S B Identification

I became the owner of a South Bend Lathe, last night. It ain't purdy! It is in an old, unlighted barn. I did not have a measuring device so I don't know, for sure, but I think it is a 9"x36". I know nothing about lathes. How do I identify it. On a tag on the gear cover, I think it says; "catalog" and then the number "415 AC" is stamped. Under that it says something and then the number "4" is stamped.

I will go get it today, in the day light, and will be able to see it better. I will, also, have a measuring device. I'll have a camera, too.

Thanks for any information.
Mule

SB used the 415 designation for many years, actually covering two different iterations of the Workshop 9 inch, the early top oiler, and the later side oiler. The 'C' is an indication that it is the latter, a top oiler model C. The 'A' indicates the bed length, 4 ft. Make sure you get the change gear stack with it, should be about 13 gears, plus one or two compound gears.

allan

I saw no extra gears. I did not know to look at the oiler. I will check these out after while. I will not complain, cause all it has cost me, so far, is a 3 mile trip to see it and now the same trip to get it. Thanks for the info. I am sure I will have many more questions.

Mule

Here are pictures.


The lathe is very loose.The drill chucks are wollered out to the point of being junk. There are no gears to change. The feller I got it from gave $600.00 for it. He thinks he got a bargain. I just can't agree, but I have not told him. He was trying to be nice to me, so I'll try to do the same. Even though I don't think too much of what I got, I'll be giving him some things along, when I find them at my price range, that I know he will like to have. That is how it works for me.

Here are the numbers; Catalog # 415 AC, below that; Bed Length 4. The serial # 150764. From those numbers can someone tell me what I have, including model name[type] and year of mfg.?

So, "Bed Length 4" means it has a 40" bed. Am I correct?

confederatemule said:

Here are the numbers; Catalog # 415 AC, below that; Bed Length 4. The serial # 150764. From those numbers can someone tell me what I have, including model name[type] and year of mfg.?

So, "Bed Length 4" means it has a 40" bed. Am I correct?

Click to expand...

Manufactured around Spring of 1944, Bed should be 48" - maybe 30" between centers....

Its a Workshop 9 inch model C, perhaps the most common SB made. 4 foot bed length. Here's a pic from the 1942 catalog: http://www.wswells.com/data/catalog/100B/cat_100B26.jpg

allan

That drill chuck in the pictures looks like a Jacobs 100. That's used as a steady rest for armature work. It's useful for a lot of other work. See if it's marked as such.
It doesn't look like a regular chuck, so it may seem worn out, but it may not be.

Hey, Y'all, thanks for all of the answers and web sites. I'll get out, after it warms up a little, and look it over a little better. That will mean more questions. It came out of an armature shop. They repaired auto starters & generators as well as repaired electric motors. I am fairly sure it was bought brand new by this company. It looks like it has never been cleaned nor maintained. It was operated by hired hands. As it turns out, there were two of them. They were bought by one man and then this one was sold to my friend. My friend thinks there may be parts for this one still in a large box with the other lathe. The first buyer passed on a few months ago. I am going to try to see the man's wife and try to acquire the other lathe and parts. Maybe I will be able to make one nice lathe, or possibly 2. If she won't sell, I'll be looking elsewhere .

I'm back. The reversing gears are worn to the point of skipping. The gear on the spindle is worn down to short to make contact with the reversing gears. The small gear on the Quill assembly has half of it's teeth missing. The hand wheel in the gap apron is floppy. The Banjo bracket safety guard is missing. As I mentioned earlier, the change gears are missing. The only ones I have are the ones that came on the lathe.
The chucks are Jacobs 100, 1/4 - 3/4.
The only tooling that came with it is what is attached to it. The three jaw chuck seems to be in good shape. There are no other face plates or anything of that nature. There are no centers.
It looks like I'll have to spend some money to get this thing working properly.