Southbend metal lathe find

That thing just reeks with good 'ol postwar American quality. Yeah $500 is a steal. That's why I always urge newbies to look for the old American iron first. You can't buy that kind of quality at any price these days.


:drinks:
 
Yes it was made when we made great equipment-too bad we have forgotten how and why!! Great find Greg.....
 
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  • #24
Mike1950 said:
$500- You stole it for that. COOL lathe.
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I know! But for some reason I don't even feel guilty? The seller set the price, It was forgotten about in a storage area in an old building in detroit. I am going to buy a serial archive card from south bend to find out who it was sold to and what year, also need this card to buy parts from south bend.
 
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  • #25
Kevin said:
That thing just reeks with good 'ol postwar American quality. Yeah $500 is a steal. That's why I always urge newbies to look for the old American iron first. You can't buy that kind of quality at any price these days.


:drinks:
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I'm thinking 50's era? I took it apart to get it in my pick up to get it home. Man is it solid and thick cast iron! The machining and fitment of parts is top notch. I can't wait to tear into this thing and caress it back to life!
 
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  • #26
So I have been doing some research on some metal working forums and I have learned a great deal. By the serial number a guy on one of the forums ID's it at 1949, almost the end of it's production run and with some improvements like large degree wheels with higher definition. I have also learned that there is no reason to go with a bigger motor as this thing runs a leather belt and it would just slip anyway. A vfd phase converter is also the way to go to keep the original 3 phase 3/4 hp motor and forward reverse switch. The vfd converter will also give soft start and variable speed. Almost all the guys on the forum are running this setup on the same lathe with no issues and it is relatively inexspensive. I also like the small size of the vfd's. I still want to get a copy of the original serial number build card, it will also show who it was sold to and where, and what the specs are. I have found a source for a rebuild manual and all the felts that are needed to be replaced. This is gonna be so much fun, I haven't restored a tool since my delta band saw last summer.
 
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  • #27
Working on old machinery is so much fun! A friend helped me get the lathe out of my truck and into the basement today:yipee: Let the tinkering begin. I have 5 parts loaded into the back of my car and ready to be taken to the sanblaster. The switch mount was broken and 1 of the weld shops I go to for my work welded it up for me no charge:yipee: I'm going to chemicly strip the pedestal as I do not want to get any sand or grit in the bearings, they spin forever when you give em a spin by hand and make no noise, Like new. Ordered a rebuild kit with all the felt oil wicks and manual off of feebay and 4 different kinds of oil for the lathe. I got everything spinning freely by hand. Headstock and bed I will just hand sand and paint, The ways look absolutely amazing! No signs of wear what so ever, I think a buffing pad and some oil will be all that is needed to make em shine. I put a bid on a couple of parts on feebay, should know tomorrow if my offer was accepted.
 
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  • #28
Last week I took some parts of the lathe to a media blaster and had them blasted with aluminum oxide to remove the paint and rust if any from the legs, chip pan, switch mount, pedestal access covers and door. They came out really nice! Sunday I finally got some time to work on this project. Got lots of pics If anyone here likes pics:sarcastic: After the pan was blasted I marked some holes to be tig welded that the previous owner drilled in the pan for a bunch of crappy brackets for? Then I moved on to priming and painting, 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint.

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  • #29
These photo's show what the parts looked like when I got them back from the blaster and with the 2 coats of rust oleum proffessional primer from a rattle can. I have used rust oleum paint on other machinery restore and find that it fills porosity in cast iron well and gives a nice durable finish that's not to glossy. See how it filled the porosity.[attachment=7351][attachment=7352][attachment=7353][attachment=7354][attachment=7355][attachment=7356][attachment=7357] Bare in mind that I am not going for a museum quality restore here, this lathe will be a user! I'll post pics with the 2 topcoats also.

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  • #31
And while I was waiting for coats of paint to dry I started to chemically strip the cast iron pedestal that weighs a ton even with the 3 phase motor out of it. Notice that I put it on a wheeled dolly to move it around. If I was so smart I wouldn't have started stripping and scraping this thing in the hottest part of the day! Have I mentioned that I hate the heat!!! Glad the stripping is done though:good2: applied the stripper and easily removed the first layer of primer that the previous owner sprayed all over everything. Applied stripper again and it just kinda softened the original paint so that I could scrape it off with a sharp putty knife. Wiped the whole thing down afterwards with a scotch brite pad and mineral spirits, The stripper did not remove the original red oxide primer but that's ok, no need to really. All I gotta do know is get a day off and sand with a random orbit sander and prime and paint to match the rest of the parts.

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  • #32
So this is what the final color will be, a nice machinery gray to match my hair color! I also thought it apropriate for a machine that was made in 1949. I found out some of the history of this machine by ordering a copy of the original serial number build card from south bend through grizzly who is now the parts distributor for south bend. I also recieved a rebuild kit That I ordered from feebay to replace all the felt oiling wicks. This is an old school machine that you have to oil, no sealed bearings here! An interesting design of this lathe is that the main spindle runs in a bed of oil like the crankshaft in an engine. And that's why something that was made 70 years ago still works like new and holds a tolerance. I love old american Iron!!!:good2::good:[attachment=7367][attachment=7368][attachment=7369][attachment=7370]

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Looking good Greg. I might have went with a fire engine red and a chartreuse racing tripe down the middle but gray still looks good. :cool:
 
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  • #35
Kevin said:
Looking good Greg. I might have went with a fire engine red and a chartreuse racing tripe down the middle but gray still looks good. :cool:
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There will be some red, but you'll have to wait n see:sarcastic: found some factory red under the layers in a preliminary exam. I do want to stay true to southbend, just not museum quality.
 
woodtickgreg said:
There will be some red, but you'll have to wait n see:sarcastic: found some factory red under the layers in a preliminary exam. I do want to stay true to southbend, just not museum quality.
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That's funny about the red I was just ribbing you (because I have never done that before and wanted to try it :sarcastic: )

Can't wait to see it, and especially can't wait to see what comes off of it.

:good:
 
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  • #37
Kevin said:

I was just ribbing you (because I have never done that before and wanted to try it :sarcastic: )

Can't wait to see it, and especially can't wait to see what comes off of it.

:good:
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OOOOOH you lie like a rug! If you didn't rib me and poke fun at me it wouldn't be any fun!:good: Lord knows I poke at you now and again:sarcastic:
 
Greg,:yipee::yipee: Kevin makes such an easy and available target.:yipee::yipee:
Lathe looking great............
 
Lookin' good! I just found a South Bend lathe myself. Went to buy a trailer to haul logs from one of my neighbors. When I told him it was for hauling walnut logs, he said he had 2 in his barn and gave them to me. One walnut tree cut in two. 24" base X 15'. WHOO HOO!

In the corner of the barn half buried was a lathe. I dug the stuff off of it enough to see "South Bend" on the plate. It's a smaller benchtop lathe. I'm now negotiating for it. If I get this lathe I'm gonna be picking your brain WoodTickGreg. Trailer, walnut, lathe...this guy had it all!! Gary
 
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