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1943 South Bend 16" x 60" Lathe Resurrection

thomasutley

Hot Rolled
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Location
Oro Valley
All,

I'm starting a new 16" South Bend restoration thread today. After several other excellent 10L/13/14.5/16 style restorations beautifully documented by others on this forum, I'm honest enough to doubt my restoration log will benefit many besides myself as I face challenges with my own machine. However, adding to the body of knowledge that is fast disappearing as these machines, and the people who know how to operate and maintain them, age is always a good thing and perhaps I'll ask the same question another needs answered. If nothing else, another documented rebuild may be the motivation someone needs to make the leap and save one more machine from the scrappers.

I will note at the outset I'm not a machinist by trade. I love machines and appreciate the skillset it takes to design, build, operate, and maintain them. I'm a mechanical engineer who doesn't get to do much engineering anymore after being tempted years ago by the lure of management salaries to offset management stresses. My home shop is where I find ways to get back to what I was once good at. Along with a partner, my best friend from college, I also design tools and have have licensed a few with more in the works now. The small royalties generated from that business venture are what pay for my tool acquisitions. This lathe, once restored, will further that endeavor as a means of prototyping new designs. Eventually I'll add a mill into the mix as budgets permit.

This will be my second lathe restoration. The first was on Milacron's list of unmentionables. Hopefully jumping straight to a 16" x 60" will at least win me points for ambition.

Tom
 
This post will serve as background on the machine so that anyone reading the thread can determine if it's going to worth their time reading further.

First of all, it's a Catalog Number 117-E. That translates into a 16" x ~60". It's not the toolroom version, otherwise it would be an 8117-E.

The serial number is 140624 and it was delivered to the US Army at Ft. McHenry near Baltimore in June, 1943, right in the middle of WWII. Not that it matters, but Ft. McHenry was the site of the earlier battle that inspired The Star Spangled Banner. Anyone with knowledge of Ft. McHenry's role in the war is welcome to share.

The machine has no chip pan (and therefore has the single-piece leg on the right vs. the two-piece leg sandwiching the chip pan had it been so equipped). This is a dilemma for me as I would much prefer having a chip pan to keep my home shop cleaner. I'm toying with options to remedy this which we can discuss at length at a later time. The options I'm thinking of involve raising the machine up several inches to make it more comfortable for my 6'4" ergonomics reaching the carriage feed wheel.

My machine has a taper attachment. I assume it was added later in its life because the Serial Number Card from South Bend (attached) does not indicate it was delivered with it.

It came to me with a 10" 4-jaw, a 10" 3-jaw, and an 8" 3-jaw. I forget the brands now, but the 10" are both domestic makes and the 8" appears to be an import of some kind. These all appear to be in pretty good shape, especially the 10" chucks as they haven't been used at all in many years. More on that later.

It has a single-tumbler quick change gearbox and a standard threaded spindle nose. Ted tells me no option for a D1 spindle nose existed at that time. Comments on retrofitting D1 spindles are especially welcome, as are lessons learned that would lead me to just let it be and embrace the threads as-is. I suppose threads were good enough for the first hundred years of machining, so they're probably good enough for my needs. The thought of spinning that heavy 10" 3-jaw off isn't very appealing, however. Maybe I'll do as others have suggested and make a backplate for a smaller chuck held in the 4-jaw that stays in place semi-permanently.

The headstock has side oilers and no top oilers, so I assume I'll find bronze bearings under the caps. I may be mistaken, but I believe top oilers indicate no bushings, only cast iron--corrections welcome.

The leadscrew appears to be in remarkably good shape from what I can tell so far. I have to caveat that statement, however, because I haven't seen much of the leadscrew yet. Every nook, cranny, and thread is completely full of stiff goo. I'll explain why in the next post, but the machine hasn't threaded anything in the last 30+ years. The power feed was used extensively, however, as evidenced in the wear pattern on the carriage worm key. Photos of that to follow.

No steady rest, no follower rest, no real usable live center except for a custom one the previous owner needed for his work. It did, however, come with a nice Jacobs 14N ball bearing Superchuck in the tailstock that I can use elsewhere in my shop. I happen to have several larger Superchucks lying around in various stages of refurbishment, including a nice 20N that may find a home on this lathe.

Has an import quick change tool post for 3/4" toolholders. Also has the original lantern style post with a ton of brazed carbide tooling to fit, most of which still has the wax on them.

A bonus is it has the 4-position horizontal turret style carriage stop. I hadn't seen one of these before and had to look it up in the parts manual to figure out what it was. Now that I know I'm happy to have it.

The tailstock quill is usable but pretty beat up by the previous owner.

No collet rack or collets, but did come with a shopmade manual collet closer that is basically junk. Finding the closer, however, lead me to push long and hard for the previous owner's widow to locate what I assumed would be a cache of 5C collets. Alas, no luck on that front. There is a taper adapter of some sort that fits the nose. I assume it's from 5C down to some smaller taper but haven't yet verified what it might be. It may turn out that's what the homemade closer fits.

The original three-phase 1-1/2 hp motor has been replaced with a single-phase Baldor. The four-groove sheave must have gone with the old motor because now there are places for only two belts on the motor. This is another dilemma for me as I would have preferred to add a VFD to the three-phase motor as others have done. Your thoughts on keeping it vs. replacing it with a 2-3hp three-phase motor are welcome.

Cosmetically, it's missing the cone pulley cover and the pedestal base cabinet has a large chunk broken out in the area beneath the inboard vent panel, also missing. The primary geartrain cover has been cracked and badly brazed back together at some point. Of course the brass plates everywhere need a lot of attention but all are still readable and none is damaged too badly.

The ways appear to be in pretty good shape. I can't yet tell you how much they're worn, nor do I know how to accurately measure way wear yet, but I can say they haven't seen a lot of bad chuck drops. There is one substantial nick out of the top of the rear trapezoidal way; however, it's well to the right and not in the area that will see much use from me. Any suggestions on how to assess the wear are welcome as well as any vendor references for regrinding quotes. This machine may not be worth regrinding, but I would like to know the cost before making the decision not to do it.

The compound cover has a couple small nicks from getting up close and personal with spinning chucks, but it's really nothing I can't contour out with a file or flapper wheel prior to painting the casting.

All that said, I paid $800 for the machine. Whether or not you think that's a good price may be influenced greatly when I tell you where the machine was located and what it took to get it home in my next post. After I tell you that part of the story, you may well say the previous owner should have paid me $800 just to move it.

Tom



South Bend Serno Card for 140624.jpg
 
I'm guessing you got it moved ok? I hope using two engine hoists helped, I don't like using them to move machines.

I wouldn't mess with trying to adapt it for a camlock spindle. I'd just put a 4 jaw on it for 99% of use, and if I need a 3jaw, I'd chuck it in the 4jaw. Pretty sure that's against some machine shop law though.

And I'd get a smaller lathe with a higher top speed for collet work.:D
 
Looking forward to hearing more about your 16 inch SBL and photos...have moved a 13 and a heavy 10 inch home and it is a lot of work.
 
thomasutly,

I believe that you have an S model lathe and that it will have cast iron spindle bearings. Since your lathe has a 1 3/8" spindle through bore you should be able to use 5C collets in your lathe. As for the two pulleys on the motor that should be correct. These two different sized pulleys will give you your high and low speeds. The four pulleys on the cone head give you the four high speeds and the four low speeds. This is how you get a total of eight speeds on your lathe. Low speed is 14, 23, 36 and 40 RPM. High speed range is 113, 183, 289 and 480 RPM.

Vlad
 
This post is a short backstory including the condition in which I found the machine for those who are interested. If you're looking for technical info, you can skip this post.

The previous owner, recently deceased, was a well-known maker are repairer of pool cue sticks here in the Huntsville, Alabama area. He had his shop set up at a local pool hall since 1984. My understanding is the lathe arrived shortly after he did and has been an integral part of the pool hall until his death a few months ago. He was good enough at pool to have once won $100,000 in a tournament, and had cue customers around the world. Apparently, he was one of only a handful of cue masters known for turning balls into the joints of a two-piece cue stick.

The lathe was inherited by his widow who knew nothing about the machine other than its use in the pool hall. The pool hall owner signed up to list it and sell it as a favor to the widow, but also to make room for a new cue master so his customers wouldn't seek services elsewhere. After perusing eBay and finding several well-equipped SB 16" lathes listed from $2,500 to $4,000, he decided $2,700 would be a fair starting price for the machine. I went and looked at the machine after finding it on Craigslist thinking it was way out of my price range but perhaps I could find something worth negotiating over. Machine tools don't come up for sale all that often in my area, so when they do appear I make a point to go see them.

Because the machine was used only for turning wood and the occasional brass ferrule, the drivetrain has not seen much in the way of hard use for nearly half of its seven decade existence. What it was used for prior to pool cues I can't say other than the pool hall owner believes the cue master purchased it from some local government contractors who once did work for NASA (Marshall Space Flight Center is here in town). Maybe it made Atlas V parts and helped send men to the Moon. Maybe it just turned hydraulic cylinder rams. No way of knowing now, but I like the Atlas V storyline a lot better.

As mentioned in a previous post, the machine was missing several parts. It was also entombed in a thick layer of wood dust, varnish, and oil/grease on every horizontal surface that didn't move relative to another. The leadscrew was completely packed from the root of the threads to the tips leading me to conclude it hadn't been used for threading in recent memory, if ever since being set up for cue duty. The taper attachment did not appear to have been utilized either--the pool hall owner claimed the previous owner did everything "by eye." I guessed the lathe had been dropped or at least hit hard at some point leading to the missing chunk out of the pedestal casting and the broken primary drive cover. Everything else, however, appeared in fairly good condition for a 71 year old machine.

As much as I liked it, it really was much too big for my home shop. Too big, too slow, spindle bore too small...everything that was good spec in 1943 is put to shame by many cheaper imports today. Still, there's something about the South Bend styling, the quietness of a conehead drive, and not a little fondness from my days in the high school machine shop learning to make chips on what was probably a 10K. It was definitely not a perfect fit for my needs, but maybe doable if the price were right.

After I gently educated the pool hall owner on all the missing parts and what I personally would want to do in the way of restoration, I let him know my best offer would be $800. He thanked me for pointing out the features of the machine that he hadn't understood before, then politely thanked me for coming to take a look at it. I left thinking that was that and on to continue my search for a restorable machine.

Two months later, he called to say he had tried, and failed, to sell it and would I still be interested at $800. That call prompted a bit of an "oh crap, now what?" moment and a mother-may-I conversation with my wife...you've all had the same experience I'm sure.

My wife ended up promising not to give me the stinkeye every time she passed by it in the garage if I promised to get it done quickly without dragging it out for two years. This past weekend, after several days of research and borrowing of tools and a lowboy trailer for the move, I extracted it from the pool hall and brought it home.

One last thing I'll add before moving on to the next phase. The cue master must have been well-loved by his clients. During the move, I had no less than a dozen different people step into his shop, look me up and down as if I were interviewing for a job, and demand to know what my plans were for the machine. They were all very relieved when I told them I plan to restore it back to as close to new as possible and that it would probably still be running another 70 years from now. As I was clearing out the last of the parts from the little work room, people would come by, look in at the greasy stall where the lathe once sat, and sadly shake their head before moving on. You gotta respect a guy like that. I hope people look at my tools someday when I'm gone and miss me, too.

The move will be the subject of the next post, something others may find either very useful or very instructive of how NOT to move a heavy machine tool. All depends on your perspective I suppose.

Here's what it looked like the first time I saw it.

IMG_0265.jpgIMG_0267.jpgIMG_0295.jpgIMG_0303.jpgIMG_0338.jpg
 
Vlad, in this case it really is missing two belts. The underdrive unit has four grooves, the motor has only two. The parts manual shows four, so I have to assume it was just a matter of the pulley (sheave) they had to fit the replacement motor.

As for the S model designation, I'm not sure of that yet. If I look at the headstock, I'm pretty sure I can see the ends of the bronze bushings.

See attached.

Tom
IMG_0275.jpgIMG_0276.jpgIMG_0288.jpgIMG_0309.jpgIMG_0329.jpg
 
I'm guessing you got it moved ok? I hope using two engine hoists helped, I don't like using them to move machines.

I wouldn't mess with trying to adapt it for a camlock spindle. I'd just put a 4 jaw on it for 99% of use, and if I need a 3jaw, I'd chuck it in the 4jaw. Pretty sure that's against some machine shop law though.

And I'd get a smaller lathe with a higher top speed for collet work.:D

Yup, got it home. Ended up using only a single 2-ton hoist due to the tight quarters. Once I got the bed separated and onto dollies it wasn't too bad after that.

As for the spindle speed and collet work, I think your advice is probably spot on...but how to explain that to my wife??? :)
 
Vlad, in this case it really is missing two belts. The underdrive unit has four grooves, the motor has only two. The parts manual shows four, so I have to assume it was just a matter of the pulley (sheave) they had to fit the replacement motor.

As for the S model designation, I'm not sure of that yet. If I look at the headstock, I'm pretty sure I can see the ends of the bronze bushings.

See attached.

Tom
View attachment 130912View attachment 130913View attachment 130914View attachment 130915View attachment 130916

After wiping off some more of the "patina" I'm starting to think you may be correct, Vlad, and I'll find nothing under those bearing caps. The bronze-colored rings I'm seeing may be nothing more than retaining collars if I'm interpreting the parts list correctly.

I will say this, whether they're cast iron or bronze bearings, the "broomstick" test yielded about 0.0025" with me tugging on it pretty hard, and I'm not a small guy. That gives me hope it's been well-lubricated and not too badly loaded turning pool cue sticks for a big part of its life.

Stay tuned...we're having an unusually cold snap this week. Temps outside are in the teens and falling to single digits by Thursday. My fingers just don't work well when it's that cold in an unheated shop.
 
This subject of this post is moving the lathe.

Let me start out confessing I've never moved a machine tool, just watched a lot of YouTube of moves gone wrong to eliminate a few bad ideas up front. If you're dumb enough to repeat any of my mistakes, then don't blame me when you have to run your machine from a wheelchair. Seriously, moving machinery is potentially very dangerous for you, any helpers, bystanders, the machine, your vehicle, and buildings at both ends of the move. Don't take chances using unproven equipment or overeager "buddies" who want to help you straight to the hospital, or worse.

All that said, and for reasons of circumstance, I worked alone. Totally, completely, 100% alone except for the aforementioned pool hall customers who stopped in to pay their respects. Wasn't my first choice, just how it worked out for me, so it CAN be done. Doesn't mean it SHOULD be done this way.

As I've mentioned previously, the machine was situated in a small workroom attached to a pool hall. By "attached," I mean you walk through the front door of the pool hall and enter a small 7' x 9' vestibule. The door straight ahead goes into the pool hall. The door to your left goes into the lathe room.

All three doors are standard 3'0" doors, which is about 7" less than the depth of the lathe with the taper attachment in place. Several people from whom I sought advice recommended I move the machine assembled sans the taper attachment to fit it through the doorways. If not for the hard 90° turn within the vestibule, followed by the concrete ramp that drops 6" in 24" just outside the front door, this would have been a reasonable plan. Lift onto sturdy dollies rated to safely carry the machine's 2200 lbs and off we go. Since I did have the hard turn and murderous ramp, coupled with the fact that I had no one available to help me the day the machine had to be moved to accommodate a big pool tournament, I chose a different path. I brought the machine out in several large chunks that were manageable working alone.

To do this, I needed a few key tools:

- a stout 2-ton shop crane, aka engine hoist (<$200 at Harbor Freight, I got a barely used US-made unit for $125 on Craigslist)
- a 20' long 6,000 lb rated web sling (<$25 at Harbor Freight, no timely deal on this one, just had to buy it and glad I did)
- SAE Allen wrench set
- SAE socket set with at least one 12" extension for removing recessed bed bolts (size 7/8" for those)
- SAE wrenches for loosening headstock clamp bolts
- Moving dollies (mine were gifts from the team who moved us from Arizona to Alabama, not sure what they cost)
- Several short lengths of 4x4 lumber to serve as stickers to set things down on and still be able pull the strap out
- Big, HOLLOW GROUND flat blade screwdriver
- Deadblow hammer
- Plastic bags with a Sharpie for labeling small parts removed during disassembly
- Something to kneel on if your knees aren't as young as they used to be

In addition to all the above, the single most important tools I needed were coveralls and gloves. I knew after my first visit to the machine that it would be a nasty, slimy, dirty job and anything I wore would be the last time I wore it. The coveralls saved me from a serious case of the stinkeye from my wife.

You'll also need a vehicle capable of carrying the machine and/or its subassemblies once torn down. I was fortunate to have a friend with a nice 8' x 16' lowboy trailer and a full set of ratcheting tie-down straps to go with it.

The actual disassembly was pretty straightforward and, frankly, much easier than I anticipated. The decades of lubricants kept all the threaded fasteners in great shape. I was able to break loose everything, including the bed bolts, with a standard 3/8" drive ratchet.

Order of disassembly:

- Tailstock: slides right off the end and out to the trailer, light enough to carry without using a dolly
- Taper attachment: Remove bed clamp, remove crossfeed cover, remove crossfeed screw nut, remove two carriage bolts, and off
- Carriage: Crank to the right, suspend leadscrew with a strap on the left side of the carriage, remove leadscrew end support on right, crank/slide carriage off the end while supported by the shop crane (too heavy to lift safely unless you first separate the apron from the saddle which I chose not to do onsite), drop down to a dolly, reattach leadscrew support
- Primary drive cover (three socket head cap screws for my one-piece cover, later models have a two-piece cover with a bed rail hinge on the back)
- Banjo: loosen the big 1-1/2" retaining nut from the left end of the gearbox and slide the gear off before sliding the banjo out
- Flat belt: mine was laced so only had to pull the pin, yours may need to be cut
- Headstock: two 3/4" bolts underneath loosen the two clamps holding it to the bed; I removed them completely before lifting the headstock off with the crane as it's WAY too heavy to lift safely (others just slide the headstock off the left end of the bed once the clamps are loosened)
- Quick change gearbox and leadscrew: with the leadscrew strapped up near the gearbox, remove the single bolt below the box, followed by the three screws above it and it will swing free (the leadscrew will simply slip left out of the far end support now)

At this point, you're down to the bed sitting on the pedestal underdrive cabinet on the left and on the leg on the right side unless you have a chip pan which will also still be there. There are four 7/8" bolts holding the bed to the cabinet and four to the leg. My machine has no chip pan so it's a one-piece leg. Toolroom versions with the chip pan will have a two-piece right leg sandwiching the pan.

You can loosen the four bolts holding the bed to the pedestal at this point and it won't go anywhere. Ted (aka SBLatheMan) mentioned some of the older machines have two bolts going down into the pedestal and two bolts going up into the bed, whereas others have all four going down. Mine had all four down, but you can't see the two on the inboard side until after you've removed the headstock.

Before loosening any of the right side leg bolts, you need to have the crane rigged and tensioned to take the load. I guessed, correctly, about where to rig the bed. I took my 20' long 6,000 lb rated web strap and wrapped it three times around the two cross beams nearest the center, leaving the strap tails to meet at a point midway between them and about a foot above. The pair of crossbeams is offset to the left of the bed center and seemed to work out well for balancing the heavier headstock end of the bed casting once the right leg was loosened up.

In hindsight, if I had guessed incorrectly, it would have been helpful having a piece of wood about the same length as the distance from the bottom of the bed to the floor to support that end.

I dropped the right leg down to the floor (it's not too heavy once free), and a few pumps of the shop crane later I had the bed hanging free above the pedestal, balancing very nearly horizontally. Big sigh of relief at that point. Dropped it gingerly down onto the two dollies and I knew I was home free at that point.

After that it was a simple exercise of assembling/disassembling the legs on the shop crane about a dozen times to get sections shuttled out of the small workroom and onto the waiting trailer. Would have been handy at that point having TWO shop cranes, one inside and one outside at the trailer for loading, but just meant a few more trips back and forth to get everything loaded.

My one stop on the way home was at the car wash. There I spent $5 in quarters on high pressure spray to knock off as much of the goo as I could before mucking up my home garage floor with it.

Finally, I dragged the whole rig home to collapse in a tired heap until I could unload the next day. This entire process took me about seven hours. With a helper, it could have been cut roughly in half.

The first attached photo shows the smaller pieces in the bed of my truck. It also shows the pool cue stick support the previous owner had fabricated for sticks protruding through the spindle bore. You can also make out the sheet metal cover somebody fabricated to replace the cast cone pulley cover.

The other photo has everything moved to the trailer so I could free up the truck to run the kids to practice the next morning. This photo also shows the missing chunk of the pedestal base casting underneath where the inboard access panel cover goes.

Regrettably, I have no photos to share of the bed rigging because my smartphone turned itself into a brick two days ago and with it went most of the photos I had from the move. You'll just have to imagine a really big chunk of cast iron suspended gracefully in the air and me not squashed beneath it.

IMG_0709[1].jpgIMG_0810[1].jpgBed Rigging.JPG

Found some of the photos I had snapped of the pool hall entry and the tight maneuvering room I had to deal with. The lathe is immediately to the right in the first of these two shots next to the access panel cover you see leaning against the wall. What you can't really see in the photos is the glass door to the workroom where the machine is located is quite literally covered in hand-written comments from customers to the recently deceased cue master. I was paranoid the whole time of accidentally breaking the glass and a mob of his former customers coming after me with pitchforks.

IMG_0673.jpgIMG_0674.jpg
 
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heh heh. Well done on a) getting the lathe and saving it and b) getting it home!

Nice write up on the disassembly. I did the same thing - but mine was 600 miles away and I drove to get it (sight unseen) and was making offerings to the big machinist that I could actually get it apart to bring it home in one weekend! Not as large as yours though (a 10L) - but without an engine lift or 3 guys just try lifting that motor cabinet. I had read that the disassembly wasn't too hard, but ... you never know with a 70 year old bit of machinery how easy it is going to come apart. I had your experience as well - it came apart easily despite the years of crud on it. Phew.

I was lucky that the good wife (and dogs) came along for the adventure and we both got as grubby as hell pulling it to bits and getting it on the trailer and in the 4x4. So no 'stinkeye' for me! (Nice term :-) )

I will say that, the greatest weapon in the disassembly and later breakdown besides the socket set and soft-blow hammer was a set of hollow ground screwdrivers - not even expensive ones - they just provide so much surer purchase on those old screws.

Again, well done.
 
Nice find. The picture of the head showing the bronze bushing on the right looks a lot like the headstock I got on mine. The right side of my headstock has a 2 piece bushing and the left side has the cast iron bearing surface.

Mitch
 
Nice find. The picture of the head showing the bronze bushing on the right looks a lot like the headstock I got on mine. The right side of my headstock has a 2 piece bushing and the left side has the cast iron bearing surface.

Mitch

Interesting. I'm starting to think 1943 was a very transitional year for South Bend's design engineers. Maybe it was a response to raw materials available during the war, maybe just progress on the design features, but I've seen several comments about machines from that year with both top and side oilers, cast iron bushings, bronze bushings, and now half and half bushings.

When the freezing temps let up, I'll crack open my bearing caps and see what surprises await. Maybe I'll find yet a fourth bearing option...all part of the experience, right?
 
heh heh. Well done on a) getting the lathe and saving it and b) getting it home!

Nice write up on the disassembly. I did the same thing - but mine was 600 miles away and I drove to get it (sight unseen) and was making offerings to the big machinist that I could actually get it apart to bring it home in one weekend! Not as large as yours though (a 10L) - but without an engine lift or 3 guys just try lifting that motor cabinet. I had read that the disassembly wasn't too hard, but ... you never know with a 70 year old bit of machinery how easy it is going to come apart. I had your experience as well - it came apart easily despite the years of crud on it. Phew.

I was lucky that the good wife (and dogs) came along for the adventure and we both got as grubby as hell pulling it to bits and getting it on the trailer and in the 4x4. So no 'stinkeye' for me! (Nice term :-) )

I will say that, the greatest weapon in the disassembly and later breakdown besides the socket set and soft-blow hammer was a set of hollow ground screwdrivers - not even expensive ones - they just provide so much surer purchase on those old screws.

Again, well done.

Ditto on the comment about the hollow ground screwdrivers, especially when dealing with the several shoulder screws that hold the apron to the saddle.

I knew the machine was dirty, but I don't think I was really prepared for how dirty once I started crawling all over it. By the time I was finished and sweeping up, I had a shopping bag nearly full of what had fallen off or been brushed/scraped off.

BTW, I told the pool hall owner to be sure and not just chuck it in his trash inside for fear of spontaneous combustion of the oily wood dust. I've witnessed firsthand a small bundle of wood stain rags self-ignite in a Dumpster after sitting over a weekend. Oily rags are not something you want to just toss into the trash.
 
Nice to hear from a fellow South Bend owner here in Huntsville (actually, I am in a suburb, Harvest). If you want some constructive local help, let me know. After I finish my current project (a 1928 Crescent Universal Woodworker) I will be refurbishing a Hamilton Ohio lathe so that I can use it to do a complete refurbishment of my 1930 16"x96" Gap Bed South Bend that I have been using for about 20 years. I have done some work on it already and have made some posts here about that work.
 
Nice to hear from a fellow South Bend owner here in Huntsville (actually, I am in a suburb, Harvest). If you want some constructive local help, let me know. After I finish my current project (a 1928 Crescent Universal Woodworker) I will be refurbishing a Hamilton Ohio lathe so that I can use it to do a complete refurbishment of my 1930 16"x96" Gap Bed South Bend that I have been using for about 20 years. I have done some work on it already and have made some posts here about that work.

Can't tell you how excited I am to hear this! You must be the guy Keith Rucker from VintageMachinery.org told me about...? I met up with Keith during his last trip through Huntsville with his day job, and he mentioned a fellow who's active on the Old Woodworking Machines forum here in the area.

Would really enjoy meeting you and learning anything I can from you before I start having to make real decisions on this lathe. I'll PM you with my contact info.
 
Your a good writer and am glued to your post..I know what it is to get the stink-eye when I bring home a old dirty lathe.
 
Your a good writer and am glued to your post..I know what it is to get the stink-eye when I bring home a old dirty lathe.

We on the receiving end of the stinkeye brigade must stick together. Our banker wives have no idea of the importance of our contribution to humanity. :)
 
A friend was able to send a phone video text back to me after my phone bricked. This is the "walkup" to the pool hall where the machine was located. Gives you a sense of the tight quarters and why I decided field-stripping it was safer than trying to bring it out in one piece.

 








 
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