Lathe ressurection questions.

Hey everyone. This is my first post here. I was given a lathe today by a co-worker that has been sitting in his basement since he bought his house years ago. It is a South Bend 9" bench model. As near as I can tell from researching the serial number, it is from the early to mid 1940's. It's power cords will need to be replaced, and it needs a thorough cleaning to remove all the oil and dust gunk, but as far as I can tell, there are no catastrophic issues with it. I just have a few questions about a few things to get it back into shape.

1. Lathe stand. Everything I have read so far suggests that a lathe stand needs to be heavy to dampen any vibration, but would a ruggedly build stand of wood be sufficient? I have no welding skills, but know my way around woodworking tools. I have thought about a bench made from 4x4 timbers with a shelf underneath filled with concrete to give it the needed weight.

2. Lubrication. The parts on the headstock and motor seem to turn with only a little resistance, so I am assuming that it still has at least traces of oil/lubricants left in the bearings. What type of oil/lubricants should I be using? I am assuming any lightweight lubricating oil will be find for the bed and screw drives, but I am unsure of what to use in the bearings and other parts that may require more specific viscosities or formulations.

3. Unknown part function. On the back side of the lathe behind the pulleys for the flat drive belt, there is another shaft with gears on each end that moves to engage gears on the head stock, but while everything spins easily by hand while disengaged, when the mystery shaft is engaged, everything locks up and cannot be moved. It can be seen in one of the pictures below.

4. Threading function. As far as I can tell, there is no thread cutting function on this lathe. Anyone familiar with this model of lathe know if this is common for them? Every other reference picture I can find of this model has the threading selectors shown on the lower left, right below the headstock.

Chris,

I will try to answer your questions but I think this would be better on the South Bend sub-forum. Those guys know this lathe like the back of their hand so they can give you great advise.
1) The SB forum has a lot of threads on building a bench. IMO, you do not need a welded bench a wood one will be good. If it was me, i would make 4x4 posts with 2x6 runners with a 2x top and a 3/4 sheet of ply on top of that. Adding concrete weight is overkill as normal tooling, metal and other things a bottom shelf will accumulate should be enough.
2)See the SB forum as there are numerous threads on this topic. Everyone has their favorite as some may not be available locally to you. You can get a complete lube kit on line.
3) the lever and sliding gear are part of the back gear drive. On the front of the headstock there should be a window which allows you to see the front of the bull gear. On this bull gear there is a pin which locks the pulley to the spindle. Pull out the pin and then engage the back gear lever and the spindle should turn at a slower speed.
4) I hope you got all of the gears for threading. As this is a "C" model, you have to change the gears on the back of the headstock. I do notice you are missing the threading dial on the rear of the apron. While this is not needed, it simplifies threading as it ties the spindle and leadscrew timing together. I have never threaded without a threading dial so I am not sure exactly how to do it. I believe you engage the half nuts then using the motor control(on/off/reverse) to change direction and do not touch the engagement lever for the half nuts until finished as it throws off the timing.

Parts are available on line from multiple sources as well as a book on disassembly and assembly of you specific lathe. I also recommend you get the book "how to run a lathe" by South Bend Lathe as is is written for them. It will also give you formulas needed to figure out the gears needed for threading.

If it was me, I would disassemble and clean (paint is optional), install new felts (to transmit the lube to the points needed)and install on the bench you feel is sufficiently strong and enjoy using it. Do remember, when building a bench, you will eventually end up with a lot more tooling for the lathe. Stuff seems to multiply as your skill and needs grow. Should be a good lathe to learn on.

rsal

Thanks for the reply. Sorry for not responding sooner, but it has been a busy few weeks for me and only recently found time to work on this project.

I will look into the rebuild kits. For now, I just lubed the external moving parts with some light lubricating oil just to get them moving. The bearings seem to be in good shape and turn freely with no play in them, but still worth rebuilding them if for no other reason than to become familiar with how to do it for the future.

I did find the pin to engage/disengage the back gears. Thanks

As far as the threading gears, I did not get anything else with the lathe except some tooling that looks like it has seen some use, a jacobs tailstock, and some dead center posts. The original motor/rear pulley bracket was also missing and the previous owner had fabricated one out of 1/2" steel plate. I will probably use this to practice normal turning to see if this metal turning hobby will catch my interest. If I enjoy it enough, I may buy a more modern lathe with all the bells and whistles.

The motor on this was shot. Most of the wiring to it was corroded and the insulation was brittle and flaking off. The internal windings also had some breaks in them. It was simpler to buy a new motor than go through the hassle and expense of getting it repaired. The new motor is also an upgrade in power. Went from a 1/4hp to 1/2.

I also cleaned up the pulleys and unpainted surfaces with a brass wire brush and some solvent to remove the corrosion and gunk build up.

Looking good so far.

Gonna repost this in the SB forum as suggested to get some feedback there too.

Not a "Model A", so no levers below front of head stock This lathe has (or had at one time) a stack of change gears

Read up here, these also widely available as paper

http://campkahler.com/files/How_to_Run_a_Lathe_SB_1of2.pdf
http://campkahler.com/files/How_to_Run_a_Lathe_SB_2of2.pdf