Thread: The South Bend Heavy 9 Rebuild

There ya go Allan - taking the easy way out . Not being fully proficient with SB lubrications yet I decided to just try some 3 in 1 oil on the felts and shaft - that improved it a lot. The countershaft turns smoothly and a lot more freely. I can spin it by hand for a few revolutions, turn it loose and it will spin 2 to 3 revolutions on its own. I'm thinking when i get the right lubricant in the correct quantity I should be OK?

Yes this sounds about right. The shaft actually "Floats" on a film of oil which makes it move freely. Its actually not metal to metal contact which is why if properly oiled cast iron bearings last a long time. With no oil it will be hard to turn and even after sitting for a while it will feel stiff as the oil settled. Once it gets going usually a couple of turns it will turn smooth. This is also the same system the headstock uses. South bends use type "B" oil in the counter shaft which is SUS 150- 200 i believe which works out to around ISO 46. I use Mobile DTE 25 Hydraulic fluid and it is easily available in 1 gallon sizes.

Thanks Halligan for that lubrication information - I appreciate it

A brief progress report and some questions
I have gotten all of the base and drive parts completed and ready for re-assembly. I'm waiting until after the holidays for that. I've also got all of the major sub assemblies removed from the lathe bed and piled up on the bench



Hopefully I'll get them all back together at some point

I cleaned up all of the reversing gear sub assembly pieces. I'm using Steve Brooks' manual and it describes in detail the installation of lubrication felt wicks. It appears there are two basic paths for lubrication - the reversing gear shaft and the twin gears. Both appear to be fed from a single oil tube.

My problem is that I think my reversing gear sub assembly is different. The reversing gear shaft lubrication path appears to match. However, the twin gears are completely different. The manual talks about drilling out a thin metal plug (I don't have that), knocking out a 1/8" dowel (I don't have that), installing wicks in that passage way which connect up with wicks just above the twin gear shaft hole and finally installing wicks in a keyway in the twin gear shaft. These paths all connect up and provide lubrication to the twin gears.

On my lathe - the twin gear shaft has a crosshole drilled through it which had a wick and a longitudnal hole from the top that connected up with the cross hole - no wicks in that hole as received.




I can see how this arrangement would work - my questions are - should the longitudinal hole have a wick and is this a separate oiling point - i would oil both twin gears through the logitudinal hole and then oil the reversing gear shaft through the oil tube.

Thanks

Rick

The book is by Steve Brooks, not Steve Wells. And yes, it does not cover the older models as well. The three gears are basically oiled separately.

allan

Thanks Allan - I don't why I always want tocall'him Steve Wells :confused

So do you think there would be a wick in the longitudinal hole or just in the cross hole.

Thanks
Rick

only the cross hole. the axial hole acts as a well for oil.

allan

I got the saddle, crossfeed and compound disassembled and , as expected, there are a few problems. I'll post some pictures later but it appears that this poor lathe may have suffered a crash with a chuck. There are gouge marks on the end of the compound and crossfeed - I don't think they are serious - just aesthetic.

there is one serious problem - the crossfeed screw is bent and has damaged threads where the dial nut goes on. Also - at some point the crossfeed bushing was broken in half. So - I am in the market for a few parts - I'm checking the usual sources but may be back to BOYD. The picture below doesn't show the break so well but the hex section of the bushing is broken from the threaded section.

While I'm waiting for a potential cross feed screw replacement I started disassembling the apron. It was going well until I got to the clutch assembly. in the picture below you can see a hex nut on a shaft on the left side and a worm gear on the right. This is a splined shaft that houses the clutch plates and goes through the worm gear. I got all of that off and removed the internal snap ring but I'm not sure of how the splined shaft and worm gear come out. I have one manual that says to press the shaft out and a parts diagram that looks like the hex nut may be threaded on the shaft. I'm thinking right now that I need to get that hex nut off and push the splined shaft/worm gear out to the right. Anyone have experience with this disassembly? if I am correct - is the hex nut left or right hand and how do I get it off - there's nothing to speak of that I can get a hold of to keep the shaft from turning ? Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks!
Rick

Now that I have the bed cleaned up and blasted - I'm wondering what the best way is to evaluate the ways - in other words what doi I look for. This lathe is coming up on being 72 years old so I am expecting wear issues but I am really looking for usable - not perfect - that kinda matches my current skill level.

What I've noticed so far is that the scraping marks are clearly visible about halway down the bed from the headstock then they disappear (this is a 36" bed). There are also some nicks in the VEE portion in some areas. Finally there is a groove about 2/3 down the inside rear VEE back in the tail stock area.

What I woiuld like to be able to do is decide if I should pursue this lathe any further or if the bed is a total wash out?

Thanks

Rick

The wear line in the tailstock vee way isn't too bad of a thing. I have it on mine too. Its very common on machines that were used a lot or primarily on wood at some point which mine was. Most wood turners dont oil the ways because of the sawdust. I see signs of sawdust on a couple of your pictures if i'm not mistaken. As far as where the crosslide rides as long as there is no visible ridge you should be in good shape. Any used lathe is going to have some wear and a lot of it can be worked around. Even a clapped out bed still has worth. May take a little longer and more adjusting to get the work done but it can be done. The nicks can be stoned down so they have no more ridge around them just do it carefully. I think you'll be pleasantly suprised with what these machines can do.

Halligan - thanks and yes there is clear signs that this lathe was used for some wood and metal turning. There are a number of areas with a heavy mixture of wood and metal shavings.

Just took miine apart. Your right. Nothing to grab on to. I didn't take the snap rring off because I was afraid of snapping it. What I did do was put a long box end wrench over trhe nut and kept taping it until it finally broke loose. A little PBS and a lot of patience will help. You shouldn't have to hit it hard just often.
Mike

Mike - I'm not getting a mental picture - how did you keep the shaft/nut from turnimg while you were hiiting the wrench? I apologize in advance for what is probably a very easy solution

I'm getting ready to do some re-assembly of the base and drive system on this lathe and I've got some lubrication questions. I guess the first relates to the various lubricants recommended in the rebuild manual i'm using. They are Mobile velocite 10, Mobile dte 32, Mobile dte 68 and Mobile vactra medium way oil. Are any or all of these lubricants generally available locally (NAPA for example) and if not where do I head for them? The second question relates to the ring oiling mechanism for the countershaft - the manual doesn't cover this so I'm wondering which of the above lubricants would be appropriate. Also - how much oil would I put in the countershaft oil resorvoir - just enough to keep the ring in the oil?

Thanks
Rick

I wedged a piece of wood against the spline end of the shaft, not tight enough to bend anything. Then tap the wrench on the hex nut end counter clockwise. Inertia will be your friend. It's like an impact wrench effect. It may take a while.
Mike

Thanks Mike - that's what I was considering but was very concerned about damaging the splined shaft - I will proceed cautiously

I had a need to get something completed on this lathe so I re-assembled the pedestal and drive parts. I think it came out pretty well - just not sure at this point about the drive belt tension. All that is left to do is get some oil for the countershaft and the conduit/wire for the motor electrical connections. The color is going to appear gray in the pictures below but it really has a lot of green in it. Chalk it up to my poor photography skills.

Nice job... looks so strange without a lathe on top.

Would be funny to post that picture on some other web site and ask "What is this"

Ed S

i finally got the clutch assembly apart. Thanks to Mike for the suggestions. Once I figured out a way to wedge / lock up the mechanism and with a few quick raps on the wrench/nut the nut came right off. The rest was easy - except for the oil distribution washer that had to be at just the right height to get the shaft out :-) .