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South Bend No. 2-H Turret Lathe 16"x6' Restoration

texasgeartrain

Titanium
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Location
Houston, TX
South Bend Lathe
Model: 2-H Turret
Catalog#: 2-CW
Serial#: 130568
Swing: 16"
Length of bed: 6'
Date shipped: 9/8/1942

As the title states, I plan this to be my restoration thread on this machine. Some of the info may be redundant, but I first started my inquiry into this machine here:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/my-first-south-bend-lathe-316693/

I plan for this to be pic heavy, as well as posted vids as I make my through it. You can check the vid playlist to see what's been added, and I will post all the vids to it as I complete them. You can find the playlist here:
South Bend No. 2-H Turret Lathe Restoration
- YouTube


The first vid is an introduction to the machine and the history of it as I understand it. You can find it here:
South Bend No. 2-H Turret Lathe 16"x6' circa 1942 part 1 - YouTube

Aside from adding new posts to this thread, I may edit this first post with major details, but I'm kinda playing it by ear right now.


1.jpgLathe Prior to Restoration.jpgSerial Number.jpgSerial card 103568.jpg6.jpg
 
I found an original brochure and sales letter for this type of machine on ebay. Its dated about 1 month prior to the order was received for this machine. You can see the cover of brochure in first post. The other pages start here, but I cut the pics in half to help with resolution:


1.jpg2.jpg3.jpg4.jpg5.jpg
 
Most important one thing I did to mine almost 35 years ago was rescrape the ram ways so it actually pointed at the center of the spindle again
 
Just got done watching the video - I'm really gonna like this. Welcome TX Gunsmith and I think we're all in for some good resto gold!

And what part of Philly are you originally from?
 
Looking forward to your resto log and videos. I'm about 80% finished with a 16" X 8' bed machine (non-turret) that dates to 1943. Everything except your turret/my tailstock and the saddle/cross slide should be very close to identical. I'm especially interested in the condition of your spindle since it appears from what I can see you have segmented cast iron bearings with no bronze sleeves. Keep the pics coming!

Tom
 
Oh please tell me pensgrove or Salem that's where my family is from. Can't wait to see the progress.

No a little bit north of there. Mostly suburb towns in camden county, Bellmawr when I was young, Audubon when I was older.

Thanks to mdshunk in another thread, I googled some paint and colors and decided on Massey Ferguson gray from Tractor Supply Co for the main color, and gloss black on handles and and such. I may highlight stamped numbers and words in yellow.


9.jpg
 
Here's some of the books I am using as reference. Pic 1 is a book I got from ebay printed 1958. Pic 2 I found on vintage machinery website, dated 1965. Pic 3 from Steve Wells website dated 1995. And pic 4 I am trying to aquire the original or at least a photo copy, but don't have in my clutches yet.

pdf from vintage machinery web site:
http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1617/3463.pdf

Steve well's site:
http://www.wswells.com/

The manual pdf from there:
http://neme-s.org/Shaper Books/South Bend/CE3458 Parts Manual.pdf


10.jpg11.jpg12.jpg13.jpg
 
You can go to the Grizzly Tools website and give them your serial number and they will send you a copy of the original build ticket. I did that for manual 16" turret lathe and my little 9" ,I actually turned out to be the second owner of the 1939 9". Good luck on the restoration.
Ben
 
You can go to the Grizzly Tools website and give them your serial number and they will send you a copy of the original build ticket. I did that for manual 16" turret lathe and my little 9" ,I actually turned out to be the second owner of the 1939 9". Good luck on the restoration.
Ben

Thanks. Yes, I did that. I have a pic of it in the first post of this thread.
 
Oh please tell me pensgrove or Salem that's where my family is from. Can't wait to see the progress.

I actually live just outside of Salem. Wonder if I know any of your folks.



Looks like a heck of a machine. Any plans on swapping the turret for a conventional tailstock, or will this be used more for production stuff like it would have been run originally?


The J.A.N. *can* mean Joint Army Navy, but I've never seen it with periods between it. You usually saw that on electronics. Lots of vacuum tubes and such have JAN markings on them.
 
I actually live just outside of Salem. Wonder if I know any of your folks.



Looks like a heck of a machine. Any plans on swapping the turret for a conventional tailstock, or will this be used more for production stuff like it would have been run originally?


The J.A.N. *can* mean Joint Army Navy, but I've never seen it with periods between it. You usually saw that on electronics. Lots of vacuum tubes and such have JAN markings on them.

I have very much considered getting a conventional tail stock, or configuring the whole machine as a tool room lathe. And I may buy the parts to do so, but i plan to keep the original parts and recondition them regardless. I'm not really a purist when it comes to old cars, guns, or anything really. I tend to use what works for me. However, finding the serial card, booklets on this machine, and its model with catalog number, the catalog number on an id plate. . . well im inclined to go all original first, get familiar with the machine and see what I think. I'd like to get that fellow on here to make all the new data tags, and such. I don't really have a need for production, but I think I can use it for pretty much everything I plan to do. At worst I'll buy another lathe, haha.

Googling around previously I found a few links about the initials, nothing concrete, but 1 of them is here:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/lathe-bed-stamped-initials-129030/
 
Pretty much finished with turret head and turret slide. I am very pleased, the parts cleaned up nicely and operate like butter now. Working on editing and posting the vid, which may happen tonight. I haven't worked out all the pics yet, but I'll post one now. Got what I think will be a long work week ahead, so I may not get more pics posted till next weekend.


24.jpg
 
Amazing what cleaning, lube, and paint does for things isn't it? For me at least there is a deep satisfaction that comes from taking a broken down piece of junk and making it work as new again. More than once I've even spent more money making some old junker right than it would have cost to buy a better one, but anyone can buy stuff that works if you have deep enough pockets.
 








 
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