Thread: 1950 South Bend 16 117C - First Lathe Ever

Greetings all,
Last year I purchased the lathe in this story from a machine shop in Chicago. The gentleman that I purchased it from asked me if I'd like to meet the original owner. I said yes and he took me to his office where his nearly 90 year old father was working. He told me that he had purchased the lathe brand new in 1950 and completed his machinist apprenticeship using it. His son went on to tell me that he too had learned on it. Anyhow, there shop is clearing out some older equipment and decided to let this go.






I have been wanting a lathe for some time now and had decided on a South Bend of some kind. I want to be able to make parts for my hobby of restoring vintage things I like. When I was finally in a position to move ahead I saw this machine and decided why fool around, just get the biggest one and be done with it lol.

that's super cool, what a neat story. Not often you get to meet the guy that bought your lathe new in 1950!

It took you almost 2 years to post your first post . But its a good one.

The 16" is a real nice balance in weight and stability, with being pretty manageable for its size. I like them a lot, and there's a bunch of us here that have them, if you have questions on some of the particulars.

So after I bought the lathe my wife and I found our dream house. The lathe was going into my garage shop. Well everything changed, my new shop is in my 2100 sq ft basement. I had to disassemble the lathe and bring it down in pieces. The bed was the hardest of all of course. I mounted it to a couple of 4x4's that I had tapered on the ends like skis. My son and I then lowered it slowly down the stairs with a worm gear winch so that it wouldn't get away from us. I used the trailer hitch on my truck to mount the winch. It went smooth although I feel sorry for anyone who has to get it back out. It definitely will not be me lol.

My SB16 is a 16x7 and it was shipped to volz machine of Chicago in dec 1957. Love the 16. You’ll love it too

My lathe (a H10) was also purchased from Volz in Chicago (there is a plaque on my gear cover as I don't have the serial card).

I wonder what the POINTS PAID stamp means on the card.

Originally Posted by SLK001

My lathe (a H10) was also purchased from Volz in Chicago (there is a plaque on my gear cover as I don't have the serial card).

I wonder what the POINTS PAID stamp means on the card.

Me too! Wonder if volz was on a points purchase system at that time.
You got the ole volz tag too eh?

I tried to find information online about Volz but didn't have much luck. They were obviously a major seller.

What a massive machine! Congratulations and welcome to PM!
(I wish I had a basement).

PMc

Here is a short video of the motor driving the lower cone pulley for the first time after being cleaned and new bearings installed. I left the motor and interior components original and unpainted. I think that it looks good just cleaned and reflects the true condition of the machine. I do want the machine to be pretty though, so all exterior painted surfaces are being refreshed with Brad Jacob's South Bend Gray formula Sherwin Williams .

Southbend 16 Lathe Test Run - YouTube

I can see where this is going . You bought this last year. . .

So my question is how many months into it, or how along ago did you start the project ? Assuming its not full time hours, and you have a life, I can guess .

Its just a curiosity to justify my own procrastination and times.

If you look at the pics of the motor you can see that there was a lot of greasy oily dust build-up in it. The bearings in it when I received it were single row ball bearings that were open on one side and had years of grease pumped into them. I changed them out with double row sealed bearings. I am not sure what type the original motor bearings were.

Originally Posted by texasgunsmith

I can see where this is going . You bought this last year. . .

So my question is how many months into it, or how along ago did you start the project ? Assuming its not full time hours, and you have a life, I can guess .

Its just a curiosity to justify my own procrastination and times.

I moved the machine to ny new house in May. At that time I needle scaled the bed and motor base. I painted the base and ordered the bearings for the motor and cone pulley. After that it sat until 10 days ago when I decided to get serious

Also, it should be noted that I had some other shop equipment I wanted to restore to use for the lathe rebuild.

It’s looking amazing. Did you buy the rebuild kit and book? Invaluable!

Here’s mine facing some cast iron

Originally Posted by Homebrewblob

It’s looking amazing. Did you buy the rebuild kit and book? Invaluable!

Here’s mine facing some cast iron

Yes I did, definitely must have items. A also bought some new lead screw nuts for the compound and carriage. Once the machine is done I will try to make my own parts as needed.

Originally Posted by mcload

(I wish I had a basement).

All it takes is a shovel!

Originally Posted by SLK001

All it takes is a shovel!

Just mind any post tension cables, that 33,000lbs of tension gets pretty “snappy” when suddenly released!