New guy, old South Bend lathe

colesdaddy · Jul 19, 2016

Hello all- I've been helping my friend's father clean up his property he had this old South Bend sitting in the shed. He says it's time for it to go, so we've drug it out. I just want to make sure what we have so I figured I'd join and let you guys tell me what he's got. Does it have a specific model name? As far as I can tell its got a 16" swing. Other than that, we don't know much else about it. In a previous life it ran off that three phase motor on top. Anything we should know before trying to give it a new home? Thanks in advance for the help.

colesdaddy · Jul 19, 2016

johnoder · Jul 19, 2016

Series "O" gap bed from teens or twenties

Here is a related scan - thanks to Mr. Wells

http://www.wswells.com/data/htral/1913_htral/1913_htral.pdf

sealark37 · Jul 19, 2016

It will have more value if you can find the stack of change gears that it needs to cut threads. Regards, Clark

nt1953 · Jul 19, 2016

It appears to have all of the essentials: 3 and 4 jaw chucks, gap bed segment, steady and follower rests, and may even have change gears hanging off the back of the channel supporting the motor. The gap bed segment was probably held in using a combination of bolts (easily replaced) and taper pins (can be made, but taper may be odd). Look for those pins!

I have a gap bed very similar to yours and have done some work on the apron and headstock. I have made posts about that work that might interest you.

You will note that the hand wheel on the apron is on the right instead of the left. This may cause some problems for you if you have operated a manual lathe a lot. I got used to it.

colesdaddy · Jul 19, 2016

johnoder said:
Series "O" gap bed from teens or twenties

Here is a related scan - thanks to Mr. Wells

http://www.wswells.com/data/htral/1913_htral/1913_htral.pdf

Thank you. That scan is helpful. Mr. Wells' website is also very informative. I located the serial #: 19146 (I think...)

sealark37 said:
It will have more value if you can find the stack of change gears that it needs to cut threads. Regards, Clark

I believe those are hanging on the back of the lathe.

nt1953 said:
It appears to have all of the essentials: 3 and 4 jaw chucks, gap bed segment, steady and follower rests, and may even have change gears hanging off the back of the channel supporting the motor. The gap bed segment was probably held in using a combination of bolts (easily replaced) and taper pins (can be made, but taper may be odd). Look for those pins!

I have a gap bed very similar to yours and have done some work on the apron and headstock. I have made posts about that work that might interest you.

You will note that the hand wheel on the apron is on the right instead of the left. This may cause some problems for you if you have operated a manual lathe a lot. I got used to it.

I will look for your posts. I don't think the segment bolts and pins are around, but we will start checking. Since it has most essentials, is there anything we should do to the lathe itself to perhaps make it more marketable? We've sprayed oil in/around most of the holes to loosen things up, but I obviously can't say it's in great condition.

nt1953 · Jul 19, 2016

If you are planning on selling it, I think I would leave it as is. The only thing I might do is to remove all the apparatus that was kluged on as part of the motor/pulley mount. All of that makes it very top heavy and hard to move without rolling it over. Besides, the new owner is likely to make something entirely different anyway.

Dobermann · Jul 19, 2016

I would second the caution about the top-heavy configuration you have. Even an under-mount drive South Bend is top-heavy and yours is extremely so. A tip-over could ruin most of what you have there. If I were going to keep a lathe like that, I would certainly change the drive system to something a bit more stable.

colesdaddy · Jul 20, 2016

Thank you again. I passed on the info re: removing the motor. It looks like everything will unbolt nice and easy.

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