Looking for help and info for my new heavy 10

Hey guys, I picked up a heavy 10 a couple weeks ago. I finally got it positioned and setup with a VFD. I got it running today and got to do a little work on it. The thing was very loose at first but after tightening up the ways it's not bad.
I am looking for manuals, maintnence and service guides as well as any other info I can find. I read through the links in the stickes but didn't find much specifically for the heavy 10. I did find a yahoo groups that's supposed to have files but I am waiting to be accepted to the group.
I was thinking about getting this kit in the near future.
Rebuild Book Kit for South Bend Lathe 10L "Heavy 10" | eBay
Is that a good manual?
Is there anything better?
Since I am recovering from buying the mill and a few big projects is there anything free to get me by for the time?

I do also have a few specific questions right now.

One issue I noticed is the chuck and shaft has about .5mm of axial play. I assme this is not normal? How do I fix it?
It doesn't feel like there is any radial play.
The VFD won't start the motor on it's own. I was thinking it might be something wrong with the motor or the settings but I am wondering if it's related to the chuck being hard to turn. It definitely has a bit more resistance than other lathes I have used and almost seems to be a little stikier when it's stopped. If I want to turn it by hand it can be a bit challenging but once it 'cracks loose' it spins a bit easier. Same when I press go on the VFD. I can give it a light tap in the right direction and it will take right off.
I have made sure the oil is topped off on all the reservoirs I have found but that is about it for that.

The last thing is that the ways are a bit worn in the common travel spots. When it's tight there it's pretty hard to move in the less traveled areas. Are there any tricks to evening it out?
I do ceramic coatings and have some very hard, tough and slick coatings available. I am almost thinking of coating the more worn areas to build it up a bit.
Definitely open to other suggestions.

Welcome to the forum.

Spend some time searching around on this site and on the yahoo group. There are a ton of threads that have all the information you need and more to get your heavy 10 running like a top.

That rebuild manual is a good one, I used it as a resource when I rebuilt mine.

Your spindle sounds tight. Could be old grease/oil or could need the bearings adjusted and possibly shimmed. Lot of people don't know how to properly tighten them. It's covered in the rebuild manual and a few threads as well I believe.

Edit: here is one http://www.practicalmachinist.com/...y-10-spindle-bearing-replacement-make-179855/

Repairing worn ways is a deep issue. You scrape them down, build them up or use them as is. It takes a lot of skill and time to do the job right. Turcite is one product people use, searching on that should bring you some useful threads.

Teryk

Sounds like your bearings either need adjustment or are installed incorrectly. Buy the book and the kit, and follow it exactly when you go into the headstock. You can damage the bearings if you don't do it right.

allan

your spindle should turn freely by hand, better get the rebuild book and be safe...like others have said

I have learned quite a bit in the last few days.
I realized that a lot of the drag is in the gearbox. There is one sticky spot that makes it particularly hard to turn. I haven't looked at it much but maybe a tooth is buggered up or something.

In neutral it spins much easier. I also reduced the torque on the spindle bearings slightly which freed it up a bit. It takes very little effort to spin it with the belt loose.
I got it to where it always starts in low gear and usually in the middle but not in high gear.


Here is one thing. In the VFD section I mentioned that I didn't know if it was previously run on 220 or 440. I read a couple places that 220/440 motors don't always need to be rewired but in the VFD section they keep telling me the motor needs to be wired for 220. The thing is that I don't see any wiring box or anywhere on the motor that has any sort of access panel to do so. I can't see real well in there thoug and I really don't want to pull the motor for no reason.
The wire goes straight into the back of the housing. Assuming this is an original motor can you guys tell me if it needs to be wired specifically for 220 and if so where this needs to be done?


I ended up ceramic coating the ways and it made a huge difference. I did multiple passes focussing on the areas where it was loosest and then fading just to where it started to get tighter. It's not perfect but rediculously better than it was.
The top few coats I used a ceramic dry film lubricant. I should have hit the whole thing with a light coat of this. Even before I re oiled it everything slid on it smoother than it did before well lubricated.

Now the only question is how long it will hold up. It's damn hard stuff though so I think it should get me by for a while at least.

Can you describe the ceramic coating thing some more? What product(s) and techniques did you use? Any pics?

I use Cerakote Coatings: Finishes.
These are very hard coatings. Even the standard colors are very slick. I painted my motor and trans with them and when road grime, oil and other engine bay stuff would usually get welded to the surface of the motor it just rinses right off this stuff.

For proper adhesion you are supposted to grit blast the surface. Since I didn't want to completely break the lathe down I used 180 grit sandpaper. I wiped everything down with Castrol Superclean until the rag didn't change color. this took a ton of work on the bottom side where the tensioner slide travels. I had to sand, then clean over and over till the rag came up clean. Next I moved to isopropyl alcohol and wiped everything down. I did a final wet sand on the whole surface I planned to coat using the 180 grit and alcohol just till everything had a nice even sanded finish on it. Then a few repeat passes with a rag and alcohol. I prepped both the top of the ways and the bottom slider ways about 2/3s down from the headstock as this is where mine started to get real stiff.

Now if you read the application instructions you will see most of their coatings are designed to go on about a mil thick. Really you want to wet it out then leave it. If it gets much thicker than that it will start to bubble and get's all porus. You don't want this to happen or it would be a mess. I have however learned that if you do a pass then let it cure a bit you can do multiple coats. If it gets too thick and wet it will still bubble so you gotta be careful.
This day I planned to coat about 4 different projects so I was able to spray the ways, then go spray a couple other things and go back and forth letting each coat sit for 15 to 20 min before I came back.
Since the first project was silver I just base coated in silver. I probably did about 4 coats of this. I focussed most of my time closer to the headstock then blended lightly out to that 2/3 mark where I stopped sanding. I based how much material I sprayed in a particular spot just by trying to remember how loose it was in that area. This one got progressively looser the closed it got to the headstock.
I forgot to mention the X axis but I prepped this also. It was loosest in the middle and tight at both ends so I focused most of my attention in the middle and then blended out.

Then I waited a while while I switched over to the micro slick.
Cerakote Coatings: C-110HQ Micro Slick Dry Film Ceramic Coating
This goes on even thinner so it's probably better to do the inital buildup with a different coating like I did.
I did about three more coatings of microslick over the next hour or so.
About 5 hours later with the tensioners pretty loose on both axis I ran them all the way from end to end. I figured this would knock down any orange peel or imperfections and even out any surface unevenness while the coating was still a little soft.
The coating takes about 7 days to reach full hardness but the next day I used the lathe for a couple hours with light tension on the adjusters. Again the idea was to help even out any imperfections.
Not sure if it did this new but mine touches the whole bottom of the bed. Some chips did start to chip out some of the coating on the bottom flat surfaces but even without being fully cured the tapered part of the ways look great.
The z axis still gets a little tight further down but now at least one tension is acceptable across the whole length. Before if it was tight enough to work well at the head stock it was almost impossible to turn 3/4 down.
The X axis feels about perfect now across the entire travel.
I am sure it's not as good as it came from the factory but I'd be willing to bet it's better than it has been in a number of decades.
I should have taken pics when I did it but I always forget stuff like that. Maybe I'll remember to snap a couple pics one of these days.

It's critical for this application that the motor be wired for the low voltage (240 volts) and the
symptoms you describe, suggest it is not.

You need to disconnect the machine and open the peckerhead housing on the motor
and verify how it is wired. The nameplate on the motor will show the wiring
configuration for the two different voltages.

The wires will be numbered so it will be each to check.

Thanks for the ceramics explanation. Cheers. I've just got a heavy 10 and it has some wear in that area too.

jim rozen said:

It's critical for this application that the motor be wired for the low voltage (240 volts) and the
symptoms you describe, suggest it is not.

You need to disconnect the machine and open the peckerhead housing on the motor
and verify how it is wired. The nameplate on the motor will show the wiring
configuration for the two different voltages.

Click to expand...

That is why I am trying to find someone who is personally familiar with this motor. I have looked over the 90% of the motor that I can see from the sides and there is no peckerhead. There is no easily visible plate to remove. Now either I can remove the motor and start taking things apart or I can hope maybe someone can tell me exactly what I need to do and how to do it. Hopefully, prefferably without taking the motor out.
Or like I said in the other thread I read a couple places that 220/440 motors could be built to run on either without being rewired.
I am just trying to get as much information as I can before I start tearing my lathe apart.

Just got back in touch with the previous owner and he confirmed he was running it on 220 with no issues with the motor starting.
This takes me back to thinking it's something in the VFD settings that could be improved.