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L00 Spindle Conversion - Looking for Spindle Nut & Wrench

thomasutley

Hot Rolled
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Location
Oro Valley
Two years ago, I had the opportunity to buy a good condition used Camlock spindle for my SB 16. At the time, I passed it up thinking the cost was too much to justify because I'd instantly lose the use of the three threaded chucks that came with my machine. Since then I've come to understand the chucks I had were in pretty rough shape, and replacing their backplates to continue using them on a different spindle nose isn't the end of the world anyway.

Today I was presented with an opportunity to buy a NOS L00 nose spindle. The timing is good as I'm about to make a threaded backplate for a new 10" chuck I got on a great deal in December. Unfortunately, the seller has only the new spindle for sale -- no nut, no spanner wrench. The price is probably fair for someone who absolutely must replace their L00 part, but hard to justify if I still have to go spend a lot on the nut and wrench before I can install it.

Making either of these two parts will be a challenge as I currently have only the lathe, no mill. I can turn most of the nut but would have to farm out the slot machining. I can probably find a commercial spanner wrench if I know what size to look for, maybe even have one cut out of plate stock on a waterjet.

By any chance does anyone out there have an original South Bend L00 nut and/or wrench in good condition so I can see what kind of investment I'm looking at for the conversion? Not seeing anything for sale online at the moment...

The seller will be reading this, so he'll be interested in the responses as well. :)

Thanks,

Tom
 
Tom,

I believe I have seen spanners for sale in the tooling for sale forum. Not South Bend specific, but correct for various size L-mount nuts. I am almost certain I have seen the nuts listed in the Buck or Kalamazoo chuck catalog. I may be mistaken about that. There really is nothing to the nut, would be simple to make.

I have been trying to catch up with several jobs and side projects since an accident last year, one of those is a spindle for my 16. If another camlock comes your way and you do not want it, please let me know. I have come into some machines with camlock spindles and tooling for camlocks (D1-3,4, and 6) in the past year, and I am thinking it would be nice to use some of it on the 16. Years ago I shared shop space with someone that had a Monarch lathe with a D1-6, and he had a very nice Sjogren,a 6 jaw, and a 4 jaw Rohm chuck that was about 8 inches and had t-slots. I've never seen another Rohm like that. I thought long and hard about making an adapter for the threaded spindle to take a D1-6. But nothing came of it, and I have since moved. Funny how I find myself in the same position again.

Best of luck in your search.

Marc
 
even though I believe you can make the nut,I would hazard a guess the "new" South Bemd might have one in stock.
 
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Tom give my old friend Bill Volna a call as he changed his SB spindle plus installed ball bearings several years ago. He was a friend of my Dads too and is still kicking....lol He is an engineer and has been inventing things for years and worked at Honeywell in their think tank. He is as nice and kind as someone else you know (hint hint)...lol.
Scroll done on the left to his sand box square and click on it. He is an amazing man and still working in his shop at age 80 I think. (don't tell I said that)lol
Volna Engineering Company Home Page
 
Tom, South Bend DOES have it in stock...PT3725LH1...$149 plus shipping

What's the secret link for checking Grizzly's inventory? I've written them in the past to suggest they post what they have, what they want for it, and then let buyers make their decision about whether to purchase or not. As it is, there's a big black hole about what they do and do not have in stock for any of the older machines.
 
My friend DH Mayeron from Oakland CA grew up in St. Paul and comes home 3 or 4 times a year. I introduced them and they have become good friends. We all like to get together for lunch on those special occasions. I attend the lunch to if I am in town. It's fascinating just sitting a listening to him talk about the old days. He loves the attention too I am sure. If we all could track down an old machinist, tool maker, engineer and take them out to lunch we all could learn a lot. DH is also an amateur astronomer and they met at the top of some mountain in Utah I think during the last eclipse.

Bill may still have his South Bend. He had it up for sale once, but he told me he wanted it to go to someone who would love it. He re-scraped it with my Dad's help in the 1950's when he was a young engineer working for Honeywell. When I used to have scraping classes I used to have Bill come and show everyone his autocollimator.
 
I ordered a new wrench and (NOS) spindle ring from south bend
my lathe is a SB 13 . so my point is them parts are still around
 
I checked with Clausing, LeBlond, and Grizzly. Short answer is Clausing no longer offers the L00 draw nut or the wrench. LeBlond will put in a one-off order for a draw nut for $1,359 plus tax and shipping with no option for the wrench.

Grizzly does offer both parts. The nut is $149.10 and the wrench is $30.80. No indication of how many they have on hand, just says it's discontinued and Add to Cart so it would appear their system thinks they have inventory remaining.

With the cost of the NOS spindle and the backplates, this is not an inexpensive proposition. Would be cheaper going D1-4 Camlock for sure, if a spindle were to be found in good condition.
 
With the cost of the NOS spindle and the backplates, this is not an inexpensive proposition. Would be cheaper going D1-4 Camlock for sure, if a spindle were to be found in good condition.

I am about to the point where I would like to be able to use the accessories and chucks I have on all my lathes. My 10L and 14 have D1-4 spindles. The two 16's are threaded. I also have a nice Hardinge indexer with a taper nose that came with a cute Buck six jaw chuck. Well, I found a collet chuck for 5c that mounts to a D1-4, and it has the Hardinge taper! So I have pretty much settled on D1-4.

Now for the 16's.. I am about ready to make a couple spindles. No joke. I am guessing the originals were forged, then heat treated, ground and polished. I can rough them out, grind, and superfinish them here, would have to send out for heat treat and maybe gun drilling. Might use 8620, or 4340. I kind of think if I set up to do this, I may as well make at least 5 of them. If I do this, would you be interested?

If someone has a better idea, I would love to be talked out of it. I know this is not a trivial matter. But, I make and repair crankshafts for a living, the spindle of a lathe does not seem impossible.

Marc
 
I checked with Clausing, LeBlond, and Grizzly. Short answer is Clausing no longer offers the L00 draw nut or the wrench. LeBlond will put in a one-off order for a draw nut for $1,359 plus tax and shipping with no option for the wrench.

Grizzly does offer both parts. The nut is $149.10 and the wrench is $30.80. No indication of how many they have on hand, just says it's discontinued and Add to Cart so it would appear their system thinks they have inventory remaining.

With the cost of the NOS spindle and the backplates, this is not an inexpensive proposition. Would be cheaper going D1-4 Camlock for sure, if a spindle were to be found in good condition.


If you are still interesting in a L00 nut and the one from a clausing 5914 will work I might be able to help...

Gimme a yell... Ron
 
I am about to the point where I would like to be able to use the accessories and chucks I have on all my lathes. My 10L and 14 have D1-4 spindles. The two 16's are threaded. I also have a nice Hardinge indexer with a taper nose that came with a cute Buck six jaw chuck. Well, I found a collet chuck for 5c that mounts to a D1-4, and it has the Hardinge taper! So I have pretty much settled on D1-4.

Now for the 16's.. I am about ready to make a couple spindles. No joke. I am guessing the originals were forged, then heat treated, ground and polished. I can rough them out, grind, and superfinish them here, would have to send out for heat treat and maybe gun drilling. Might use 8620, or 4340. I kind of think if I set up to do this, I may as well make at least 5 of them. If I do this, would you be interested?

If someone has a better idea, I would love to be talked out of it. I know this is not a trivial matter. But, I make and repair crankshafts for a living, the spindle of a lathe does not seem impossible.

Marc

So I'm not the guy who will ever talk anyone out of trying something ambitious. A project like this could go one of two ways. Either you tie up a bunch of expensive material, time, and heat treat cost only to wind up with a product that doesn't meet runout and balance specs...or you're a superhero and the parts are great and then you can't keep up with demand once word gets out that there's a renewable store of locking spindles for old SB lathes.

My recommendation would be that you go the Camlock route, but I could understand why you'd avoid the moving cam parts and go with long nose taper geometry instead. Of course you'd have to supply draw nuts and wrenches for the L00 (or larger L0/L1?), too.

I don't know enough about superfinishing to know if that's a big deal or not -- the few YouTube videos I can find on the subject don't offer much detail.

I can already hear the peanut gallery saying if you can afford to make one-off Camlock spindles then you can afford to buy a better lathe. And they might be correct. Making them won't be inexpensive if your time is worth anything at all to you and your family.
 








 
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