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joining the 9A brotherhood

A

Anatol

Aluminum
Joined
Jan 19, 2018
Location
Los Angeles
Hi all
I'm just saying hi as I've officially joined the 9A brotherhood. After some looking around I recently bought a 9A off CL - turned out to be an estate sale. SN 7595KAR 8. I believe its 1955 (year I was born). Motor at back, flat belt, on original cast iron legs (one cracked and repaired), came with several quite nice chucks, a decent toolpost, a couple of centers and a collet closer and collets, something that looks like a toolpost grinder. Paid $1200.
Seems in pretty good condition, previous owner had obviously not used the gearbox for some time - it was totally seized with crud. He'd also slapped a lot of paint on it, filling oil holes etc :( The most serious issue so far is a tooth missing from the small gear on the back-gear. I know how this happens and I understand its quite common. Otherwise gears seem almost like new. Theres a few nicks in the ways near the chuck, but nothing egregious. I've got the apron and saddle off (as well as the gearbox) and am in the process of cleaning them up.
I bought the ILION book and a new set of felts, I plan to get it onto cleanish working order and check its specs, before doing any fancy restoration - if I ever do. My plan is to teach myself pre-electronic machining. I've been messing with machines and semi-precision making all my life, and have spent some time in recent years with a 1980s Taiwanese 13" gap bed. So I'm not clueless but certainly regard myself as a beginner. Don't be surprised if I come looking for advice :)
 
Welcome!

Welcome back to PM and to the SB 9" brotherhood. You will find lots of help and many opinions on this forum.
Sounds like you are off to a good start with the book and felt kit. I think it's probably fortunate that the lathe found YOU,
and that it will now receive some much needed TLC for a change. They are cool machines!

I own a 1946 and a 1958 model 9A machine(s), I'm currently in the process of building a custom cabinet for the 1958,
and still have a few weeks to go before I can mount the machine. Have added some work-in-progress photos below.
I still need to mount some drawers; the panels; and the final top piece (to name a few). Frame built of solid red oak.
As you probably know, this forum thrives on photographs, so better get used to learning how to include them, and
right-side up I might add.

If I can add any advice while you are in the disassembly/clean-up stage (besides taking your time and bagging all of the parts),
is that you need to drill a through-hole in the cross-feed nut for direct lubrication of the threads. I'll try to find the past thread
I wrote about this some time ago. The 10" models have this feature but not the 9". And nothing in the ILION book either, of course.

Gook luck and keep in touch.

PMc

PS: Sorry, I can't find the thread.

View attachment 321463 View attachment 321464 View attachment 321465 View attachment 321467 View attachment 321477
 
Welcome to the "brotherhood". I recently bought a 9A also. This older machinery holds a special kind of magic for me. Mine had a missing tooth on the small backgear. Repaired it with brass, and it seems to work well. I also bought the ILION book and felts; however, the only felt I replaced is the way wipers, so far. The book is well worth having. Eventually, I will replace the felts; however, there appears to be no need at this time. Enjoy.
 
Hi, Dan and Anatol.

The spindle felts in my 1948 9A had become "petrified," and the left one wasn't even making contact with the spindle. Fortunately, the lathe hadn't been run much and there was no spindle or bearing damage.

I suggest you not run the lathe much until you have replaced at least the felts for the spindle.

And welcome!

Jan (Yan)
 
PMc
wow - that is a museum piece - very pretty
could you give a little more info on the crossfeed oil hole?
thanks
A
 
DanAI
"Mine had a missing tooth on the small backgear."
yup, mine too. Seems quite common.
When you say "repaired it with brass", do you mean you brazed in a lump of brass and shaped it?
thx
A
 
Standby and wait for a week or so. There maybe a very easy fix on the horizon for that small gear on the backgear. You can use your own machine to fix it! Just be patient. Trust me on this.
 
Anatol said:
PMc
wow - that is a museum piece - very pretty
could you give a little more info on the crossfeed oil hole?
thanks
A
Click to expand...

Thank you for the compliment, however, not a museum piece, just well maintained.

I'll work on a short version of the cross-feed nut issue, but I've never been accused of being short in
my responses (just ask around or from my wife) so bear with me. Will post shortly. But the short of it, that you can figure out,
is there is no direct oiling port for cross-feed nut.

PMc
 
is it a frankenlathe?

Perusing my ILION book, I noticed something odd. Do I have a light 10 headstock? It has the big flip top lid (not the two guards with the step gear exposed.) I have a 9A gearbox - it says so on the label. Were some 9As made with the 10K style headstock lid? Or do I have a 10K with a 9A gearbox? How could I tell? (Note, I'm an hours drive from my lathe, so sadly I can't just nip out and measure it.)

Second question - both compound and cross slide scales have lock screws with big flat knurled heads and slots. the cross slide one works fine but the compound one doesn't lock the scale. It seems short. Is there supposed to be a slug in there that the screw pushes on?

thanks anyone who cares to offer advice.
A
 
"there is no direct oiling port for cross-feed nut"
so did you drill straight down through the saddle and the nut?
thx.
 
Anatol said:
DanAI
"Mine had a missing tooth on the small backgear."
yup, mine too. Seems quite common.
When you say "repaired it with brass", do you mean you brazed in a lump of brass and shaped it?
thx
A
Click to expand...

I did not braze it in. There are many ways of doing this which I found searching this forum and another. The way I did it may not be the right way; but, it appears to be working okay. How long it will last is a mystery to me. In any event, I ended up setting up the backgear in the mill vise on milling machine, and drilled and tapped holes along the missing tooth. Before that, made some brass threaded pins (using high quality brass) that I screwed into the threaded holes on the missing tooth. I then milled the brass pins to approximate size and shape with the pins almost touching each other. I threaded them in with JB Weld and filled gaps. After cured, I started filing to closer to correct shape. Then attached backgear to lathe and filed to final fitting.

I am just an amateur, and like I said, not sure if the way I did it was correct; but, it seems to be working ok for the time being. A search on this forum and the web will certainly yield more and better repair options.
 
Anatol said:
Perusing my ILION book, I noticed something odd. Do I have a light 10 headstock? It has the big flip top lid (not the two guards with the step gear exposed.) I have a 9A gearbox - it says so on the label. Were some 9As made with the 10K style headstock lid? Or do I have a 10K with a 9A gearbox? How could I tell? ...
Click to expand...

My 9A also had that style lid, but it was obviously cobbled on, and the two original guards were in a box of misc stuff. I'm interested in what you discover.
 
Yan Wo said:
My 9A also had that style lid, but it was obviously cobbled on, and the two original guards were in a box of misc stuff. I'm interested in what you discover.
Click to expand...

Ah, nice to know. What I did notice is that the screws to the gearbox are made slightly less accessible by the cover-base - must use the screwdriver slightly obliquely. I was surprised - not the kind of kluge one would expect in a production machine. Do you think it was an aftermarket add-on? (Mine did not come with the 'original' guards).
 
I think I'd prefer to do something like a dental implant - cut a keyway-like slot in the shaft, and silver solder a full tooth into the slot. JB is great but its still plastic, not the sort of thing I'd prefer on a load-bearing surface
 
Anatol said:
PMc
wow - that is a museum piece - very pretty
could you give a little more info on the crossfeed oil hole?
thanks
A
Click to expand...

I only mentioned this modification because I was under the impression that you were dismantling your lathe.
But yes, you simply drill an eight-inch hole through the cross-feed nut into the ACME thread cavity...but not all the
way through the entire nut. You have to remove the nut totally to do this on a drill press; you cannot do it
while in position. Just make sure to clear any brass chips before reassembly.
Actually, this is the best time to just go ahead and replace the nut with a new one as it will probably
vastly decrease the backlash in the adjustment. But of course, the new nuts are also not drilled.
If I'm not mistaken, a new nut on my '58 lathe reduced backlash from 10-12 thou to about 2 thou. Most
definitely worth it. You won't need to oil the cross-feed screw very often, maybe once a month or so;
depends on how much you use the lathe. Just unscrew the top slotted screw; add oil, and run it back and forth on the acme screw.

Be certain that you thoroughly clean the shoe (and its hole) that pushes sideways and stabilizes/anchors the nut. These are usually seized somewhat in the hole due to lack of lubrication.

In regards to the different belt guards, the lathe with the large one-piece flip lid is a lower/bottom drive
lathe. The type with exposed belt on cones (with two small side flippers) are rear-driven horizontal drives.
Yes, they made 9" models that were bottom driven (in lower cabinet).
(Gotta be aware that the ILION book switches over to the 10K models without a lot of warning).

PMc

View attachment 321582 View attachment 321581 View attachment 321580
 
Anatol said:
Ah, nice to know. What I did notice is that the screws to the gearbox are made slightly less accessible by the cover-base - must use the screwdriver slightly obliquely. I was surprised - not the kind of kluge one would expect in a production machine. Do you think it was an aftermarket add-on? (Mine did not come with the 'original' guards).
Click to expand...

This where photos from you and Yan are TOTALLY needed. We can't see what you are talking about! :D
Yes, it is possible that headstocks on your machines were switched in the past.

PMc

View attachment 321583 View attachment 321584
 
Last edited:
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