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Ideas on headstock repair - Help please

MecGen

Plastic
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
Location
Greater Montreal area Canada
So I have a Southbend 9a that has badly scored head stock, mostly on the front bore. I found a used unit that is better (but not perfect) for the meantime but I would like to repair mine. Two choices - send it out for repair or fix it myself. I have spoke to a couple local machine shops but the prices to repair "properly" are coming in around 6 to 8 hours labour, although I respect their expertise in the subject, the repair is more then the lathe is worth. It seems like the different size bores poses a problem to bore strait without spinning the headstock around thus losing the zeroing.

It would seem logical to oversize the bores then build up my spindle to match.

How would you guys go about it repairing it?

If I were to try my hand on repairing it, it's really hard to explain, but I was thinking of using some sort of boring bar in my now functioning lathe (used parts) then setting the damaged headstock in front (on the same bed rails) then slowly pushing the damaged headstock using the apron or tail stock to feed.

Hope that was clear... please bare with me I am a hobbiest, and I dont have a milling machine

Thanks for any ideas, fix it myself or what to ask for from the pros

Thanks in advance
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The OP appears to have sorted this out, good luck with your lathe. But just in case he still wants to make a go of it I will move this to the South Bend forum so they can advise the best way to proceed.

Charles
 
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seen worse.
before anything just remove any burrs or high spots.....remove the adhered cast iron deposits from the spindle.

put it back together, properly lubed with the correct clearances....run it and make stuff.

as long the spindle(the rotating element) is OK oil will fill those grooves and there wont be any metal to metal contact....the spindle "floats" on a film of oil during operation.

ps...thats im guessing is a VERY early headstock for a true 9A....the capillary oiler well is square and it where the shims slip in is slotted for a strip of felt on the inside.
i am assuming it has side oilers??

another pic of the front would be good.
 
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Not sure how plausible his story was but long ago I met a guy who claimed to bore out these headstocks for needle bearings.

Well one machine shop I spoke with suggested installing phosphorus bronze bushings but I would lose the ability to fine tune my clearance...

seen worse.
put it back together, properly lubed with the correct clearances
another pic of the front would be good.

This is very bad, even with the two bolts torqued down to the point I thought I might crack the headstock - it still had up and down play. My front bore is horribly oval.
This has front oilers.... I will post a pick tomorrow
What year are you thinking this lathe is? Where would I find a date code?


Algeria... that's in Alabama, right?

Sorry I don't know what you are talking about.



How would you guys go about boring the headstock, if that had to be done?



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How would you guys go about boring the headstock, if that had to be done?
Depending on the design of your other lathe's carriage, you can set up the headstock on the carriage and line bore it using a custom made boring bar. You can see some videos of line boring on a lathe on Keith Fenner's YouTube channel.

Also, there is a post here on PM by the late Forrest Addy that had links to some of Fenner's videos showing how it is done.

How the pros do it: line-boring on the lathe
 
used to be a glitch in the forum that would default to Algeria when someone put their location in as Alberta(Canada) i think.

you can get year of maunfacture from the serial number on the bed.
 
Depending on the design of your other lathe's carriage, you can set up the headstock on the carriage and line bore it using a custom made boring bar.

Yes that's what I was thinking about doing, except with my headstock the journals (bores) are two different sizes. I would have to adjust my cutters in between the two journals

Thanks for posting those videos, I skimmed over them and got the just, but I will go back when I have more time.

Thanks for replying


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[...] my headstock the journals (bores) are two different sizes. I would have to adjust my cutters in between the two journals
I would think that you would bore one and then with the same setup bore the second one. It's still line boring even though there are different bore sizes. The technique refers to boring two or more holes with the same center location.

Depending on the size of the lathe you'll be using for the boring operation, you may need to make a boring bar with multiple cutter locations.
 
I would think that you would bore one and then with the same setup bore the second one. It's still line boring even though there are different bore sizes. The technique refers to boring two or more holes with the same center location.

Depending on the size of the lathe you'll be using for the boring operation, you may need to make a boring bar with multiple cutter locations.
Hello Don

That exactly what I was thinking, making a double cutter boring bar. Two out of 4 shops I went to, this seemed to be a problem for them... well equipped shops at that, so I thought I would ask here. One shop said he would plane the base, plane the side then make a custom jig/holder just so he could do one hole at a time. Like I said above, I hobby with my lathe (auto mechanic) so I was thinking this was getting way too complicated or maybe I was not understanding something in the set up. I respect tradesman and the job they do, so maybe I didn't question their technique enough.

Thanks

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I hobby with my lathe (auto mechanic) so I was thinking this was getting way too complicated or maybe I was not understanding something in the set up. I respect tradesman and the job they do, so maybe I didn't question their technique enough.

Nah. What you need to "question", given you are an expert craftsman yerself, and have some fair idea as to what your own time bills-out at, "fully burdened", is why you'd invest even MORE of your time (learning curve thing) than they would need.

Not that it cannot be done.

But that it is akin to putting more time, parts, and effort into repar of a dirt-common motorcar than THAT is "worth". You might DO this for a vintage Cobra or Pierce-Arrow.

But not for a fifteen year old Camry or Civic.

Faster and CHEAPER to part-out what you have.

And go find another lathe that doesn't NEED so much work to be PUT "to work".

Life is too DAMNED short to repair and refill Bic lighters or warsh-out and re-roll used condoms just because you are clever enough to figure out "how"... and stubborn enough to actually DO it.

:D
 
Life is too DAMNED short to repair and refill Bic lighters or warsh-out and re-roll used condoms just because you are clever enough to figure out "how"... and stubborn enough to actually DO it.

:D

Point taken

Oh I know that this lathe is not worth the cost of the repairs needed, if I pay a shop. I have a bad habit of putting wwwaaaaaayyyyy to much time/money in my muscle cars that I will never see again.

That is why I have found some used used parts so I can get this lathe working. I like antiques and especially antique lathes, so probably I will put more time and money into this one, more then it's worth. It's a sickness :)

Cheers


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Point taken

Oh I know that this lathe is not worth the cost of the repairs needed, if I pay a shop. I have a bad habit of putting wwwaaaaaayyyyy to much time/money in my muscle cars that I will never see again.

That is why I have found some used used parts so I can get this lathe working. I like antiques and especially antique lathes, so probably I will put more time and money into this one, more then it's worth. It's a sickness :)

Cheers


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Aye. About 60 thousand dollars worth of "sickness" when your "Old Iron" is NOT "South Bend".

THIS .. is what happens when a person gets too OLD for sexual masturbation, then?

Nah. Don't ANYBODY answer that!
:D
 








 
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