SB 9a restoration question

NathanH · Apr 21, 2015

Hello all, Newbie here.

I am beginning to take apart my 1947(?) SB to degrease, clean, lubricate and repaint. Got a small pin giving me trouble.

Does the tailstock handle usually have a taper pin in it? Or, is the pin press fit?

I think the handle is held onto the screw going into the quill by just one pin. As far as I can tell the pin is in a thru hole. However, for all my pounding on the bottom of the pin, I haven't seen the head move out at all. Am I wrong in how this is assembled?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Dobermann · Apr 21, 2015

It's gonna be a tapered pin. The taper is relatively slight so you need to be sure which end is the small end and which end is the big end. You must drive it out from the small end. You also need to be very careful about the pin punch you select. Any punch that will tend to expand the pin as you hit it (as for example a center punch would) will make it very difficult to get the pin out. Be patient and you can get it apart.

rusty old tools · Apr 21, 2015

Welcome to taper pin hell lol, all that was said in the previous post was on point, I'd like to add that if you cannot get it out then you may need to drill, I had a couple I needed to drill when I did my 9a, if you end up having to go that rout then simply replace with a roll pin or set screw to make future disassembly easier, and future owners happier.

lsneon · Apr 21, 2015

I had good luck with a 3/8 brass and a 3/8 alum rod . taper one end down to size of small end of of pin, brace well, then a good wallop with a 24 oz ballpeen. The softer metal won't damage the hand wheel. Got all mine to move, then moved to the proper size rollpin driver. Oh yeah, mine was a 1945.

NathanH · Apr 21, 2015

Good idea (kudos, rusty): "future owners happier." I like it a lot!

And, Isneon, I hadn't thought of finding some softer metal rod. Also a helpful idea.

Dobermann, I've thought about the possibility that I'm pounding on the wrong end, but--given your comment, I think I'll take my trusty caliper and see if I can figure out which side is larger. You've prompted what might be a very important investigation. Understatement!

Thanks all, for your help thus far.

jkopel · Apr 21, 2015

The best thing you can do for yourself is to read a few of the many many restoration/rebuild threads here on PM.
It will save you a world of grief versus diving in blindly.
There is also a good book you can get off ebay (along with an excellent kit of repair supplies like the felt that you will need).

NathanH · Apr 21, 2015

jkopel said:
The best thing you can do for yourself is to read a few of the many many restoration/rebuild threads here on PM.
It will save you a world of grief versus diving in blindly.
There is also a good book you can get off ebay (along with an excellent kit of repair supplies like the felt that you will need).

Thanks for this heads-up. I've been reading here, but I feel like I'm reading blindly sometimes. Even the sticky forums in the Southbend restoration section of PM have oodles of info. Any suggestions for where to start?

NathanH · Apr 21, 2015

Got the pin out.

Drilling worked. Though, since I don't have a drill press I'll be doing something different next time. As you might expect, drilling freehand my drill wanted to avoid the steel pin and eat cast material instead.

The only consolation is I now have a non-tapered hole I can use for tapping a set screw in there.

Thanks for all the advice!

stephen thomas · Apr 22, 2015

Welcome to taper pin hell lol, all that was said in the previous post was on point, I'd like to add that if you cannot get it out then you may need to drill, I had a couple I needed to drill when I did my 9a, if you end up having to go that rout then simply replace with a roll pin or set screw to make future disassembly easier, and future owners happier.

That would piss me off, not make me happier, if I was the future owner and discovered such a cob job (roll pin esp).

Yours in curmudgeonlyness,
smt

thomasutley · Apr 22, 2015

NathanH said:
Got the pin out.

Drilling worked. Though, since I don't have a drill press I'll be doing something different next time. As you might expect, drilling freehand my drill wanted to avoid the steel pin and eat cast material instead. The only consolation is I now have a non-tapered hole I can use for tapping a set screw in there.

Thanks for all the advice!

You can buy a taper pin reamer on Amazon for $5 these days. Figure out which size you need (Machinery's Handbook is helpful here), order the reamer and a few pins and put it back the way you found it. Hard to question how well it worked for the first 60+ years. Let another guy wrestle with the "new" taper pin in 2075 the next time it needs to be rebuilt.

BTW, I have a few lessons learned on taper pins in my 16" lathe restoration thread, and I'm not even done tearing it down yet. However, I do intend to put new taper pins back where the old ones came out, even if it means reaming to the next size up in a couple places that were particularly stubborn coming out.

Best of luck,

Tom

Ferrous · Apr 26, 2015

Machining 1/4"per ft. taper pins is a perfect job for a 9". Use your dial indicator to set the compound so you have .0052" cross slide travel for .500" compond rest travel(aprox .5 degree). Use a little trig to check my numbers.

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