Inaugural Post - New Heavy 10 owner with some unanswered questions

Hello all! Long time lurker, first time poster and new South Bend owner. Thought it was time I introduce myself, show off my new lathe, and finally seek some opinions on a few questions I haven't yet been able to answer myself.

I'm a total beginner, but I'm no stranger to highly specific hobby forums, so I'll try not to commit too many noob faux pas as I leverage the seemingly limitless machining knowledge and expertise on this site but please do let me know if/when I'm being a bad forum member in any way.

Anyway, on to the tool in question: A while back I decided to pull the trigger (far too soon, and nowhere near adequately prepared) and bought a cabinet mounted '45 Heavy 10/4 from a very nice gentleman near Worcester, MA who had one of the most spectacular home machine shops I've ever seen. Apparently he hunts down South Bends (at auctions, on CL, etc.), "fixes" them, has his son slap some paint on them and resells them. I took the 3 hour drive with nothing but a u-haul trailer, a pocket full of cash, and a picture of some ways that looked to be in very good shape. Impulse buying is a problem I have...

I bought the lathe having only seen that the ways were indeed in good shape, and that it ran and did all the things it was supposed to. No, I didn't bring an indicator or a test bar. Still, even after ramping up my South Bend research in the intervening months and learning all the things I did wrong during the buying process I don't think I got TOO badly taken advantage of, though until I get an indicator on her I won't know for sure.

I intend to both recondition AND repaint my new lathe. Based on my uneducated observation it doesn't seem like the ways need to be rescraped, but I would like to replace the tailstock with a newer version that has the dial, and depending on what condition the spindle is in I'll do what I have to do to get runout down to the bare minimum. This is obviously a hobby machine, but I'm also not looking to slap lipstick on a pig and call it a "restoration".

Anyway, in addition to the lathe itself, in the original deal I got the following items:

6" 3 Jaw Chuck
Large dog plate
Small dog plate
Live Center
Dead Center
Some kind of special center that can be placed in the chuck?
Chinese QCTP w/ 3 Tool holders
Lantern tool post w/ cutoff tool
Morse taper chuck

Since then I have also acquired:

Replacement 3-phase motor from eBay matching the original specs (it came with a single phase 220)
VFD unit from Amazon
Lever collet closer from eBay
Micrometer steady rest, another large and small dog plate, and a 6" 4 jaw Watson chuck without a backplate all for $50 off CL
5C Collet insert, "thread protector" and spanner wrench from eBay

I'll post my questions in subsequent replies so I can attach relevant pictures, but in the meantime here's the main ones:

So my first real question is: What kind of bed does this thing have? The serial card doesn't seem to indicate anything special about the bed, and though the original bed badges and plaques are missing I'm inclined to say it's just got a regular old non-hardened bed. The only thing that gives me pause is I can see nothing even remotely resembling flaking, even on areas of the bed where there would be no wear at all to remove said flaking. Around the tailstock, under the headstock, nothing anywhere.

I also feel like if the bed was non-hardened, after 72 years there out to be SOME kind of wearing or grooves to speak of, but (at least with a simple fingernail test) there is no perceptible ridging of any kind on any of the ways. Is there some other way to verify? Is there anything on the serial card that I'm missing? The scan from Grizzly is frustratingly faint and low resolution, so it's difficult to make out some of the codes on the back of the card.

Any opinions?

I reattached my serial card below as the original attachment in my first post seems to have shrunk mysteriously:

View attachment 208820

View attachment 208821

Ways under headstock viewed from rear of lathe:



Middle of ways viewed from rear:



Ways around tailstock/serial number:

Good looking machine. Welcome to the forums.

Have a pic of the mystery center? There is a headstock center, or sometimes its a regular MT3 plus an adapter sleeve to use when turning between centers. You fit a drive plate on the spindle and the center in, well, the center, and drive your work with a lathe dog. You can also just chuck a random hunk of metal in the 3 jaw, turn a 60 degree taper on it with the compound, and drive it off the dog that way. As long as you don't remove the pointy bit it'll be accurate. It will need to be re-cut each use to make sure it runs true.

Unless you're talking about the collet closer. It looks kind of like a mushroom in profile, the 5C collets fit the inside, the outside goes in the end of the spindle outside the thread protector.

Well if nothing else you scored a $350 steady rest for $50 off CL. That's amazing.

If the ways are good anything else can pretty easily be replaced.

I think I bought a D1-4 spindle from the guy you bought your lathe from.

gadget73 said:

Have a pic of the mystery center?

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At work and all I've got is this group shot on my phone, but I highlighted the center in the picture. It looks basically like a dead center but with a much wider shaft that starts at a shoulder just past the end of the taper.

hsracer201 said:

Well if nothing else you scored a $350 steady rest for $50 off CL. That's amazing.

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Yeah, that's what I drove to Vermont for. The plates are duplicates, and the chuck is too small to be useful and missing a backplate, but I'm pretty stoked to have found that steady rest.

hsracer201 said:

I think I bought a D1-4 spindle from the guy you bought your lathe from.

Click to expand...

Real thin older man, lathe the size of a cadillac in his garage? I'm willing to bet quite a few people on here have bought things from him at one point or another.

Not sure about his garage, it was an internet transaction.

There is also an ebay seller who "refurbs" lathes and sells them from MA. They usually have crappier paint jobs than yours do, and they are accented in red. Probably not that guy.

If the OD of that center is tapered it fits directly in the spindle of the lathe
On my 43 SB Heavy 10 that thing is two pieces. An adapter to the spindle and a MT2 center.
I don't think SB made hardened beds in 45. Mine has no sign of flaking either.

Before you tear down and clean and paint, oil it up and make some cuts.
Find out how much taper it cuts.
Put an indicator on the spindle with the indicator anchored to the headstock. Stick a bar in the spindle hole and push up with about 75 pounds. Indicator movement should be under 0.001 inches. Shims can be removed to bring this down.
Report your results here and we can help with leveling the lathe and getting it as good as possible.
From the looks of it I would say the lathe has acceptable wear for home use.

If you ended up with two face plates I could be interested in purchasing an extra one. You called them large and small dog plates.
The dog plate is around 6 inches OD with no holes and a big notch on the perimeter.
Face plates are more like 8 or 9 inches of with slots and/or tapped holes all over it.
Let me know.

YWhat you are looking at is the SB spindle sleeve with a dead center in it.

Standard SB set up.

Looks like someone took a scotch brite wheel and polished the ways...you can still see a couple remnants of "flaking" marks here and there. It doesn't take much to "erase" them, bought a couple like that myself.

It's no biggie BUT I would advise sticking a mag base with an indicator on the left hand saddle wing with an indicator on the tailstock flat way and crank the carriage from one end to the other...that will give you a good idea of wear.

Reason I say that is years ago it was common for unscrupulous dealers to file away wear and then do a polish job to make it look good.


I doubt that is the case here..

Erich said:

If the OD of that center is tapered it fits directly in the spindle of the lathe

Click to expand...

Now I remember! The guy I bought it from explained that, but I couldn't remember what he had said. Now that you've jogged my memory I realize that's exactly what he had told me it was for.

Erich said:

Before you tear down and clean and paint, oil it up and make some cuts.
Find out how much taper it cuts.
Put an indicator on the spindle with the indicator anchored to the headstock. Stick a bar in the spindle hole and push up with about 75 pounds. Indicator movement should be under 0.001 inches. Shims can be removed to bring this down.
Report your results here and we can help with leveling the lathe and getting it as good as possible.
From the looks of it I would say the lathe has acceptable wear for home use.

Click to expand...

I had intended to run it some before disassembling it. I've just got to get the new motor mounted up to the counter pulley assembly, pick up a set of the oils and then get myself a test indicator. Speaking of which: any recommendations for entry level test indicator brands?

I do feel like I should at least replace just the saddle felts, though, as the existing ones are so bad the oil they leave behind on the ways is almost black (the seller oiled the lathe thoroughly before sending me home with it). I'm worried there's fine metal dust in that mud that will wear the ways the more I use them as is... or am I being overly cautious?

Erich said:

If you ended up with two face plates I could be interested in purchasing an extra one. You called them large and small dog plates.
The dog plate is around 6 inches OD with no holes and a big notch on the perimeter.
Face plates are more like 8 or 9 inches of with slots and/or tapped holes all over it.
Let me know.

Click to expand...

Absolutely! Based on your description I have one of each (well, 2 of each). I'll PM you with details.

iwananew10K said:

Reason I say that is years ago it was common for unscrupulous dealers to file away wear and then do a polish job to make it look good.


I doubt that is the case here..

Click to expand...

Here's hoping!

Question about eBay seller

hsracer201 said:

Not sure about his garage, it was an internet transaction.

There is also an ebay seller who "refurbs" lathes and sells them from MA. They usually have crappier paint jobs than yours do, and they are accented in red. Probably not that guy.

Click to expand...

Hi all, I'm new here, and would like to ask a question, or two. I've seen various lathes being sold by this individual in Massachusetts (the ones with the red accents and fresh paint). Has anyone had any dealings with this person? Aside from the over spray, and most likely Chinese tools and such, can someone rely on his word about whether a particular machine is in good condition, or not?

About me, I'm putting together a small hobby machine shop in my basement. I recently bought a Clausing 8520 on eBay, and consider myself lucky, because the machine is in really great shape. I will be taking adult education classes, starting in February for milling, and then turning (next fall). I've been quietly reading many topics on this site, and I'm amazed at the vast amount of information it's members freely share with newbies.

Thanks!!