South Bend 9 x 4 1/2 - Wide Bed

[johntracy14]

Hello Everyone. I am pretty new to lathes and have recently acquired a 1928 South Bend 9" 4 1/2 foot lathe. I originally thought it was a standard 9A due to it having the quick change box. I ordered the maintenance kit along with the restoration book from ePay to start cleaning and getting everything squared away. Then I deployed for a year. When I came back, a family member had tried to move the lathe with an engine hoist and it fell a short distance and broke off the handle for the cross feed screw on the saddle. The family member tried to dismantle the cross-feed screw out of the saddle and ended up buggering the assembly up pretty good. Long story short...I very quickly found out I do not have an average 9" SB. I ordered a saddle for a 9a off ePay and realized it would not fit on the ways. There is a total of 7" width between the cross-rails of the bed. This has made finding replacement parts a little tricky since most parts of ePay are for the standard width bed.

Does anyone have for sale or no where I could find a complete saddle assembly that would fit on top of the apron I have (see picture). As stated before, this is a wide gap bed. I do have a very nice complete saddle assembly for a standard 9" that I need to get rid of if any one is in need of one.

I really any assistance you all could offer.

Thank you,

John

 

[johnoder]

I really any assistance you all could offer

Any parts acquired for it must be for the Series "O" - which is what they were making in 1928

Probably helpful to have this from the same period

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1617/5795.pdf

have fun

 

[mattthemuppet]

I have one of those and love it to bits. Unfortunately you're not likely to find anyone selling spare parts, unlike the more recent 9A/B/C workshop series. You'll have to fix what you have. If you need any pointers or help, let me know, I've been through mine pretty thoroughly.

Neat to see that yours has had ball oilers added to the carriage oiling points!

 

[Bob Leistner]

Another useful manual is for the Hercus. Hercus was the Aussie copy of the SB lathe: is a good book to read with the SB- How To Run A Lathe. I found it answered some of the questions that SB mentioned but didn't really explain.