Moody lathe.... South bend clone made in canada ...

[Brain Coral]

After checking out the decal, I set to work to dismantle the back gear assembly as well as all of the gears on the outboard end of the headstock. I realize that these pics may be boring, but they are also a good record for me when it comes time to re-assemble the lathe.

Here goes...













So now I am about to remove the headstock from the bed of the lathe. The outboard bolt is accessible, but the inner bolt is not. So, I have determined that I will have to lift and suspend the bed, in order to remove the feet, which will then allow me access to the other bolt. After removing the headstock, I will then remove the bed rack gearing.

I will likely begin placing sets of parts into de-greaser while I work on the headstock. It looks like I will have to order a spanner wrench to remove the adjusting collar at the end of the spindle.

I should do a search here, but I am crazy busy and, yes, just a bit lazy.... but is there a PDF file on a South Bend 9 for parts? I'm thinking that this lathe is similar enough that a parts list might help me.

Cheers....

Brian

 

[Chuck K]

Usually the headstock is held to the bed by bolts and brackets. One in front and one in back. The bed is usually attached to the the legs with the bolts going through the chip pan. It appears someone has been using the machine to turn wood. That will gunk things up pretty good. You have some serious cleaning ahead of you.

Chuck

 

[Brain Coral]

Hello Chuck,

Yes, this headstock is the same with bolts and brackets. The outer bolt is fairly easy to get at, but the inner bolt will have to be accessed from underneath the bed, hence having to remove the feet from the bed. I'll post some pics of the procedure tomorrow.

Oh, the wood shavings.... It seems that the wood shavings have helped somewhat, by soaking up oil and grease and have kept the lathe free from rust. The clean up should be fairly straight forward with a little scraping with a plastic scraper, varsol on a rag and then into the de-greaser tub.

I'm not sure what the original colour of this lathe was and may find the colour behind where the leadscrew was. This lathe isn't a museum piece so I may paint it a different colour than what I think is original.

Brian

 

[Brain Coral]

Well, I'm back again... I was hoping to have a full day in the shop to work on the lathe, but a load of topsoil on my driveway, threatening to freeze solid got in the way. I did manage to sneak in there for a couple of hours, though. First, I needed to get a 16" Westcott's Chuck out of the de-greasing tub.. clean it up, oil the parts and put it back together, before I could resume work on the lathe. It's around 100 years old and came out of a local monastery.

It's one heavy bugger.... :yikes:

Here's a pic of the chuck...





In order to remove the headstock from the bed, I had to lift the bed up and remove the feet in order to get at the "chuck side" bolt of the headstock.

Here's a few pics of the procedure...




This first set-up was a bit sketchy and the lathe wanted to turn turtle, so I passed a rope through the spindle to steady things....



Headstock removed and on to the other foot...





After removing one of the bolts, a Quick-Grip clamp helped to hold the foot from binding the removal of the other bolts...




Same clamp to aid in the removal of the rack...



I still have to remove the legs from the chip pan and have several sub-assemblies to take apart, but I will start from the bottom up and work on each assembly in turn, de-greasing, cleaning and restoring oiling holes, etc. as I go, as well as freshly painting as I go along.

This is a fun little project for me and everything is relatively light. I cant remember ever having a lathe bed that I can pick up and move around without too much trouble.

Thanks for looking in.

Cheers...

Brian

 

[Chuck K]

Looks like your making progress. If you're planning on using that 16" chuck on it, you may have to relieve the ways a little. )

Chuck

 

[Brain Coral]

Looks like your making progress. If you're planning on using that 16" chuck on it, you may have to relieve the ways a little. )

Chuck

LMAO....

Yeah, me thinks that I may have to relieve right through the chip pan to about the middle of the legs...

Imagine the tourque required just to turn that chuck ?

 

[greenhornet-1]

Good score there!

 

[Brain Coral]

Hello Greenhornet,

Thanks.... I did pay $300.00 for it, so in this condition, I'm not sure what kind of deal I got, but in my neck of the woods, these little lathes don't come up that often. I did buy it with the idea that it would be a satisfying project to work on and clean up.

I've settled on a colour that has been mentioned on the Logan forum... Benjamin Moore Baby Seal Grey 2119-30.... I think that it will look real nice on this lathe. I had it made up in an alkyd enamel and will brush it on with a sponge brush, as I have all of my projects. This method seems to work well for this type of paint and for me.

I am looking forward to lots of shop time this weekend and will keep the pics and narrative coming.

Cheers...

Brian

 

[Brain Coral]

Hello all,

I'm back again with a little further progress. I had a few hours this afternoon, so I finished dimantling the rest of the lathe.... removed the bed, motor pivot bracket, motor mount and brace, chip pan from the legs and the wooden shelves from the legs.

Until this afternoon, I had assumed that these boards had been added by the previous owner, but now see that they are likely from the factory. There are two levels of bosses integral to the leg castings to support the boards. The top board is simply trapped between the legs by the assembly, while the bottom board is bolted through with carriage bolts and square nuts. I can see that this was meant to give more stability and rigidity to a top-heavy lathe. In addition, these boards provide a handy set of shelves for storage of chucks, steadies and tools.



This pic shows the bosses for the shelves...



Here's another pic of the decal on the leg casting after another cleaning. Before I cleaned it further, I took multiple pics so that I maybe can reproduce it as has been suggested.



I managed to clean the legs, chip pan and bed casting as well as giving them all the first coat of paint. Next, I will clean and paint the feet of the bed. I want to concentrate on these parts to have something to place the upcoming completed assemblies onto.












I am looking forward to lots more time in the shop this weekend.

Cheers...

Brian

 

[schor]

Nice job so far. Is it going to look like this one when it's done?

http://vintagemachinery.org/photoindex/detail.aspx?id=16668

Too bad there are no docs for it on the site.