Help Identify South Bend Lathe

[Walther1522]

Hello,

I was recently given a lathe for free.
I cannot find any info on it apart from it being a south bend 9B precision lathe. I tried looking up its serial number of grizzly and south bends website and it said that it was an invalid number.
Attached are photos of the machine.
It seems to be fully intact. I did notice that most pictures I have seen of south bend 9” lathes have a quick change gear box.
Mine doesnt have that but I am curious why and could one be added simply by purchasing one and adding it or is heavy modification needed for that?

I plan on restoring this lathe to its former glory and it would be great to have it looking as if it just rolled out its original manufacturers shop. Attached are some photos.

On the inside of the cover of all the gears was stamped 146N1
The plate on the cover says
“South bend precision lathe 9B
DAT no. 677Z”

Any information helps.

 

[Dobermann]

I don't have all of the answers. Others on this forum will have more information and probably better information but.....

I would suggest that you visit wswells.com for some really good historical information as well as a whole lot of serial number info. From what I can glean from his serial number sheet, your lathe dates to approximately 1946. The serial number certainly looks valid based on what's in wswells accumulated data.

Your carriage certainly looks like a Model B carriage. I can't tell if the lead screw has the slot milled into it that's necessary to drive the feed "works" inside the carriage. Regardless, I'm not sure your leadscrew would be the correct length and have the correct left end configuration to be compatible with the quick change gearbox. However since you appear to have the correct carriage, you're more than halfway toward your goal of having a quick change lathe.

It's a shame about the "tasteful" color choice made by the previous owner!

 

[Walther1522]

I don't have all of the answers. Others on this forum will have more information and probably better information but.....

I would suggest that you visit wswells.com for some really good historical information as well as a whole lot of serial number info. From what I can glean from his serial number sheet, your lathe dates to approximately 1946. The serial number certainly looks valid based on what's in wswells accumulated data.

Your carriage certainly looks like a Model B carriage. I can't tell if the lead screw has the slot milled into it that's necessary to drive the feed "works" inside the carriage. Regardless, I'm not sure your leadscrew would be the correct length and have the correct left end configuration to be compatible with the quick change gearbox. However since you appear to have the correct carriage, you're more than halfway toward your goal of having a quick change lathe.

It's a shame about the "tasteful" color choice made by the previous owner!

Dobermann,

Thank you so much for the reply.
Yea the previous owner just kind of sprayed it down I think hah.
I dont mind too much and dont wanna critique since he gifted it to me so as far as Im concerned the color is just fine!
Awesome I will check those sites and see what they say.
I will post more pictures of specs of this lathe later today hopefully so people can give me more information based off what they know.
Seems like this forum has some serious experts on this topic.

Another question that I cant seem to find is how far away can I bolt the motor from the lathe?
In other words what is the foot print neededfor a shop table for this lathe? I cannot find any info and the south bend book I ordered wont be in until the end of the month

Thank you!

 

[johnoder]

The 176XXX certainly appears to be a "A Later Forties" than that shown by the Serial Number Book - such as my 1975 edition which only goes to 165XXX for 1946. Not much for accurate or completeness of in that book. If Mr. Wells catalog collection has catalog 100F from August 1946 you can turn to page 39 to view the 9B

 

[DanAl]

You may want to try this thread on this forum. https://www.practicalmachinist.com/forum/threads/serial-numbers-wanted.128483/

 

[Walther1522]

You may want to try this thread on this forum. https://www.practicalmachinist.com/forum/threads/serial-numbers-wanted.128483/

Excellent I just posted there too.

Thank you.

@johnoder
That is pretty helpful i guess it narrows it down.

What is the consenus on using WD-40 on these lathes for easing the tear down process? Is it an acceptable lubricant to use or is there a more elegant material for this task?

 

[DanAl]

Excellent I just posted there too.

Thank you.

@johnoder
That is pretty helpful i guess it narrows it down.

What is the consenus on using WD-40 on these lathes for easing the tear down process? Is it an acceptable lubricant to use or is there a more elegant material for this task?

You are welcome. I use WD-40 for cleaning parts on teardown, and maybe to try to loosen stuck parts. I don't use it for lubrication on the lathe.

 

[Walther1522]

Ran into the first speed bump.
The taper wouldnt pop out. Ive tried popping it out by prying somewhat.
And so i decided to take the quill and and turned it fully out and now it wont cone out nor get back into the thread

Is there any fix? I dont see any set screws keeping this thing in so I really have no idea why it wont come out unless the taper center is keeping it in.

Are there any suggestions from anyone?

 

[Walther1522]

View attachment 412491
Ran into the first speed bump.
The taper wouldnt pop out. Ive tried popping it out by prying somewhat.
And so i decided to take the quill and and turned it fully out and now it wont cone out nor get back into the thread

Is there any fix? I dont see any set screws keeping this thing in so I really have no idea why it wont come out unless the taper center is keeping it in.

Are there any suggestions from anyone?

I was able to get it done by taking the wheel off.

Does this thread look messed up or is that just how it is.
Its not threading so im guessing its toast.

 

[DanAl]

Sometime the morse taper is too short, making removal difficult. Does the live or dead center have a screw in the back to give it more length? Not sure about the thread of the screw.

 

[Walther1522]

Yea I read that that was the case. I finally took the hand wheel off and it was extremely dirty so the taper would not but.

Now the problem is taking the handwheel off of the screw which it has a no nut rather a dimple of some sort that I have no idea how to take off.
My lathe restoration book wont be in until the end of the week but i cant wait ha.

If anyone has advice on this problem that would be great. I will post pics of what im talking about soon.

 

[Walther1522]

I could not see the punch pins bc of the blue paint. It was covering the pin holes. After brushing the paint off to further inspect the part.
I figured out it was punch pins.

I was able to get the carriage off carefully by keeping the lead screw lifted.
And now Im on my way to completely tearing down the apron.
So far it hasnt been too bad of a project. Minor hickups here and there.
Pretty sure I cross threaded the tail stock screw bc I kept trying to re-engage it turning it right….
Well, good thing ebay exists.

 

[kitno455]

Slow down, you are going to screw stuff up. Get the Ilion book called 'A Guide to Renovating the South Bend Lathe 9" Model A, B & C Plus Model 10k'. It is also available from seller 'stevewb' on ebay with additional parts like cut felt strips. It is well worth the price.

 

[Walther1522]

Slow down, you are going to screw stuff up. Get the Ilion book called 'A Guide to Renovating the South Bend Lathe 9" Model A, B & C Plus Model 10k'. It is also available from seller 'stevewb' on ebay with additional parts like cut felt strips. It is well worth the price.

Kitno455

You are so right. I always tend to get ahead of myself.
I bought the book but its taken a good little while to ship to me, needless to say I got impatient.

Apart from the tail stock screw and ram quill threads I managed to take it all apart fairly easily.
But this is far as I can go without the book. I want to retap all smaller threads too so Ill need the book for that info.

However, you are right. No need to rush if I want a job well done.

 

[SteveM]

Steve Wells' database has it as a 1946.
All the 176's are in 1946:

http://www.wswells.com/sn/sn_db.html

 

[M.B. Naegle]

Concerning your earlier question about how far the motor assembly can be from the lathe, It can be as far away as you want, but not so close that it can't swing forward to change the belt position. The only variables are what length of belt and tension rod you use. If your bench is going to be up against a wall, take into account that the big pulley on the jack shaft sticks out the back, so make your bench stick out further so you can't push the pulley into the wall.

Post #10 in the thread here has a good diagram to follow.