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The SB13 rebuild has started.

Raydel

Plastic
Joined
May 5, 2019
I'm a little late posting this, but wanted to share my enthusiasm in starting the rebuild of my newly acquired SB13.
Decided to start with a small and relatively easy item, the tail stock. Attached are a couple of photos showing
before and after. The finished product now sits in a prominent place near to the lathe to inspire me to carry on.
The taper attachment and compound have since been stripped down. It's amazing what one discovers that needs either
TLC or replacement as the tear down progresses. I've already found a missing tooth on the idler gear and a cracked
tie rod bracket belonging to the taper attachment. The cross slide screw was installed by some heavy handed mechanic
and was a bummer to take apart. The cross feed crank had actually rotated on the screw and the locking pin in the
crank had managed to pop out of the bored slot. The crank was then able to rotate on the shaft dragging the locking
pin along with it as the crank turned. I can't figure out how that could happen. Some people's kids eh? The CF screw
and nut was fairly worn, so I've ordered a new set form the member here on PM who makes them. So far, it's been an
enjoyable project and I look forward to seeing the rest of the lathe match the tail stock. More to come in a week or so.
Raydel.
Tailstock_before.jpgTailstock_after.jpg
 
I would highly suggest you purchase this rebuild kit:

South Bend Lathe Model 13" ● Full Rebuild Package ● Manual, Felts, Oil, Grease! | eBay

I got the felt kit and book (didn't buy the lubs since I already had them). The book is great and replacing the oil wicking felts and seals should be done to properly maintain your machine. If he doesn't currently list a kit without the lubs I would imagine if you contact him via eBay he will list one for you.

No affiliate, just a satisfied customer.

Ted
 
i'd be curious to hear a bit more detail about your tailstock rebuild. i just acquired a heavy ten that needs some love, seems to be about a 1970 model. tailstock is kinda beat up, i can feel that inside of the quill taper is kinda scored up. thanks.
 
i'd be curious to hear a bit more detail about your tailstock rebuild. i just acquired a heavy ten that needs some love, seems to be about a 1970 model. tailstock is kinda beat up, i can feel that inside of the quill taper is kinda scored up. thanks.

The taper in my quill has a light amount of scoring too. I've ordered a set of morse taper finishing reamers (MT3 & MT4) from an eBayer in the Ukraine, relatively inexpensive, should be here any time now. The backlash between the acme screw and nut in the quill is minimal, but I may do something about that down the road. Too much rebuilding still ahead of me to get sidetracked with these little details. :-)
 
I would highly suggest you purchase this rebuild kit:

South Bend Lathe Model 13" ● Full Rebuild Package ● Manual, Felts, Oil, Grease! | eBay

I got the felt kit and book (didn't buy the lubs since I already had them). The book is great and replacing the oil wicking felts and seals should be done to properly maintain your machine. If he doesn't currently list a kit without the lubs I would imagine if you contact him via eBay he will list one for you.

No affiliate, just a satisfied customer.

Ted

Hi Ted:

I did purchase the felt kit and book, it arrived last week. Lots of interesting reading.
I currently have an SB9A, been using it for the past five years, so I have the oils as well.
 
What are you going to use an MT4 reamer on?

be very gentle with the MT3 in the tail stock quill, turn by hand only, don't try to make it look like new, just knock down any burrs or high spots.
 
What are you going to use an MT4 reamer on?

be very gentle with the MT3 in the tail stock quill, turn by hand only, don't try to make it look like new, just knock down any burrs or high spots.

I'm not going to use it on anything at present.
The eBayer was selling reamers in pairs.
I already have a MT2 that was purchased to clean up the TS quill on my SB9A, so I opted for a MT4. Figured someone may have use for one somewhere and I can pass it on.

Thanks for the reminder to go gently with the reamer.
Ray
 
I'm not going to use it on anything at present.
The eBayer was selling reamers in pairs.
I already have a MT2 that was purchased to clean up the TS quill on my SB9A, so I opted for a MT4. Figured someone may have use for one somewhere and I can pass it on.

Thanks for the reminder to go gently with the reamer.
Ray

I might have a use for that MT4 reamer if you wanna let it go! (I'd also have a use for that MT3 reamer but so much shipping!)
 
I might have a use for that MT4 reamer if you wanna let it go! (I'd also have a use for that MT3 reamer but so much shipping!)

Hi Stephen:

Now that I've stepped up to a MT3 size lathe, I don't forsee the need for a MT4 reamer, so I'll give some thought to passing it your way. For the time being, I'll hang onto the MT3. If I find it's just sitting there gathering oil��, I'll give you a shout.
All the best,
Ray
 
Oh be careful with that reamer in the tailstock. DO NOT free hand that thing in the ram. Only run it centered on a 60 degree center in the headstock and do not try to get a brand new fresh surface with it. Use it to clean up what's there and you might want to try it on something besides your tailstock ram first to make sure it's accurate and correct. If you cut the taper in the tailstock incorrectly your going to be in a lot of trouble.
 
I cannot agree with using it on a center in the headstock....that would assume *perfect* alignment of the tailstock with the head, a condition that is exceedingly rare in a used machine, and if not in perfect alignment would cantilever the reamer so that when turned it would essentially become a single flute cutter and cut that same misalignment into the tailsfock quill, making the taper egg shaped to some degree.

The goal is not to cut ANY of the original surface,only to knock down high spots.

as it seems it's not Ray's first rodeo, I expect he will be fine.
 
Thanks to those with concern for my tailstock quill, very considerate of you.
For the past 35 years, I've been building anesthesia equipment (I put people to sleep) :D, that's why I purchased my first lathe back in the day, an Emco compact 5. Although I make no claims to know much about anything, as most of you proficient machinists, one does eventually develop a keen sense of "feel" when working with hand tools. Iwananew10k seems to have read me correctly, I'm not going to botch my quill.:D
 
Follow up on the reamer topic:
My two reamers arrived in the mail today. That MT4 is a huge sucker, think I'll part with it. I took the MT3 out of the package and wiped it down, a quick visual inspection for any deformities, then carefully inserted it into the tail stock quill and hand turned it to get a "feel" of what was happening. Several passes were made with increasing force on each pass, using my thumb to increase pressure inwards. I was using a small adjustable wrench as a handle. The TS quill on my SB13 is very hard, even after four or five passes, hardly anything came out save a few crumbs from the cleaning up residue of very light galling. You could tell that no real cutting was going on inside. I was pleased with the results, the innards of the quill felt quite a bit better and yes, the taper on the drill chuck locks into the fresh quill very tight. All in all, it wasn't brain surgery. :D
 
The TS quill on my SB13 is very hard, even after four or five passes, hardly anything came out save a few crumbs from the cleaning up residue of very light galling.

If your TS is hardened, then what came out was most likely from the tooling that was mounted and spun in the quill. What does the inside look like now?
 
I'm not absolutely sure its hardened. The reamer didn't remove chips, just crud. But it left a shiny surface on 75% of the quill. There definitely is some galling in there, a half inch band about 3/4" in and another quarter inch about 3" down inside. For us who pariently care for these vintage machines, these sort of things pains the soul. :)
 
I keep admiring your work on that tail stock and wanted to ask how you got the shiny parts looking so good? Especially the collar in the pic. The parts manual I have calls that the tailstock nut.

Tail Stock Restored.jpg
 
I keep admiring your work on that tail stock and wanted to ask how you got the shiny parts looking so good? Especially the collar in the pic. The parts manual I have calls that the tailstock nut.

View attachment 258926

Kevin:

It's quite easy to do. I have a SB9A that's doing a lot of the grunt work. The entire TS was stripped down to bare metal. At that stage, the tailstock nut was chucked up in the 9A on the hex nut end and spun at medium speed. I then used two or three grades of paper to take the rust off and get a decent clean metal finish on that surface. If you have minor dings in the metal, light use of a fine file will take them out before the papers. The final grind is with a fine emery cloth. Followong the emery, I use a 6" grinder that has two cloth buffing wheels spinning at 3400+ RPM. One wheel has a brown compound and the other wheel (the final step) has a white polishing compound. Two to three minutes on each wheel will get you there. Total time from start to finish, approx ten minutes. The TS hand wheel was chucked up in a four jaw and the file was used as a first step to remove rust and some very minor dings, rest of the procedure was the same. Try it, you'll be pleased with the results.
 








 
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