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Southbend 9 x 48 - How worn is too worn?
- Thread starter Taz
- Start date
Well as luck would have it, his buddy backed out and I have another shot at it. I'm going over in a few hours with some more appropriate measuring tools to take a closer look and see how it all runs. Crossing fingers, I think he'll come down a bit too.
Mine is worn more than this but for the price I coudn't pass it up. I paid $20 for a South Bend 16x8 with 2 3 jaw chucks a faceplate and a taper attachment. So I can do some work and still come out way ahead. I am striping and painting it now. It was an ugly green and most of the paint was flaking off.
Yeah, you can't beat $20.00 there worth more than that to the scrap yard! This one appears to originally have been green, but was poorly painted blue. It definitely has some character left over from previous owners, but after close inspection today, nothing appears to be out as much as .01. .006 was the worst variance I could find anywhere. I'll post some pictures later tonight. I'm gone on business for the rest of the week, but I gave him some cash, and he agreed to hold it as long as I needed. Very nice guy!
As it turns out, the guy felt really bad about selling it to his buddy. I liked him right off the bat, so I wasn't offended in the least that he wanted to take care of a friend since I hadn't put money in his hands yet. In the end... Nice guys still win!!
Here you can see some of the wear in the front v-way, and what looks like a couple of bad dings that were ground out.
I brought a couple of magnetic bases and indicators, some drill rod, a straight edge, some feelers, and measured every combination of things I could think of from saddle to ways, saddle to chucked drill rod, tail stock to ways, checked all the movement in the cross-slide etc... The worst it was out as far as movement goes was .006. Not awesome in any way, but for my current use case, it's more than acceptable. Also it's a machine I don't mind throwing a little time/money at down the road. Most of what I want to fix is cosmetic, the rest I can nibble away at in my spare time.
From the tail down.
Steady rest.
Motor and gear box.
Taper attachment.
Should be a fun project... Plus, come this weekend... I'm a first time lathe owner!!
Chad
Here you can see some of the wear in the front v-way, and what looks like a couple of bad dings that were ground out.
I brought a couple of magnetic bases and indicators, some drill rod, a straight edge, some feelers, and measured every combination of things I could think of from saddle to ways, saddle to chucked drill rod, tail stock to ways, checked all the movement in the cross-slide etc... The worst it was out as far as movement goes was .006. Not awesome in any way, but for my current use case, it's more than acceptable. Also it's a machine I don't mind throwing a little time/money at down the road. Most of what I want to fix is cosmetic, the rest I can nibble away at in my spare time.
From the tail down.
Steady rest.
Motor and gear box.
Taper attachment.
Should be a fun project... Plus, come this weekend... I'm a first time lathe owner!!
Chad
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2012
- Messages
- 1,552
Congratulations on things working out in the end. She looks like she has a lot of potential. Should be a fun project bringing it back to a good user. looks like everything is there and just needs a good cleaning and paint. I would rewick it though.
Just ordered one of those rebuild kits on eBay. Looks like it came with all the wicks/felts etc. Anybody used one of his rebuild manuals?
I think I'm looking forward to the rebuild just as much as making my first chips. I've wanted a lathe and a milling machine since I was a little boy. 50% goal achievement!
I think I'm looking forward to the rebuild just as much as making my first chips. I've wanted a lathe and a milling machine since I was a little boy. 50% goal achievement!
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2012
- Messages
- 1,552
Yup, I used em, I bought both the wick kit and the manual. The manual is not exact to each machine as south bend made little changes over the years and the manual I used covered the heavy 10l, 13, 14 1/2, and 16, I think the one for the 9 also covers the 10k
They are all basicly the same just scaled up or down in size. The manual gives a lot of tips on how to disassemble the parts without causing damage, it is a great resource with lots of tips and pictures. Even if your lathe is not exactly as pictured it gives enough info to figure it out. Well worth the purchase price in my opinion.
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2012
- Messages
- 1,380
Yep. Just like Greg, I found the rebuild kit to be of valuable assistance, and of course you get all the felts, wicks, etc.. so I think it's worth it too. Just -take- -your- -time- tearing her down. Try to ensure you're driving out those taper pins from the gears/shafts from the small end. I just went thru a horror trying to get out a pin from the transverse gear/shaft because I think the PO put it in backwards. Anyway, good for you on your new lathe, bro! Any assistance we can give just let us know. There's other guys way more experienced than me with these things and everyone here is top notch and good people so you've come to the right place.
