South Bend 10K restoration

hello all, this is my 1st post. i am new to the machine shop world.i am a standard shift transmission tech by day and welder fabricator by night. i have always had an interest in machine tools such as lathes and milling machines. i have grown up around it and even have a trimester of tech collage machine shop course under my belt. that being said i know very very little. i recently bought a 1976 south bend 10k lathe 4.5' bed, and i plan to restore it.







the ways are pretty rough but everything else can be replaced or cleaned up i believe. i will have pictures of the ways soon to get opinions on if its salvageable or not.

so, the story...
Craigslist buy, the picture displayed the machine indoors with no rust.. needless to say this is how i found it.. out side under a make shift plastic covering...

















so the craigs list add posted that it was 500 bucks. i texted the guy (nice guy) and he told me the cross-feed screw was damaged and the electrical forward/reverse switch was busted and that the apron casting was broke. o i wasn't expecting a beauty queen when i showed up. anyway i went low he went high we settled for 400 bucks.

got it back to my shop to find the compound screw was also damaged, the lead screw half nuts (inside the apron) were totally shot.. and while none of the end gears had broken teeth, one of them was very badly worn.. oh, and the tail stock casting is also really worn.. the ways are beat up too.. anyway she is just a broke down lady of the night in need of someone to love her..

here are the rest of the pictures i took today. i started with the disassembly of the apron casting, then the carriage, then the tail stock.



busted casting





worn out half nuts



carriage



disassembled, all the pieces in need of replacement there above the red shop towel.



the tail stock wasn't too bad.. but i assume the bottom casting shouldnt look like this..





everything disassembled



im going to get these 3 components rebuilt then i am going to tackle the rest of the machine.. any advice would be greatly appreciated, hope you guys enjoy the thread.

thanks,
brandon

Some guy in Hungary restored a SB in worse condition and did a heck of a job:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/south-bend-lathe-hungary-208276/

Photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/101965841536879360327/albums/5497885996341162081?banner=pwa

How does the spindle and headstock bearing surface look?

Nice find
Just TLC

Dave

thanks for the thread i am deff going to read that. it will really come in handy.

-Brandon

Enjoy the project, and do keep us informed! :-)

Certainly, that Hungary resto thread is pretty inspiring. Whew.

shewww thats a lot of rust

x2 on the rust. Where are you located???

John

im in memphis tennessee. the rust is actually cleaning up nicely. it doesn't bother me so much is the wear on the front side V-way. i will get some pictures in a few.. what needs to be used to strip the old paint off the clean parts? also from all tyhe reading i have been doing i think i have found my answer but i wanted to ask anyway.. the saddle on a 10K is not compatible with the heavy 10 saddle correct? different bed widths if im not mistaken..

is that correct or am i mistaken and they will interchange.

brandon

here are a few pictures of the bed's ways







now this is a picture of the gear on the end of the spindle. in the transmission world we would replace this for sure.. same here? am i going to need to find a new spindle for this jem?





Brandon

I just rebuilt my SB13, u can use paint stripper if u like tedious work with nasty chemicals? (It dont work that good either) i ended up using a combination of wire weels, paint removal wheels and basically whatever works. Southbend actually put alot of bondo on there lathes to smoth out the castings so i wouldn't be afraid of hurting it much, another thing i did that has worked well is i first did a primer coat and then a coat of stone textured paint (it helped blend the imperfections) and then my color coats, u can also contact south bend with ur serial# and get a serial# card (think its like twenty bucks) and it tells u exactly what features that lathe was built with, or u can just learn how to read the number on there website and get alitle info on it, they also have new old stock for some machines... Good luck, its a big job!!

Pretty sure that that entire spindle all comes apart, mine did

The sharp edges of the chips and dents on the ways can be smoothed over with a stone. I'd build up that deep cut in the 1st pic with jbweld. Looks like a pretty deep ridge on the front way and worn only a 1/3 of the way down from the top which is weird. Some pics of the wear on the underside of the carriage would be useful.

If you have a long straightedge you can lay it on the unworn portion and extend over the worn area and measure the gap. How long is the wear area? Since that is a long bed, you could slide the headstock up past the wear area and add an extension shaft to the gear train. Possible fill that ridge with some jbweld or epoxy as a temp fix. With the carriage lightly locked down, does it bind when you crank it down the bed? I would clean it up and see how it cuts before worrying about a replacing/grinding the bed.

The heavy 10 saddle will not fit, bed is wider.

Spindle gear doesn't look that bad, see how it works first.

Thats actually how Bridgeport recommends repairing there ways aswell (withe jbweld) i didnt believe it when i read it but its right there in there manuel, that big gash on ur Vway might be a different story tho?

JB Weld ehh? well i suppose that could work.. here are a few shots of the ways on the carriage.

front side






rear side

BCWorkman - welcome aboard! Your machine was had at a great price. You're surrounded by people who have restored these, so you're in good company. I'm looking forward to watching this one.

Regarding the bed ways (and I'm only judging by looking at pictures) - but that gouge *shouldn't* mess things up if you remove any high spots. Remember, the saddle covers the ridge on the "sides" of the ways and because the saddle has such a long groove (the "negative" of the ways), there should always be enough making good contact for it to not be impaired.

Obviously you'll want to replace both the cross-feed and compound screw & nuts. If your budget allows, I would always seek N.O.S. or ver-good-condition parts if/when possible. When that's not an option, parts can be can be repaired or refurbished (Jayhawkman on this site does the half-nuts really nice). The apron casting can be had on eBay pretty regularly. I see machines being parted out ALL the time.

There are lots of places to get parts. I personally deal with Ted Pfluegner (SBLatheman) who usually has new parts or great quality used stuff. Good guy to deal with, ships fast and is always quick to help answer some of the tougher questions (he worked for South Bend).

I see from the pics that you've become friends with Evaporust. Good move, that stuff is magic. To rerust your bed, simply build a four-sided box out of 2x12" lumber. Place about 5 layers of thick-mill plastic into the box. Wrap four little blocks of wood in soft towels (these will be the "feet" to rest the lathe on) and then place the lathe bed into the box. Fill it with water and molasses (feed grade, ration 8 parts water, 1 part molasses). Leave the bed in there for a few DAYS. Lift the bed each day slightly out of the bath to check it's progress. It works fantastic at removing all the rust and it costs next to nothing. I have all the details in my Bridgeport restoration thread on this site, in which I did the table for the mill. If you want to see how these lathes turn out and some explamples of the molasses rust removal, here are some links to videos I've made.

Good luck!

Bridgeport Restoration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1mA8avxOug

South Bend 9", 10" & 13" Restorations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-pFPFNoMzI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbxjuCYs0lE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJNrn9PVgz8

The saddle way wear is not as bad as I thought, sometimes their ways are worn so much that the top of the bed ways grind against the apex in the saddle casting. Still, the wear pattern doesn't seem to match the wear on the front bed V way. Pictures focus is not clear, do you have a macro button? Like I said before, put it together and see how accurately it cuts first.

went ahead and bought another saddle and gib. the gib for my machine was broken so i needed another one anyway. 65 bucks and the ways were in good shape so why not? also picked up the cross-feed screw and dial components as well as the compound screw and dial components as well as a forward/ reverse switch since all my electrical was basically crushed. i was thinking of swapping out the flat belt 3 step pulleys for a v belt 4 step pulley. any opinions on this? there are 2 sets on ebay but they say they are for the south bend 9" and i don't know if they will interchange. from what i have found out most of the 9" parts will interchange with the 10k lathe. thought i would ask here.

bradjacob said:

BCWorkman - welcome aboard! Your machine was had at a great price. You're surrounded by people who have restored these, so you're in good company. I'm looking forward to watching this one.

Regarding the bed ways (and I'm only judging by looking at pictures) - but that gouge *shouldn't* mess things up if you remove any high spots. Remember, the saddle covers the ridge on the "sides" of the ways and because the saddle has such a long groove (the "negative" of the ways), there should always be enough making good contact for it to not be impaired.

Obviously you'll want to replace both the cross-feed and compound screw & nuts. If your budget allows, I would always seek N.O.S. or ver-good-condition parts if/when possible. When that's not an option, parts can be can be repaired or refurbished (Jayhawkman on this site does the half-nuts really nice). The apron casting can be had on eBay pretty regularly. I see machines being parted out ALL the time.

There are lots of places to get parts. I personally deal with Ted Pfluegner (SBLatheman) who usually has new parts or great quality used stuff. Good guy to deal with, ships fast and is always quick to help answer some of the tougher questions (he worked for South Bend).

I see from the pics that you've become friends with Evaporust. Good move, that stuff is magic. To rerust your bed, simply build a four-sided box out of 2x12" lumber. Place about 5 layers of thick-mill plastic into the box. Wrap four little blocks of wood in soft towels (these will be the "feet" to rest the lathe on) and then place the lathe bed into the box. Fill it with water and molasses (feed grade, ration 8 parts water, 1 part molasses). Leave the bed in there for a few DAYS. Lift the bed each day slightly out of the bath to check it's progress. It works fantastic at removing all the rust and it costs next to nothing. I have all the details in my Bridgeport restoration thread on this site, in which I did the table for the mill. If you want to see how these lathes turn out and some explamples of the molasses rust removal, here are some links to videos I've made.

Good luck!

Bridgeport Restoration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1mA8avxOug

South Bend 9", 10" & 13" Restorations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-pFPFNoMzI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbxjuCYs0lE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJNrn9PVgz8

Click to expand...

did not know molasses would remove rust...no rust on my lathe, but will try it sometime...

Hi Brandon

I'd say you did ok. I paid twice that for a 64 10k in only marginally better condition.







There's no end to the resources on this forum to get you back in shape. Forum member jayhawkman does great work rebuilding half nuts. You've already gotten a solid recommendation for Ted P. Get Steve Brooks' rebuild book and parts kit and make your life easy. I had Tom Ross make new compound and cross slide screws and nuts for me, (the compound one being custom to accept a 200-div dial that's supposed to fit the cross.)

Parts are plentiful. An awful lot of stuff from the 9 will fit the 10k, and there's next to nothing you can't find if you look.

I've been at this a while, but a work schedule change and kids growing have presented a time obstacle. Planning to make some serious progress this year over the holidays as my first real break in two years.