1932 South Bend 9, in need of advice on maintenance and upgrades.

Hello again, I bought this SB9 back in 2012, I think, for some side work. Well that came and went, got busy with my day job at the time, with traveling ect. Left that job and went back to one of my old jobs, and now I just use their equipment, but things are not looking good. Got transferred to a different department to keep from being laid off, was told no new machines for this year. So, with all that being said, time to gear up the home shop. I have some up coming work again, will be machining some cast aluminum parts, I like to take 0.04" rough passes, and 2 of, 0.002" finish passes.

Things I need to do and want to do,

1. Go through the headstock, check bearing and shaft surfaces, and replace felt!!
Not sure what to expect when I do, doesn't look like it has bearings, like the ones I have seen, and a little scared to look.
2. Come up with some type of indicator for X axis.
3. Maybe drill/tap for a set screw on the cross slide to hold tolerance better.
4. Come up with a Better Belt, still using an old leather belt. Need suggestions.
5. And some cast metal legs with pan, instead of this old crappy bench someone made.

And after all this, I may keep it, and just have it setup to run those parts only.
I will post pictures here soon, so everyone can see what I'm working with.

Thank you.

Here are some pics of my SB-9, nothing to brag about, hope to keep the little work horse going. I did get the spindle out fairly easily, not great, but not as bad as I was thinking! Plan on taking to work, and knocking down the high spots, not sure what to do about the bores.
Any Suggestions?

Thanks.

just remove the worst of it, burrs, adhesions, high spots.

reassemble,set clearances, oil it and have fun.

itll be fine.

Spindle looks fine. Knock off any adhered lumps with a soft file, put it back together and use it. Trying to turn down that bearing surface will do more harm than good.

kitno455 said:

Spindle looks fine. Knock off any adhered lumps with a soft file, put it back together and use it. Trying to turn down that bearing surface will do more harm than good.

Click to expand...

I'm just wondering why you wouldn't want to polish that spindle using some 600 or higher wet/dry/emory?
Because it wouldn't matter one way or the other?
There seem to be some better-looking used spindles on flea pay for not a lot of money. Just saying.

PMc