15" Series N clutch

I just got my 1936 15" Series N wired up and running. I noticed that the apron clutch is not working. I decided to take the apron and saddle off the machine and investigate. The only "manual" I have is the ILION Industrial "A Guide to Renovating SB Lathe Models . . . ". The apron they cover is a similar but newer style.

I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me with.

- Is the clutch supposed to have a spring? If so mine is missing. Does anyone have any specs or place where I can purchase one?

- The star wheel is keyed onto the clutch shaft. It appears that the clutch then engages by threading tighter into the back disk. If so then my problem is the shaft threads are seized into the back disk.

- The disks have a lot of scoring. Is this normal and still usable?

- The Renovating guide shows felt wicking thru out the apron. This has none that I can see. Is that normal?


Thanks

Easy to make drawing and have new discs water jetted

No doubt the old ones would work if just stone off roughness

Doubt there was a spring - all the old apron clutches I have worked on had none originally - it was normal practice to "slap" the star wheel to encourage disengagement

Looks like some PO/PU was heavy handed and ignored apron oiling

Its an OLD design - can't expect it to have modern stuff - the guy that wrote the guide probably never heard of Series N

Mr. Wells' web page under catalogs has my March and April 1931 scans on the Series N - with good view of inside of apron - see serial numbers sticky, post #2

@johnoder - I was already proceeding with the water jet idea. Those seem to be some type of spring steel?

To compound the oiling problem the cup was rusted through so it didn't hold any oil. Based on the 1937 parts list there was an oil wick. I will attempt to follow the similar pattern as the "R" and "T" aprons.

Now I have to decide how much time, money and effort to put into this until based on bed wear and the lack of factory legs/cabinet. The one thing it does have going for it is that it appears to be fairly rare.

Thanks for the help.

Here are some I had made at a previous employer - for the much more demanding job of driving the head stock of a large engine lathe. No complaints. The 4130N sheet was purchased from one of the aircraft supply houses like Aircraft Spruce. Houston Water Jet delivered them burr free ready to install.

skeller said:

@johnoder - I was already proceeding with the water jet idea. Those seem to be some type of spring steel?

To compound the oiling problem the cup was rusted through so it didn't hold any oil. Based on the 1937 parts list there was an oil wick. I will attempt to follow the similar pattern as the "R" and "T" aprons.

Now I have to decide how much time, money and effort to put into this until based on bed wear and the lack of factory legs/cabinet. The one thing it does have going for it is that it appears to be fairly rare.

Thanks for the help.

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