New owner of SB 9A

Hello all,

I have wanted to add a lathe to my shop for a number of years and the right opportunity presented itself recently. It is a catalog #CL344 Z, 3 1/2’ bed UMD, SN# 29858NKR7. I believe it may have been built in ‘51 or ‘52. It did not come with any tooling or attachments to speak of, just the 3 jaw chuck. Missing the live and dead centers, and the chuck keys and wrenches. There is some (typical?) wear on the ways near the spindle. Motor is a newer 1/2hp Dayton dual voltage motor and a Furnas barrel switch. Currently wired for 115v, but I want to change it to 230. Changing the leads on the motor is straightforward enough, but I am unsure whether the barrel switch will need anything changed as well. The old synthetic clipper belt did not last long, so I have a new one ordered.

The lathe was purchased from the the grandson of the former owner for $600, which I think was a pretty good deal. I have very limited experience running a lathe, but plan to learn to use it for general fabrication and automotive repair use. As much as I love the idea of a fully restored lathe, I just intend to maintain and preserve whatÂ’s here now so looking for info and tips to that end. I have spent the last several evenings reading through the forum posts and it’s a real wealth of knowledge. Happy to have found this community.

E17FAA7A-939D-42B3-B5C2-23A8F5291A55 | Andrew Sego | Flickr

070B746B-826D-4678-9D14-BF55170D542F | Andrew Sego | Flickr

Welcome!

Welcome to the PM forum Gasoline. You will get a lot of answers and opinions here,
so just ask away. Photos are always a necessity. Looks like you have a really nice rust-free rig!!
I have always liked the "motor under" models; a lot less "busy" than those with a horizontal
drive in the rear, and sleeker looking.

I have a '46 Model A and a '57 Model B converted to an A.
Sorry, I'm not the right guy for your barrel switch question; both of mine are 110.
If you take off the cover of the barrel switch, there may be a diagram on the inside
of it. Might see if it addresses your question. Or someone else here will.

But yeah, just oil the hell outta everything before you use it. There is an oil "reservoir" on the
underside of the apron. This reservoir is filled by the spring-capped (called GITS) oiler on the front side.
It might be a good idea to unscrew the drain plug to see if any oil comes out. If it does, then
time for some new oil. If not, put the plug back in and try to fill it up with oil. If it leaks, then
the gasket on that reservoir is shot and will have to be replaced. This reservoir is critical
for the oiling of all the gears and lead screw behind the apron.

And of course, the two oilers for the spindle are most important.
(I'll save you the lecture on re-felting.)

Again, welcome, and good luck. Don't be a stranger!

PMc

View attachment 322227

Thanks Mcload. Yep, the under mount drive definitely leaves less moving parts exposed, but the real advantage for me is that it can be closer to the wall. This lathe sat unused for a few years in an unheated shop so it had its share of rust from spring time condensation on it. I blew thru an couple packs of steel wool getting everything shined back up. I used some scotchbrite on some things like the chuck, wheels, and belt pulleys but not on the ways or sliding surfaces. I’ve been watching some YouTube videos from Tubalcain on the lubrication points and think I got everything. Used some ND 20w motor oil for now, but I have some of the correct oils ordered. I did remove the sump plug on the apron and it still had some oil in it. Filled it up and a week later it still holds so I think the gasket is still good. I used a mirror and flashlight to get a look under the QC gear box and it’s pretty clean underneath. Not a lot of chips and crud in there and the teeth that I can see look good. The gear teeth on the back gears and side gears all cheek out good too. One video I watched showed what a worn feed screw looked like and mine is pretty nice. The width of the top flats of the acme seems consistent across the entire length. My cross feed has some axial play in it, which I’ve read is pretty typical.

I’ll found some wiper and wick rebuild kits on eBay. Is that the best source for these? I’ll look into seeing how involved it is to replace those and may make that a winter project.

Sounds like you got a great machine for a good price. Well done.

Replacing felts is not difficult, just time-consuming. Yes, it is involved, but nothing you can't handle.
It will make a good winter project.
I highly recommend the ILION guide by Steve Brooks as well as his felt kit. Every felt is
labeled (to an extent) and the book is a must-have. Take lots of pics as the pieces come apart.
And by the way, there is nothing worse than losing or misplacing one of the tiny pieces as they come
off an assembly. You really got to be an organization freak in keeping things in small plastic bags.
I usually even slip in a piece of paper that tells what the part goes to, and I reference a page number
and illustration in the book. (And I still managed to misplace something!).

Steve is usually pretty good about responding to questions via e-mail. I'm not sure offhand
if there is a version of his book that covers the under drive model.

PMc

Gasoline said:

The lathe was purchased from the the grandson of the former owner for $600, which I think was a pretty good deal.

Click to expand...

Nominate for understatement of the month. The underdrive version as you say, sports a MUCH shallower bench . You did good.

You stole it. Now go back to the seller and give him another grand.
Looks good other than the ways near the chuck being rather hammered. No biggie, it'll work just fine.

I just received my serial number cards and this lathe was made in July 1952, and sold to the newly opened Gordon Tech High School in NW Chicago. DePaul College Prep - Wikipedia I’m a little disappointed that my card appears to have been water damaged, but it is what it is. No wonder the bed looks a little hammered as Chipss said. (A lot of what appears to be damage is just some chips I didn’t clean up before pics, still a fair share of nicks though.) It has surprisingly few crash marks in the compound considering is was in a high school most of its life. The second card explains why the steady rest is “missing”

I also received my new belt and installed it. It runs much better now that it’s not slipping. I can’t really hear the tick tick of the clipper belt when power is transmitted thru the normal gear train, but easily hear it when running in back gear. The machine is so much quieter in back gear! Silly question, so take it easy on me, but since this has a reversible motor on it now is there any reason I would ever need to engage the reverse gears?

Gasoline said:

The second card explains why the steady rest is “missing”

Click to expand...

How? The card clearly shows a tailstock was included.

Gasoline said:

Silly question, so take it easy on me, but since this has a reversible motor on it now is there any reason I would ever need to engage the reverse gears?

Click to expand...

The reverse gear reverses the relationship between the spindle and the leadscrew. It is used in cutting LH threads and in the power crossfeed direction.

That was a quick answer! That makes complete sense on the lead screw. Still so much to learn.

The second card does show a number for the tail stock but is blank under steady rest so I assume that means one was not ordered with it.

I was messing around with the reverse tumbler gears tonight and put in in neutral and found that it is even quieter without the lead screw turning. Then I noticed that it was relatively quiet when the lever was engaged downward, but upward had a ton of gear noise. The gear lash to the spindle was less when up than down. I put the lever just a bit short of all the way up and it ran so much quieter. Then I noticed two small set screws in the lever at either end of the slot for the guide pin. I assume these are for adjusting the travel and gear backlash. Is there a spec for how tight to adjust the gears, or should I just go by ear?

Also, the two gears on the far left end of the lead screw are somewhat loose axially on the shaft. With the retaining nut tightened down there is about 50 thousandths clearance between the nut and small gear. Is there supposed to be a washer or spacer between the nut and gears to take up the slack?

Put a piece of paper between the teeth and tighten it down. That will give you ~0.003" clearance. As for the gears, the forward gear is usually worn more than the reverse. You can swap the gears for quiet in forward.

Also, check the actual gear teeth for embedded chips. That has been known to cause noisy gears.

Thanks SLK001. That did the trick. It sounds much better in all speeds and both directions now.

Gasoline said:

Thanks SLK001. That did the trick. It sounds much better in all speeds and both directions now.

Click to expand...

Okay, but what exactly did you do?

I cut a strip of letter paper and laid it between the spindle and forward gear and pushed the gear into the spindle. I removed the pinch bolt from the lower casting and removed it to get the set screw under the slot on the reverse tumbler and ran it in until it hit the hold down bolt. The mesh of it visually matched the reverse gear which was quieter. They were just to tight together before, and now the contact is on the middle of the tooth face.

Okay, I was just curious as to which of the suggestions worked for you. I sometimes get chips embedded in the teeth that make the gear chain sound like a train running on bad tracks.

mcload said:

Sounds like you got a great machine for a good price. Well done.

Replacing felts is not difficult, just time-consuming. Yes, it is involved, but nothing you can't handle.
It will make a good winter project.
I highly recommend the ILION guide by Steve Brooks as well as his felt kit. Every felt is
labeled (to an extent) and the book is a must-have. Take lots of pics as the pieces come apart.
And by the way, there is nothing worse than losing or misplacing one of the tiny pieces as they come
off an assembly. You really got to be an organization freak in keeping things in small plastic bags.
I usually even slip in a piece of paper that tells what the part goes to, and I reference a page number
and illustration in the book. (And I still managed to misplace something!).

Steve is usually pretty good about responding to questions via e-mail. I'm not sure offhand
if there is a version of his book that covers the under drive model.

PMc

Click to expand...

I strongly agree with that advice. I restored a SB model 9c a few years ago. The book and parts were very helpful. I also bought the recommended lubricants.

I just picked up a camelback drill press that was in relatively good condition. However, it probably sat for a while. I recommend taking things apart for inspection and cleaning. It helps a lot as far as understanding the machine and especially how the lubrication systems work. I found on the lathe and drill press that many holes and grooves used for lubrication were blocked. If you just try to lubricate without knowing this you may cause some damage.
Good luck with the lathe, and have fun learning and making parts.