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South Bend 9 - A Rich Inheritance

pre64win

Plastic
Joined
Nov 25, 2017
Location
Woddinville, WA USA
Hello fellow SB enthusiasts.

All through my youth, my father owned a construction company and always seemed to need some piece of equipment fixed. His machinist of choice was a retired firefighter and self-taught machinist name John. Although John was 50 years my senior, I loved to hang out in his shop when I was young. My curiosity about metalworking always had me wanting to try my hand at everything, with John invariably scolding me for wanting to touch his many machine-shop treasures. Among John's many pieces of equipment was a 1953 SB 9" lathe. John had owned it since 1957 and although it was not his only lathe, it was his favorite and the prize of his shop.

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Last year John moved into a retirement home and informed me he was having an auctioneer come in to sell off his entire shop. He gave me the opportunity to come in and purchase anything I wanted ahead of the auction. Among other things, I purchased the SB 9" lathe.

I am a novice machinist at best, and am only now getting proficient at basic lathe operation. I did manage to get John out to my shop one day for some pointers, but I really am looking for guidance on the many features and attachments which have come with this lathe.

Here's a photo of John and I going over basic lathe functions.

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The lathe came with endless accessories and attachments. Things such as a taper attachment, some steady rests, extra chucks, drive plates, dogs, collets, etc.

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Where I am struggling is learning how to perform threading, and more specifically, changing out the gears to cut coarser thread pitches. If any of you experts can help pr point me to a tutorial, I would really appreciate it. I do have all the gears I need, I believe.

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Thanks in advance, and for those who are interested, here are some images of the rest of the lathe and accessories.

-Justin

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Thats a lot of tooling and accessories. You're well set up. Looks like two sets of metric transposing gears too. Nice that you know that machine's history and have a connection with it's owner. I'm sure he's happier seeing it go to someone he knows will treat it will vs some random person.

What sort of thread pitch are you looking to cut? There is a practical limit with how coarse you can go with that lead screw before the gearbox isn't happy about it.
 
Hi and thanks for the reply. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to figure out all the attachments and tools he has made for this thing!

As for the thread question: I would like to cut a 1" - 16 TPI thread.

Thanks!

Justin
 
Very impressive collection of accessories. A lifelong connection with the former owner and the machine itself is really something special. The things you could learn by taking the time to visit with John, and that he himself might discover a new chapter of it all as your mentor.. well, it seems gift of knowledge and opportunity a lifetime in the making.
 
As for the thread question: I would like to cut a 1" - 16 TPI thread.

Thanks!

Justin
Your drive gears are setup correctly so just position the tumblers on the gear box as per the chart and engage the half nuts. The carriage will then travel 1/16" per spindle revolution, diameter is irrelevant and 16 is a multiple of 8 so you don't need the thread dial.

Your friend John is an artist, what he's done with/to that machine is incredible.:smitten:
 
Fantastic package of tooling.


I bet he loves that it's all still together


South bend
How to run a lathe
Owners manual, parts manual, service manual, accessories manual,
are all downloadable from vintagemachinery.org and others
SBLatheman Ted


I like what he did with the risers - lifting the lathe higher off the bench for more height and more chip pan space.

Have him out on a regular basis, or visit him and take photos printed out and get him to tell you what they are for, what job me made them for, and so on.

He will be gone before you know it.
 
Thank you!

Thanks to you all, both for the kind words and for the advice on getting going with threading.

I always knew the lathe was pretty special, like the guy who owned it. John's body is giving out on him, but his mind is very sharp and we work on having him over pretty regularly. I hope to have him out again at Christmas time for another visit.

Funny story - the last time I had him out, he's sitting in his wheel chair while we were talking about the lathe when he asks me to help him stand. I help him stand in front of the lathe and he proceeds to make a small part to repair a broken item on his wheel chair. To watch him use the lathe again did my heart good. Even before he sold it to me, it had been almost a year since he had been to his shop.

Thanks again!

Justin
 
John has done some interesting modifications to the lathe- I like the quick release on the reverse tumbler screw. He's also apparently built a bed mounted countershaft, with a jockey pulley. Could we get some pictures of that?

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Notice every piece of spindle mounted tooling has a plug in it, perhaps to keep the chips out. Also some interesting stuff going on with the tailstock.

allan
 
There is a lifetime of small improvements on that lathe.
Some detailed pictures of what’s in the drawes and boxes would be appreciated.

It will take me a lifetime to figure out all of what John has done and created! Here are photos of what is in the boxes and drawers, as well as areas where I believe he modified the lathe (Part 1 of 2)

As noted above, John created precision pedestals to raise the lathe with greater clearance above the cabinets. This has made room for a large chip bin, as well as making it a more comfortable height to use. John told me to adjust the lathe for zero load on the bed by loosening the bolts between the lathe and the pedestals, leveling the cabinets, then using paper to shim the lathe to the pedestals, as needed. One piece of card stock under one bolt was all that was needed. The pedestals are very precise for welded plate construction.

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John converted the original motor and switch to a 2-speed, reversible arrangement. I still have the original motor and switch, but the new arrangement works great.

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He also converted the flat-belt motor drive to a V-belt, to reduce maintenance and slippage.

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He added a drip pan and reservoir under the end gears

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As noted by someone in the comments above, he added a quick-release for the reverse tumbler

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He added a mirror attachment so he could watch the backside of his work

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He had his main 3-jaw indexed and then added an arrangement for precisely using the indexing, with an indicator and magnifying glass

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John loved to make accessories, then make boxes for the accessories, then label the boxes with stenciled letters. It's all so cool, as it is a constant reminder of the kind of guy John was - creative, inventive and very precise

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Inside some of the boxes...

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Of the two sets of transposing metric gears, John made one set out of aluminum - I assume before he found a steel set. As will all tools John made, they were impeccably crafted and stamped with his name

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These threading charts include a color coding system which I have yet to figure out. Corresponding to markings on the end gears and on a dial that runs off a worm gear on the lead screw.

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Continued below...
 
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Continued from above (Part 2 of 2) - More of what was included in the boxes, cabinets and drawers which came with the lathe...

A rotating multi-tool for the tail-stock, plus two custom taps John made for some job

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A taper attachment - also made by John. This one I have yet to figure out. I have had it on the lathe and it works well, but it cuts deeper going left than it does going right. I need to figure out where the backlash is that's causing this.

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Finally, all the stuff inside the cabinets and drawers

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And to top it all off, a few books to make me an expert machinist ;)

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well,he is smarter than me but did many of the same mods i did..the reverser release,spindle indexing with the pointer and magnifier...

the thread dial is color coded because I'm guessing his eyes were failing and it's much easier to see colors than numbers...his chart lays it out.

The marks on the end gear I would guess would have been used with his spindle crank(in one of the marked boxes) and could have been used for differential indexing.

He certainly knew what he was doing!
 
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