The Patron Saint of Old American Iron Smiled on Me Yesterday!

I went to look at a vaguely described South Bend lathe yesterday. I suspected it was a heavy 10 from the description, but the condition was a total question mark. I have been really wanting a heavy 10, but they basically NEVER show up locally, or so it seems.

When I got there, I found a well maintained 1959 3 1/2' toolroom heavy 10 with hard ways, taper attachment, collet drawbar and collets and an assortment of chucks and tooling. It looked like a mess in all the ways that don't matter and looked like a jewel in all the ways that do. It was the seller's father-in-laws lathe. He recently passed and the machine tools had to go.

The lathe was stuck inside a cargo trailer so I was not able to run it first, but I told him I was interested. Then, he asked me if I might be interested in his father-in-law's drill press. I really didn't need another drill press, but I decided to climb to the front of the trailer to see it. It was a Rockwell 21-100 vertical mill. Oh my God, I had never seen one before. It was a little uglier than the Heavy 10, but still a thing of beauty, if you know what I mean.

Last but not least, he had a 16" Apex disc sander he needed to get rid of.

They are now all three in my garage.

I have a Rong Fu 31 mill/drill I have had for 15 years that I really wanted to replace. I have been jonesing for a Bridgeport, but I just don't have room. They come up for sale around here regularly just to mock me. However, I have never actually seen the Rockwell mill in person, much less seen one for sale around here. I feel like I struck gold.

The heavy 10 will replace the 9A I just finished restoring and making a custom horizontal drive for. Oh well, I don't have room for two lathes. Ironically, the Heavy 10 will take up less floor space than my 4' 9A does.

Here are a couple of pictures. Unfortunately, the belt tensioning lever was busted during the move into the trailer (before I got to it). I have the other piece to it. I'm thinking about tig welding it back together. I think I can get away with it. Thoughts?



Likewise, they busted off one of the Y axis handles on the mill as well. No worries, that side of the table is getting a stepper motor anyway (and a ballscrew).

Now I have to go back and read more about the Heavy 10s. I can't wait to run it.

Baxter

Well done. You must be very happy. :-) I am curious about the 'thing' on the front right of the headstock above the gearbox. What is that?

StrayAlien said:

Well done. You must be very happy. :-) I am curious about the 'thing' on the front right of the headstock above the gearbox. What is that?

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The micrometer stop mounting bracket for collet work.

allan

Yes, it is the micrometer stop bracket. Ironically, in all the tooling, I have not found the elusive micrometer stop itself. I have been searching for one for my 9A and now, it seems, I'm still looking but now for the Heavy 10. Oh well.

Baxter

Great find... It's always nice when you get something locally.

Mitch

panabax said:

Unfortunately, the belt tensioning lever was busted during the move into the trailer (before I got to it). I have the other piece to it. I'm thinking about tig welding it back together. I think I can get away with it. Thoughts?

Likewise, they busted off one of the Y axis handles on the mill as well. No worries, that side of the table is getting a stepper motor anyway (and a ballscrew).

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Who moved them, Cheech and Chong??!!

Nice looking 10!

Enjoy

John

comstockfriend said:

Who moved them, Cheech and Chong??!!

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Obviously!

I have a heavy 10, and that same mill. I'd be very interested to learn how you put a power feed on it.
Nice catch!

Very nice! You struck gold!

I got it in place in my shop (garage) last night. I see why they call it the "heavy" 10. I understand it is light and compact compared to most lathes, but compared to my 9A that it is replacing (and the 9x20 Asian I had before that) it is HEAVY. I was able to get it in place with casters and then used my hi lift jack to get the casters out from under it. All in all, not too bad.

It has a 3 phase motor, but fortunately, I have 3 phase power in my garage, so I was able to get it wired up and spinning right away. The drive train sounds very smooth. I cycled through all the gears and they all sound and feel terrific under power. The back gears are also nice and quiet (relatively speaking of course).

My first project will be adapting ballscrews to the new to me Rockwell 21-100 vertical mill I got in the deal. I actually turned a few chips this morning on the end of one of the new ballscrews. Here is a picture of the lathe in place. You can see the ballscrew mounted in the 5C collet. A carbide cutter seemed to have no difficulty with the hardened screw. That's good. I was afraid I was going to have to anneal the ends to machine them and I did not want to do that.

I've gone through all of the tooling that came with this lathe. There are a few odd ball chucks. There is a 4 jaw threaded 1 1/2-8 which I will either sell on ebay or send off with my 9A. There is also another 4 jaw threaded 1 3/8-10. Interestingly, I have an old original 9 headstock with a 1 3/8-10 spindle. I know the early 9s used them. If anyone needs any of the 1 3/8-10 stuff, let me know. I think I also have a new backplate threaded 1 3/8-10. I have no use for any of it and I know they are less prevalent than the 1 1/2-8 stuff. There are a few items I can't seem to identify. I may post some pictures here for you to school me.

Baxter

Help ID this spindle attachment

Ok,

I have just about settled this new lathe in its new home. I am trying to organize all of the misc tooling that I got with it and one item has me a little baffled. It appears to be a spindle adapter of some sort. I am guessing maybe some kind of collet adapter but, if so, the cap is missing or lost.

Any help?

Thanks,

Baxter

An adapter to use some of those oddball chucks??? Does the female thread match the 10's spindle nose???

John

comstockfriend said:

An adapter to use some of those oddball chucks??? Does the female thread match the 10's spindle nose???

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It looked to me like it did, but I have not actually tried to thread it on. I will check it when I get home.

The lathe came with a large 3 jaw that is clearly 2 1/4-8 but is VERY hard to get to seat all the way on the spindle. It also came with a smaller 3 jaw that only threads a little on and gets stuck. It is definitely not 2 1/4-8 but I have not measured it to see what it is. As you suggest, perhaps that smaller 3 jaw threads onto this adapter which threads onto the spindle. Why someone would do that rather than fit a new back plate is beyond me.

I have a very nice Bison 3 jaw I used on my 9A. I have ordered a new back plate for it to move it to the 10L. Maybe I should make an adapter to run from my 9A spindle to this adapter to the 3 jaw that likely fits on the adapter. My 9A has a 4' bed so it should all fit.

On second through maybe I will fit the old back plate from the Bison onto that 3 jaw and let it go with my 9A.

Thanks for your response. Now that I think about it I am pretty sure that is what it's for. On a different note, how tight should the threads fit on a Heavy 10? On my 9A, the chucks I use thread pretty easily right to the shoulder on the spindle. I can get the large chuck to the shoulder of the 10L but it takes a strap wrench and back gears. It does not seem right. It gets about 3/4 of the way on then gets very tight.

Baxter

My SB 13" has the D1-4 mount. My Enco 12" x 24" with the 2-1/4"-8 thread is an easy turn to the register ring, never stuck on me, same with my 9" 1-1/2"-8 chucks.

John

I got the serial number card today from Grizzly. I went back and forth on whether to fork over the $25 but, what the hell. The card confirms that the X in the serial number is for a hard bed (and maybe more). However, it says:

Hard bed, Screws T.S. Spindle. I assume that means the cross feed and compound screws, along with the tailstock spindle are all hardened. Were they not all hardened? (I guess not).

Also, the lathe came with thread dial, steady rest and taper attachment. It is a tool room model so I assume it was shipped with all of that. I thought all tool room models included the taper attachment and thread dial (along with a higher precision lead screw). However, the card does not make any reference to them. That seems odd.

Can anyone offer me any insight?

Baxter

Here is the Serial Number Card. There is a second item listed under the listing for the lathe. I can't quite make out the catalog number but it is something like CL2801P or maybe CE2801P. Any idea what this item is?

Never mind, I answered my own question. It is the catalog number for the motor. CE2801P.