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help refurbishing southbend 9

plunger

Aluminum
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Location
s africa
Hi .i am trying to help my mate fix a 1941 lathe he just bought . I will have many questions and hope to get this lathe working again.The first thing I must mention is i come from darkest Africa so ebay parts is out of the question.
The first problem is the wicks. We will have to make them. Is there a preferred type of material for this and where could we get an idea of where they are supposed to go.

The two tumbler gears are home made and i notice in photos that the axles or shafts seem to have a hole in them if you look into the back of them.
I am presuming this is an oil point. We need to make these as one of many projects.I notice the hole is not centered . Is there a reason for this.?
I presume some kind of cross drilled hole is present and you need to put oil in the hole to lube the gear shaft. Is there a reason the hole is not centered. ? Does it act as some kind of oil reservoir.?
Is there a go to thread on repairing a lathe in bad shape that may help us with dimensions.
Many things are wrong with this lathe . Some are the spindle gear to connect to the drive train is chewed up and the tailstock seems to have a right hand thread ,so you wind opposite to a normal tailstock.
The tailstock has a serious ridge on the flat part.Thanks.
 
The hole in the reverse tumbler gears is an oil port. There is a felt strip that absorbs the oil and slowly distributes it while running. The wick material is called "F1" felt. Other types of felt are also used in various places. As to where everything goes, there is a book written by ILION Industrial Services here in the states that would guide you thru things. They also sell a kit with the book and the necessary felts. Without these items, you're probably going to have to learn everything as you go. Post your questions and problems here when you encounter them. Someone has probably encountered the same thing and found a solution.
 
Orientate the shafts so the holes are at the high point then oil will run down the hole to soak the felt. Otherwise it will just run back out.
 
Next question is my mate took his tailstock to a piece of glass and knocked off the ridge using 220 grid sandpaper. I have no idea how much was needed to get it flat,I guess about 0.2mm.But if I mike the bottom section its about 0.3mm lower in the front than it is from the back.
I have looked on the net but cant find any info on how to machine this to get the orientation correct or at least close.
Bluing it shows one very thin streak on the flat and it blues on hardly any of the vee. If I were to set this up on a milling machine is there some logical method to get the geometry right.
I am a plumber by trade ,not a machinest. If I had to clean up the base with a flycutter first,then If I set the base up on parallels and used a dowel pin to register the v as best as possible. Could I then set the head over at 45 degrees and use an end mill to clean up the taper in the v.
How would I work out the relationship between the flat and the v?
 
shame he sanded off the ridge...that was an indicatable surface to go off.

feeler gage city. :)

sacrificial sub plate bolted down to mill table, mill mating slot in-situ for the bases "protrusion"....so you can *mount* the TS base upside down on the sub plate- then you can straighten out the ways if you are real careful...DO the maths before you cut anything!

There are certainly better ways but the learning curve can be steep, and that will get you close.

no matter what,i think a bit'o scraping is in your future.
 
If you sand, grind or fly cut the base of the tailstock it's going to be low compared to the headstock.

Yes it will but at least you can shim it with on constant thickness rather than trying to shim it with differing shim thicknesses back and front.
 
Yes it will but at least you can shim it with on constant thickness rather than trying to shim it with differing shim thicknesses back and front.

That seems like a practical solution but there is uneven wear so the sanding it flat may not be square to the original surface. The tailstock has to be true with the headstock center.
The glass surface is probably the best flat surface you have. It needs to be supported by a very flat surface because glass will flex to the shape of whatever its laying on

I know your limited in resources due to your location. I may not the right person to tell you how to go forward from here.
If you took your tailstock spindle out and put a round bar in the lathe chuck the same diameter as the tailstock spindle and centered it up in the chuck. Or take the tailstock spindle out and centered it up in the chuck. A longer bar would be better.


Then slide your tailstock on the bar. You would have to keep the tailstock close to the chuck. Then check the gap on the flat way under the flat on the tailstock would show what you have to fill. Measuring the gap front to back with a feeler gauge. Use bluing and using feeler gauge to show high and lows to scrape until you get the gap even. Then shim the gap with proper shim.
Now if the tailstock spindle bore has bad wear it may not be very accurate.
That should get your tailstock fairly square with the spindle.
Then you need to scrape the flat way. Actually scrape the flat way first.

This suggestion may be a hack but if your in the jungle your options aren't many. You sanded off the reference points you had. I'm sure there is a proper method.

Edit;
I missed post 6 by Iwananew10k or I wouldn't have typed all this
 
That seems like a practical solution but there is uneven wear so the sanding it flat may not be square to the original surface. The tailstock has to be true with the headstock center.
The glass surface is probably the best flat surface you have. It needs to be supported by a very flat surface because glass will flex to the shape of whatever its laying on

I know your limited in resources due to your location. I may not the right person to tell you how to go forward from here.
If you took your tailstock spindle out and put a round bar in the lathe chuck the same diameter as the tailstock spindle and centered it up in the chuck. Or take the tailstock spindle out and centered it up in the chuck. A longer bar would be better.


Then slide your tailstock on the bar. You would have to keep the tailstock close to the chuck. Then check the gap on the flat way under the flat on the tailstock would show what you have to fill. Measuring the gap front to back with a feeler gauge. Use bluing and using feeler gauge to show high and lows to scrape until you get the gap even. Then shim the gap with proper shim.
Now if the tailstock spindle bore has bad wear it may not be very accurate.
That should get your tailstock fairly square with the spindle.
Then you need to scrape the flat way. Actually scrape the flat way first.

This suggestion may be a hack but if your in the jungle your options aren't many. You sanded off the reference points you had. I'm sure there is a proper method.

Edit;
I missed post 6 by Iwananew10k or I wouldn't have typed all this

I apreciate all answers and suggestions.Yes w are limited to recources. He used a piece of ten mm glass.He may have sanded it smooth but definitly not flat. I am just suprized there are not many writeups of this process.His tailstock quill is also not original. It has a right hand thread so the tailstock winds the opposite way.I wonder if there is any need to make this a acme thread on such a small diameter. Surely it will be easier to turn a left hand 60 degree thread as oppossed to a left hand acme thread and not lose any torque /performance longevity etc.
 
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/machine-reconditioning-scraping-and-inspection/
There are threads that give giudance in rebuilding and restoring.
Your situation in being in an isolated part of the world will make following the steps in most of those threads a challange.
They have resources to follow a step by step process. Starting with the ways being scraped. Its not inexpensive..If you have access to a mill you could do as suggested in post 6. The only real way to go would be is to scrape the ways and build from that.
Lathe ways don't wear evenly. You probably have the same scoring on the bottom of the carriage that's on the tailstock.Another challenge.
You may learn from reading on the rebuilding forum.
Before your friend does any more sanding he should understand that its not that simple.
You could get it oiled up to do some test cutting and see how bad it is worn.
I hope you can get it running.
 








 
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