Ebay 9C Full Rebuild Kits - Good deal or not?

Brian66 · Jan 18, 2020

Just bought my first lathe last week and want to make sure everything is in working order prior to actually using it. I saw this kit, in the link below, while cruising Ebay for some other missing parts. It seems like a good deal and appears to have been well thought out with quality parts and materials but I'm so new to this hobby I'd thought I'd ask you all before investing the $100. So do you think its a good buy or not?

South Bend Lathe 9" Model C ● Full Rebuild Package ● Manual, Felts, Oil, Grease! | eBay

jmm03 · Jan 18, 2020

Hi Brian, if you are going to disassemble the entire lathe it is handy to have reference material and replacement parts on hand. Steves kits are definitely worthwhile in my opinion,I bought the book and felt kit for my 10L without the oil because I already had oil. The exploded parts diagrams available in the stickys are good to have also.Use care removing any taper pins you find. Hope this helps. Jim

moonlight machine · Jan 18, 2020

Brian66 said:
Just bought my first lathe last week and want to make sure everything is in working order prior to actually using it. I saw this kit, in the link below, while cruising Ebay for some other missing parts. It seems like a good deal and appears to have been well thought out with quality parts and materials but I'm so new to this hobby I'd thought I'd ask you all before investing the $100. So do you think its a good buy or not?

South Bend Lathe 9" Model C ● Full Rebuild Package ● Manual, Felts, Oil, Grease! | eBay

I would use it for a while before taking it apart, otherwise how do you know if it has issues you need to look for while it is apart.

SLK001 · Jan 19, 2020

The lubrication system on most SB lathes is felt based. You can be properly oiling your machine, but it a felt is missing, or hardened, oil is not getting to where it is needed. The 9C isn't as complex as other SB lathes, so the felt system isn't as complex. To me, the printed manual is worth the price of admission on its own. It details how to disassemble and reassemble the different parts of your lathe. The felts included in the kit are precut to the sizes you will need to replace yours. You can get the felt on your own, but then you'll have to educate yourself on what grade of felt is needed where, then you'll have to cut it to size on your own.

And, the price is less than $100. You'll find that an outlay that small is peanuts, compared to what you will be spending on additional tools/parts for your lathe.

So, ask yourself, "Is this kit worth $100 to me, considering that I have almost zero knowledge?"

ifirefight · Jan 19, 2020

I bought a kit from the same guy. Not that particular kit, but one with all the felts and wicks to rebuild my 9A. I will tell you this, unless you are VERY mechanically inclined I would think twice about tearing it down. I consider myself very mechanically inclined, and I COMPLETELY disassembled the entire lathe. There were many things that were not covered in the book as far as disassembly and re assembly. You can search for my post on here, I have lots of pictures of the entire process.. I don’t know how to post a link so...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

SLK001 · Jan 19, 2020

ifirefight said:
I don’t know how to post a link so...

To post a link, click on the "earth with a chain link" symbol circled in red.

You will get a popup window for your URL (link), which you now fill in. It will appear in your response looking like this:

[UR L="http://example.com"]http://example.com[/UR L] (formatting destroyed for display).

Change the SECOND "http://example.com" to whatever word or phrase you want to show your link, like "my link".

[UR L="http://example.com"]my link [/UR L] (formatting destroyed for display).

It will show up in your response as: Here is my link to that info. The phrase "my link " is now your URL.

Brian66 · Jan 19, 2020

SLK001 said:
The lubrication system on most SB lathes is felt based. You can be properly oiling your machine, but it a felt is missing, or hardened, oil is not getting to where it is needed. The 9C isn't as complex as other SB lathes, so the felt system isn't as complex. To me, the printed manual is worth the price of admission on its own. It details how to disassemble and reassemble the different parts of your lathe. The felts included in the kit are precut to the sizes you will need to replace yours. You can get the felt on your own, but then you'll have to educate yourself on what grade of felt is needed where, then you'll have to cut it to size on your own.

And, the price is less than $100. You'll find that an outlay that small is peanuts, compared to what you will be spending on additional tools/parts for your lathe.

So, ask yourself, "Is this kit worth $100 to me, considering that I have almost zero knowledge?"

I agree with you. I want the lathe in proper working condition and lubrication seems to be high on the list. I'd like to rebuild the lathe system by system in order to not overwelm myself rather than tearing the whole thing down to the last bolt and then attempting to put it all back together. I figure on doing this prior to really using it in order to A) learn how it works so I can better utylize its function and B) assess any parts that are worn or need replacing.

The $100 dollars is cheap enough that wasn't my real concern. Often times I've seen rebuild kits for other things that were inferior parts compared to buying the different parts individually. It sounds like folks on this forum are familiar with the gentleman making the kits and vouch for their quality so I'll place my order next week. Thanks everyone for the advice!

jmm03 · Jan 19, 2020

Brian, the most complex part of the lathe is the quick-change gearbox, which if I am not mistaken, you don't have. If you are reasonably mechanically inclined and proceed in a systematic manner I would say you probably will have few problems. (take pictures...)Jim

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Ebay 9C Full Rebuild Kits - Good deal or not?

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