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1945 9A Restoration

lonestar308

Plastic
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
I'm going to attempt to show my restoration process...mainly via photos as I'm not a great writer.

I've learned a lot doing this..made some mistakes, started over, etc. But in the end...I'm very happy to have this classic up and running again.

Picked up this gem in a downtown Houston boat shop that was going out of business. A 1945 9A, Catalog 444A with 4' bed. The owner even threw in the old metal desk for free!

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After complete disassembly and cleaning...I began the search for original SB paint colors. Finally landed upon this photo from some thread or another...

SBL color.jpg
 
After a trip to Sherwin-Williams, I had my custom paint, new brushes, tape, and an x-acto knife in hand. Time to start taping and painting!

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Everything painted and ready for reassembly...
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Baked everything in the sun over several days for good measure...
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Before putting it all together, I needed to address the steel desk. I'm 6'-0" tall, so I wanted the working height of the lathe to be about 40", and the desk was about 7" short. So, I broke out the welder and fabbed up some risers out of an old bedframe I had laying around.

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Desk now at the right height, time to start putting parts back together.

I bought a 36" x 24" galvanized drip tray off Amazon.

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EDIT: pan is actually 47" x 25"
 
When I moved to the quick change gearbox, I noticed this page in the service guide...
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So I made the modification, and began reassembly.
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Somehow I didn't get photos of the change handles or lead screw reinstalled...
 
At this point, it was mostly back together, but I discovered that the spindle was a little too snug, so I had to go back and shim the headstock a little on each end to get proper clearance. That was an adventure as I ended up having to machine a bar to fit into the bolt holes so I could pry the old shims out and get new ones in. I managed to crack the headstock on the outside of the bolt hole and about had a stroke. Luckily it wasn't in a critical area, so I just drove on and got it shimmed up.

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While I had the spindle out, I also upgraded the felt thrust washer/spacer to a roller needle bearing setup.

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Did you spray any, or just brush it?

Also, good idea to get a chip tray as BIG as possible for your lathe. Chips have a habit of going EVERYWHERE!

EDIT: You should have gotten the 25" x 47" drip pan. You'll wish that you had later on.
 
Now for some motivation. I had planned on using the original 1/4 HP GE motor and Furnas switch, but I really wanted more control over speeds, so I opted for a new motor/VFD combo. Picked up a Teco/Westinghouse 3/4HP motor and L510 VFD from Dealer's Electric.

https://dealerselectric.com/Package-GH0-72-and-L510-101-H1-U.asp

Now I'm no electrical guru, so I had to figure out how on earth I was going to get all this fancy electronic stuff to work. Thanks to YouTube, I found someone who had already done the work for me...

Clough 42 Lathe Variable speed upgrade YouTube

Armed with that tutorial, I went to work and ended up with this...
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And it lives!

[video]https://photos.app.goo.gl/x6LwhK58C5PRf3ZZ7[/video]
[video]https://photos.app.goo.gl/8NfeDksUtD9tjo1Y7[/video]
[video]https://photos.app.goo.gl/1NJm96cfoVhXtQHG6[/video]
 








 
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