but aptly named "Heavy 10."


Halfnuts

* That attitude caught up with me.  Was trying to right a 150 lb. old engine  flywheel that fell over in the bed of my truck and managed to tear my  biceps tendon off my radius 5 months ago which required surgery to  repair.


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## stevecmo (Nov 6, 2013)

Sounds like a beauty.  Nice score!  :thumbsup:


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## woodtickgreg (Nov 7, 2013)

Halfnuts said:


> Halfnuts
> 
> * That attitude caught up with me.  Was trying to right a 150 lb. old engine  flywheel that fell over in the bed of my truck and managed to tear my  biceps tendon off my radius 5 months ago which required surgery to  repair.



How ironic, while I was restoring my heavy ten I ruptured my bicep as well, had surgery, therapy etc. It's been over a year and I'm good as new, but it's always in the back of my mind. Your gonna have some fun restoring that lathe. :worthless:LOL, we really do like pics around here.


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## Halfnuts (Nov 8, 2013)

All right, your subtlety won me over :whiteflag:  There's another forum I used to be on that had the standing rule that if you make a claim and don't post a pic to back it up, the penalty was you had to post pics of your wife/S.O.'s boobs.  Fortunately, nobody took that seriously, but it got the noobs' attention and brought the point home.  

It was dark and my iphone doesn't take great pics under low-light conditions, and we were in a hurry to return the trailer and I had to get things put away in order to hit the rack so I could get up at 0530 Monday morning and not be a zombie the next day, so priorities weren't on photodocumentation.  I DO plan to document what I do from now on, however.

RE: the biceps tendon rupture, I had no idea the muscle was stronger than its attachment was to the bone.  I just pulled on the flywheel and up it came as I expected, but then I heard a sound like carpet tearing, and saw the skin over my elbow vibrating, and I let go of the flywheel in a hurry!  Wife, a R.N., was home, and she knew what had happened.  Went to the E.R., had a bunch of unnecessary tests done (don' know why they insisted on administering a colonoscopy!), then they pronounced the diagnosis, just what my wife said it was.

A week later they did the surgery and reattached the tendon to the bone which involved drilling a hole through the radius and suturing the tendon to the back side of the bone.  Still don't have much strength in that arm; the sturgeon warned me in the recovery room to not lift anything heavier than a coffee cup with that arm until he saw me again in 3 months.  He warned me that if I re-injure it, it can't be repaired.   

Then, the day after my one-week post-surgery exam, I was walking down the aisle at Home Depot with 4  8' 2x4s held in my un-injured arm and who do you suppose taps me on the shoulder?  The surgeon with his kids.  He did a quick assessment and said he was glad to see I wasn't using that arm.  Since we were in the middle of moving houses, I took it easy, but I managed to build 16' of storage shelving pretty much with one arm.  Pretty much.  Well, sorta'.  A guy's gotta build stuff.  It's in our genes.  After all, we ARE said to be the tool-using primate.  

Thanks for looking.


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## george wilson (Nov 8, 2013)

A nice late model!!


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## Halfnuts (Nov 8, 2013)

Yep, that's why I grabbed it.  Wanted the QCGB and wanted a later model, and it suddenly appeared.  Would have preferred a longer bed.  This one has the 4' bed.  But it was in good shape and hadn't been used in quite some time, so . . . 

The apron and gearbox are pretty stiff, and lots of dust has gotten in there, so I want to tear them apart and do a thorough cleaning before I reassemble.  

Now to read up on the teardown procedure and get dirty!


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## Bill C. (Nov 8, 2013)

Halfnuts said:


> All right, your subtlety won me over :whiteflag:  There's another forum I used to be on that had the standing rule that if you make a claim and don't post a pic to back it up, the penalty was you had to post pics of your wife/S.O.'s boobs.  Fortunately, nobody took that seriously, but it got the noobs' attention and brought the point home.
> 
> It was dark and my iphone doesn't take great pics under low-light conditions, and we were in a hurry to return the trailer and I had to get things put away in order to hit the rack so I could get up at 0530 Monday morning and not be a zombie the next day, so priorities weren't on photodocumentation.  I DO plan to document what I do from now on, however.
> 
> ...



Looks good to me.  Hope you and your machine have many projects ahead.  Don't be shy about asking for advise.


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## woodtickgreg (Nov 8, 2013)

Exact same surgery for me, did exactly what they said to do in therapy and stretched it often and worked it as they said. I continued therapy on my own for a few monthes after I was done with therapy. I am good as new now but still take it easy with that arm. Your lathe looks great! Thanks for the pics, LOL.:LOL: Keep the pics coming as we all like to watch another guy refurb his lathe.:thumbsup: I had a lot of fun doing mine and now she is a joy to use. I'll have fun watching your thread and your work.


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## itsme_Bernie (Nov 9, 2013)

I have the same stand- crackin' heavy!  How long is the bed?


Bernie


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## Halfnuts (Nov 9, 2013)

4' bed. The iPhone camera makes it look shorter.  I think we have the same lathe.  Serial number indicates it's from 1962.  Yes, that stand is heavy.  They call it "sheet metal" but it's 1/4" plate.  I was on the verge of shelling out the money for a Grizzly G4003G, but the lack of a backgear/slow speed capability and some quality concerns users expressed about them made me think I'd be better off buying old American iron and maybe having some age/wear issues to work around.  I think I made the right decision.


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## itsme_Bernie (Nov 9, 2013)

I LOVE my 10.  Backgears change your ability to machine.  Back gears and easy 5C are alone enough selling points for me!  

Ah yes, the pics just loaded...  Same machine.  I'm space cadet...  


Bernie


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