Author Topic: New Toy for the Shop  (Read 9807 times)

Offline nel2lar

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New Toy for the Shop
« on: March 17, 2012, 09:30:37 PM »
I was at a junk yard. In the US that is where old cars go when the owner it tired of the car or truck. Well in the junk yard this man has a garage that is open to the weather, dust, and grim. There on his floor was sitting an old lathe. After looking at it I realized it was a South Bend. I ask the owner if it might be for sale? After I visited about 6 times, he told me what it would take to carry it home. Well, I could not wait I had to find some money, saving my pennys would not do it. I got the money up and went and picked it up. The lathe turned out to be a South Bend 10K. It had no tooling but it had a South Bend Taper Attachment that was worth more than what I paid for the lathe. I've uploaded some pic of it in the state I picked it up. Dirty filthy and nothing but the cross slide worked. The compound was so bad it took me about 30 minutes to get it off the cross slide. Then it took an hour to dissasemble it to free it up. After that I started to try to remove all the layers of gunk. After two days it look like a lathe. Now I need some advice, I never attempted anything like this and I am flying blind. And it doesn't feel good. I do not want to do something that will cost me to fix down the road. Any input would be appricated.
Nel2lar

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2012, 11:19:02 PM »
Hiya nel2lar  :wave:

1st, welcome to the collective :borg:

I haven't done any machine restoration. Yet. We have a few people here who have though. Somebody will jump on and give some advice better than what I can. All I can say is; clean, clean and measure.

I never get lucky enough to find something like that.

Eric
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Offline Dean W

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2012, 11:31:18 PM »
Now I need some advice, I never attempted anything like this and I am flying blind.
Advice about what, Nelson?  If you can be specific in your questions it will help folks give you specific answers.
Someone may advise you to paint it gray, when what you want to know is where to get belts.
Dean W.

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Offline DavidBraley

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2012, 11:51:29 PM »
That's a wonderful looking old machine! Clean it up, oil everything and make a good solid stand or bench for it. Put it up at a height that is comfortable for you.

Not much advice to give but to just start playing with it. Lots of beginner info on the web about how to use a lathe. Youtube has some videos too. Be safe, and most important, when you're leaning in to get a look at your finish, keep your mouth shut! Those hot chips are murder on the tongue....  :doh:

-David

Horsepower determines how fast you hit the wall. Torque determines the size of the hole you make.

Offline pjf134

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2012, 12:39:42 AM »
 Since the lathe was sitting out and not used for awhile I would remove the spindle and clean everything up and add new wicks for the spindle then go from there. E-bay has books, felts and wicks in a kit for sale and would be good to have when doing a teardown. If your not getting oil to the shafts you could do some costly damage. The worst part to take apart is the gear box so be prepared for some fun doing that. Taking apart was easy, but getting it back together is another story. Look at the right side of the bed near the tailstock and you will find some numbers stamped on it with maybe some letters after the numbers like NAR10, this will tell you what you have like gear box, taper attachment ect. and any specials that came with it. The numbers date the lathe and you will need this to get the right kit. If you give me the numbers I can look up and see what year it was sold and shipped. I redid my SB9A about a year ago and I have been using it since. Before doing the spindle look in the book or ask, if done right it takes about 10 minutes to remove with out breaking anything.
 Paul
To error is human, but doing it a second time takes a better excuse!

Offline MikeA

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2012, 10:52:12 AM »
Hello Net2Lar,

Congratulations on your lathe - a real iconic workhorse that is well loved and used by many. Getting the taper attachment is all the the good as it is evidently the rarest of the accessories.

You seem to have already made good headway with the cleanup - hard to believe it's the same taper attachment!

One thing I'd suggest is you look into electrolytic rust removal - it's simple, inexpensive, safe, and you can't overdo it as it only removes the rust, not the good metal. Most of what you see as rust on your machine is superficial and once removed and a bit of 'elbow grease' applied, you'll be amazed at the difference.

Insofar as where to go/what to do - I strongly suggest you document, document, and document again. It's easy to think "I'll remember how this goes back together." but six months later.................. :doh:

A 'point & shoot' camera is your friend! It is impossible to have too many photos to help figure out how things fit.

Take it slow and easy, ask for help/direction as necessary, and you'll end up with a machine to be proud of that will do real work!
'Better is the enemy of good enough!'

Offline Swarfing

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2012, 07:25:31 PM »
Definitely make note of the shims under the bearings if there are any? I rebuilt a 13" SB and because i missed this bit took an absolute age to get the spindle to run right. To clean mine up i just used caustic soda and wire brush, this removed all the paint as well. You do need to make sure you rinse and dry it properly straight afterwards.
Once in hole stop digging.

Offline nel2lar

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2012, 10:09:17 PM »
I want to thank each and every one that responded. All I was was info which many were gracious to give the advice I was looking for. I have taken a lot of pics and will post as I think it needs updating. The stand I built to hold the machine is welded and bolted to a concrete floor and block wall. I take some pics as I get back at it. The height is a little bit higher than I wanted but will work out fine. My legs have been giving me problems for years and standing is no longer an option. So I thought I would make a rolling box with a seat on top to park my butt. Using the box for tooling parts etc. Lot of good ideas so I'll be busy for a while. Again thanks to all I'll try to keep up to date.
The lathe # and description is:
South Bend 10K
Serial #40371 K
Catalog # CL670RD/428
Bed length 4 1/2
Hope that is what you were asking for. I will need to make a adapter to put a 3 and 4 jaw on it. It come with nothing but the pulley set up. The taper attachment is the harder one to remove or it could have been gone.
 :)  :D :ddb: :) :D :ddb: :) :ddb: :) :ddb:
Nelson Collar

Offline nel2lar

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2012, 10:32:16 PM »
 Paul
I looked at your pics and nice machine. I uploaded a couple of pics with the numbers.
Nelson Collar

Offline pjf134

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2012, 12:53:56 AM »
 Nelson,
  The pics of my lathe was when it was getting done. When I got mine nothing moved at all because of surface rust. The lathe was not used much as all gears were like new and not broken, except a handle for the cross slide. The oil dried up in the gear box from sitting and was stuck shut with the taper pins facing the wrong way to remove and that is why it took longer than anything else. I did look the serial number up and it comes up at 12/2/88 for being made and is a 10K. I will look a little deeper as I thought there should be more letters after the serial no. or someone added the taper attachment later. If you buy a chuck keep in mind that South Bend has a special fit for screw on chucks so no other ones will fit unless you alter it, I guess so you would buy from them. If you do buy the kit with a book read it twice before teardown unless you feel Lucky. Once you do one they become easy. Ask before tearing in to something, it be go a lot easier that way once you know what to do.
 Paul
To error is human, but doing it a second time takes a better excuse!

Offline Swarfing

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2012, 03:09:40 AM »
Here was mine after she was rebuilt. It is worth joining the the yahoo SB group as well, these guys have a wealth of knowledge and info you could use.
Once in hole stop digging.

Offline joshagrady

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2012, 05:51:05 AM »
As a sort of "for what it's worth" comment, I've seen this seller and his product mentioned in several threads: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rebuild-Book-Kit-for-South-Bend-Lathe-10L-Heavy-10-/160588106078?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2563cc095e#ht_1574wt_906

I have never actually seen his product nor do I have any affiliation with the seller, but you might ask him a few questions an see if the manual he offers would serve as a helpful orientation.

Good luck, and congratulations on your acquisition.

Offline nel2lar

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #12 on: March 19, 2012, 08:31:22 AM »
Thanks Guys
For the wealth of info. I checked EBay before and could not find what you sent. Thanks. My machine is the cleaning up very nicely. I got to put it on hold. Its planting time in the south. And I do not know what I'd do with out the garden. Cost keep going higher on everything we buy so try to offset it some. Again thanks a bunch, you have given me peace of mind about going on with the 10K.
Nelson Collar

Offline rowbare

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #13 on: March 19, 2012, 03:46:09 PM »
Check out the Pratical Machinst South Bend forums. There are a lot of friendly and knowledgeable people there. Also there are several Yahoo groupd devoted to these machines.

bob

Offline nel2lar

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #14 on: March 19, 2012, 11:25:40 PM »
Bob
Thanks, I'll check Practical and see what they have. :beer:

To all that is following:
I took the apron off today and, well I guess I should have gotten the book. It was not the easiest thing I took apart. I started out taking pics and wouldn't ya know it the batteries died in the middle. Well, I will clean everything up tomarrow and start to reassemble. Hopefully I brain has backed up the memory. I will need it. Here are some of the pics, after I finished and got my shower I put new batteries in the camera and took a pic of the apron drive gear. And I must say I was surprised at how good all the gears looked.
Nelson Collar :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :Doh: :scratch:

Offline nel2lar

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #15 on: March 19, 2012, 11:33:29 PM »
Paul
When I was looking at the machine I read somewhere that between the v-ways was a number, well there is. The numbers are DDB301KG. Maybe you can find out some more info on my machine. Again thanks for everything.
Nelson Collar

Offline nel2lar

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Re: New Toy for the Shop
« Reply #16 on: March 21, 2012, 10:42:04 PM »
I conquered the apron. I took my apron apart and I took the suggestions and well it was the easiest thing I took on. I dissembled it and started taking pics but the battery died. So I continued and it worked out. Cleaned all the parts and blew them off with air then put a coat of oil on them. Then the fun began, blind as a bat I started putting parts on it and taking off something that was in the way of another part. I bought a jigsaw puzzle and had to figure out  put it back together. It took about 2 hours to get everything in its right place. I am just amazed at the quality of work on all the parts, nothing was spared. This is one of the nicest machines I have had the privilege to own. Got it all done and back on the lathe. Everything works just the way it was made to. I feel like I sitting on the summit looking over something beautiful. Enjoy the pics.
Nelson Collar