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Lathe Noise and Reversing Gears

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Kevin T

Stainless
Joined
Jan 26, 2019
I came across this today and since my lathe isn't operational I don't know how "noisy" she will be.

Nearly Silent SouthBend 16 Inch Lathe Twin Gears ( aka, Reversing Gears ) | American Machine & Gear Works

..."Our Nearly Silent SouthBend 16 Inch lathe Twin Gear Kit is another “because you asked for it” offering. After a number of a requests from people that love our other “Nearly Silent” line of Twin Gears for SouthBend lathes, we sat down and designed these for our 16″ owning customers.
Derived from our popular Nearly Silent SouthBend Heavy10 Twin Gear Kit, these gears are Turned, Bored, Honed, and Hobbed from Heat Treated & Tempered Steel. NOT MILLED. NOT 3D PRINTED.
Designed from the beginning to run with precision bearings, these American Made gears will fit most popular SouthBend Lathe 16″ lathes. Once installed, you will love your lathe even MORE. "...

I am curious as to the noise you guys are getting from your lathes. Are the reversing gears the noisiest part of your machine?
 
Kevin T said:
I am curious as to the noise you guys are getting from your lathes. Are the reversing gears the noisiest part of your machine?
Click to expand...

WHUT? Can you say that again louder? I can't hear you!
Seriously though, 269 clams for a pair of tumbler gears???? You gonna make new pins for those needle bearings to ride on?
The only time I hear mine is when I have them engaged. When I hear them and I'm not using them, I disengage them. Machines make noise.
I might get those after I get one of these:
https://www.shars.com/media/catalog...42ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/2/0/202-0009b_1.jpg
But that has to wait on the magnetic(!) parallel keepers and the hundred other useless gadgets people come up with.
 
The tumbler gears are very noisy on my machine. Granted they have a lot of wear from a teenage me reversing on the fly because I didn’t know better. Other than that, the slide gear would be the second loudest. Give it a little wear on the shaft and it’ll let you know.

But those tumblers man... it’s deafening at times.
 
just replace them with 3d printed pla gears running on 608 bearings. remove the wick/felt oiled studs and use a 5/16" bolt.

when they break you'll thank God you didn't sheer the teeth off the half nuts instead.
 
Rudd said:
WHUT? Can you say that again louder? I can't hear you!
Seriously though, 269 clams for a pair of tumbler gears???? You gonna make new pins for those needle bearings to ride on?
The only time I hear mine is when I have them engaged. When I hear them and I'm not using them, I disengage them. Machines make noise.
I might get those after I get one of these:
https://www.shars.com/media/catalog...42ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/2/0/202-0009b_1.jpg
But that has to wait on the magnetic(!) parallel keepers and the hundred other useless gadgets people come up with.
Click to expand...

just not in the same universe, a well made pair of gears made here by a member, vs some yes, marginally useful anodized crap, please don't compare!
 
Eh, a machine made without plastic doesn't feel right to add plastic to. My 2 cents that is. Unless your half nuts are exceptionally worn, there's a lot of components between the half nut and reversing tumbler that would go before the half nuts break I would think..
 
cyanidekid said:
just not in the same universe, a well made pair of gears made here by a member, vs some yes, marginally useful anodized crap, please don't compare!
Click to expand...

Who makes the gears? I desperately need to replace mine on my 13" but last I looked, they didn't have a listing for the 13. $269 DOES seem on the high side for a relatively quick and largely automated job in a CNC mill with a rotary indexer... But, I don't have that, so you're paying for the service / machine / setup time more so than the actual components. Takes a lot of $269 gears to cover a shiny new toy like that..
 
So I am sensing a lot of sarcasm in here.... I like the sound of the machines I have been able to hear on youtube.
 
Conrad Hoffman said:
Man, for $269 I'd be looking for a cheap used dividing head and import gear cutters. I make my gears out of Delrin and they're quiet and last near to forever.
Click to expand...

I use my BP to cut gears for non taper feed screws, I can do it fine, but I had a custom jig made with 12 and 14 divisions so I don't have to drag out the dividing head. I just hate setting that thing up.. plus, and you may know another source, Travers Tool seems to be the only place to find 14.5PA 16DP involute cutters. They're decently priced around $70/ea after shipping. With the dividing head, involute cutter, materials, and time..

No issues with Delrin running hot?

Kevin T said:
So I am sensing a lot of sarcasm in here.... I like the sound of the machines I have been able to hear on youtube.
Click to expand...

I dunno, if you want I'll make an audio clip of my gearing engaged, it's a pretty girthy sound.
 
I'd say the loudest gear noise from my 16 are the reverse tumbler gears, or their contact with gear on spindle. Though not over bearing by any means. I have a 2 speed motor, 1800 and 900 rpm, naturally the higher speed produces more noise than the slower speed.

I pretty much run sliding gear in low speed all the time, so overall noise is lower. With sliding gear in high, general gear noise is much higher.

I'm aware when quick change box is engaged, but that box is reasonably quiet. Apron is dead silent.
 
My theory is that the Heavy 10 reversing tumbler is noisy because the two gears run pretty fast in comparison to, say, the 9 and 10 models. Look at the diameter of the gear on the spindle and then the two tumbler gears and you can see that the tumbler gears run 2 -3 times spindle speed and they can be pretty noisy if the gear mesh isn't "just so" and there's no provision to adjust that mesh.

On my lathe, I took the two tumbler gears off and exchanged their positions--better for noise. Then I took each gear and turned it end for end and searched for the least gear rattle. I did find one combination that was best for gear noise--in the forward direction. It was not best in the reverse operation but I don't run that way very often.

In comparison with the Heavy 10, my two SB 9" lathes are virtually silent with the feed gearing engaged but that's just the way it is.
 
I've been curious about this to. They advertise the same gears for the 10k. My 10k isnt that much more audible when the reversing gears in play. Obviously when engaged you have alot more gears in motion so it is somewhat louder but nothing outside of what one would expect. Also, why is it that the reversing gears are noisy. When engaged, many other gears come into play and I would think you would have to upgrade them all.
 
Moonlight I must also admit to using my LeBlond geared head 13 to avoid the clatter of the SBL 13 back gears. The whirr of the gears in all that oil is a pleasure.
 
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