South Bend 13 cross slide screw/nut assembly

Picked up a south bend 13 today at an auction. Didn't have time to check it out before hand because i didn't plan on buying it.....but it was going too cheap i picked it up for $75. Now for the bad once i got her home and in place I started giving it a once over and to my surprise the cross feed dial is not connected to anything .... i walk around back take a look and there is no screw in the cross slide... appears that it had a taper attachment at one time and somebody decided they should keep it and the screw!!! Well i suppose it is my fault for not looking it over but for $75 it is a running 13" south bend with a aloris tool post 3 jaw chuck with jaws and a live center. headstock seems to be nice and tight minimal wear on the ways. Anyway on to the problem.... I know nothing about south bend lathes and need to figure out what i need for this and maybe a few tips on how to repair it . I would love to throw some chips off of the old girl.
I will get some pictures of it up tomorrow.

Thanks in advance

Miller machine,a member here made me one (screw an nut)
for my 1943 16" er.
Good luck
Gw

You have 2 options...Find a complete taper attachment or convert to a non-taper cross slide (non-taper uses a completely different screw assy.) Good Luck. PB

I do not mind not having the taper attachment as i have other lathes if i need to cut a taper. I just need to know what i need to put it back together

Here are a few photos of what i have....

This lathe used a two-piece telescoping screw. You still have the handle end. Get some screw stock, turn one end down, and silver solder it into the handle end.

allan

Do you need a lathe right now or was this an add-on to a lathe equipped shop? Reason why i ask is there's enough there to part out and make some good money toward a more complete machine. Especially since you only paid $75. Id look at the bed, if its worn and the rest of the machine shows wear- move it along and use the money for something else.

If you want a screw and dont mind spending, i just bought all new screws, nuts and dials from Miller Machine for my 10L in progress. Wow, his work is absolutey top-notch.

Can't go wrong with Miller Machine.. Here's the part you need.

Swatkins,

Thank you for the link.

xplodee,

Do i need it....Well to put it simple no. I have two other fully operational lathes. Overall the lathe looks to be in decent condition. it only gets scary when you open up and see the motor and wiring. that could use a little love for sure. Not sure what i should do here the guy i outbid was a scrap buyer and i didnt want to see the ol girl dumped in his scrap truck and hauled off to the yard. I figured i could fix the cross slide and knock off some simple parts on it...Maybe it would be more helpful to the South Bend community if i parted her out?

TurnedOut said:

Swatkins,

Thank you for the link.

xplodee,

Do i need it....Well to put it simple no. I have two other fully operational lathes. Overall the lathe looks to be in decent condition. it only gets scary when you open up and see the motor and wiring. that could use a little love for sure. Not sure what i should do here the guy i outbid was a scrap buyer and i didnt want to see the ol girl dumped in his scrap truck and hauled off to the yard. I figured i could fix the cross slide and knock off some simple parts on it...Maybe it would be more helpful to the South Bend community if i parted her out?

Click to expand...

IMO, there's nothing to be ashamed about with respect to parting it out on ebay. It definitely won't be going to a scrap yard then and instead will be making its way to people who need the parts. I don't have a dog in this fight as I have a 10L and finally got all the parts I need, but I can tell you that I appreciated the people who sold me those parts...

In my mind the deciding factor on parting out the machine would be the condition of the ways. If they are worn pretty badly it will take a lot of money and effort to make the machine useful.

The ways and machine in general show little wear. The more i think about it i may just fix it and keep it in my garage for my personal projects rather than in the shop.

Looks like early 40's or late 30's. Likely has solid bronze bearings. No expanders. Set the top caps with shims. Its a nice lathe whether the ways have wear or not. In the Chicago area that lathe (with the cross-slide screw ) sells for 1,300 to 1,600 dollars.

I will have to get the serial number off of it tomorrow and see if i can figure out the year. i really haven't done much with it other than unload it and give it a quick once over. hopefully i will have time this week to wire it up and see if she even runs or if a new motor is in order.

So i think i will make one out of acme rod... so brings the question... anybody know what size i need?

As Allen stated, to get the cross feed operational with the least expense, you need two parts, a 12 to 13 inch piece of acme stock and a dowel pin. Remove the front of the cross feed handle shaft(don't forget to remove the oil hole screw in the mount bushing). Measure the key height and width that is in the ID of the rear of the gear portion of the handle shaft(front half of taper cross feed screw)using these dims cut a key way slot in the acme blank so it will slid in the barrel of the gear. 90 degrees from the key drill through both pieces and press in a dowel pin, finish off the ends and reinstall the now non taper screw. If later you want to install the taper, or someone else does, just drive out the dowel pin and remove the screw. If you need the screw stock just e-mail me off list.
Steve
[email protected]

TurnedOut said:

I do not mind not having the taper attachment as i have other lathes if i need to cut a taper. I just need to know what i need to put it back together

Click to expand...

13 inch South bend lathe with taper attachment

swatkins said:

In my mind the deciding factor on parting out the machine would be the condition of the ways. If they are worn pretty badly it will take a lot of money and effort to make the machine useful.

Click to expand...

I"m still trying to figure out this forum but HOPEFULLY there is a south bend person out there that can assist me. Only been a member for 5 or 6 months. I'm trying to just clean my lathe. Been sitting for about 6 or 8 years and needs some real cleaning. I have disassembled it somewhat but when I got to the cross slide nut, I ran into a problem. Got the nut separated from the cross slide and can see everything but darned if I can figure out how to get the screw out and remove the nut. I have a taper attachment which I took off... (not the entire cross slide but the beginning part including the cylinder...still could not get that nut off. Figured I needed to take off the cross feed handle which I did but there there is a keywayi and key and that I could not separate from the screw. That screw is part of the taper attachment and looks like I could pull it out on the taper side IF...IF I could get that handle screw separated from the taper attachment. Also, found that there is one nut missing on the end of the taper attachment... if you happen to know the size that would be great as well. Put it all back to gether and the taper attachment screw thread at the end does not extend far enough to put even ONE of the nuts on. UGH... I'm really stuck on this.. going to take it all apart again this weekend and hopefully will have some helpful insights by then... if not... well I'll try something different.... possibly remove the entire taper attachemnt and see if I can slide it out when nothing is there... but then there is the "nut". please H E L P....
Thanks for taking the time to read this ...
Bradd

I was just cleaning one of those today...
Mine is from a 1920's 13" non taper attachment style.
It is a 5/8 X 8 left hand acme.

Look at your dials... that will decide the pitch. If one rotation is 125 then its an 8PTI. 100 or 200 marks per rotation makes it a 10 PTI.
You will need to attach the screw to your shaft with the dials on it...

Personally I would buy the screw. The nut you need is similar to the one in the picture. Making the nut out or cast iron or delron isnt all that hard.


Looking at your pictures... you may have the nut.... it is attached via the bolt in the top of the cross slide at the back