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South Bend 11" for beginner

Maverick302

Aluminum
Joined
Dec 24, 2018
Hello all, I am looking into getting my first lathe for my home shop. I have some very basic training/experience running a manual lathe (mostly a 13" JET, and mostly with collets on smaller work). That being said, I want to outfit my shop with a general purpose lathe for various fabrication projects, fixing/replacing motorcycle and tractor parts, and generally just being able to open up the capability to turn parts instead of working around or purchasing them.

I found an 11" South Bend near me, seems to be in good shape, but the rarity of the machine (and lack of availability of tooling and parts) and the odd spindle thread has me concerned. According to the ad, it comes with a 6" Cushmen chuck (worn jaws), Threading Gears, Steady Rest, and face plates. Asking price is $700. Would this be a good machine for a beginner, or would it likely end up being a headache to learn on due to the lack of a used market for accessories and tooling? I don't think I would drop the money for quality new components, at least not in the near future.
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Just to add some detail:

I'm not going to wait around and spend months waiting for a perfect deal. In fact, I'm willing to overspend if it's a good machine and I don't have to drive 2 states to get it. That being said, I'd like to come in under $1000, maybe more if it comes with a lot of goodies.

This is a big bed. While I do have the room for it, I also value open space. The advice I've read here and elsewhere generally points towards "buy the biggest you can afford/fit", but with a 7/8" spindle bore, this is mostly just big in the sense that it has a long bed. Being my first lathe, I frankly don't know if the big bed is worth the extra space to me, or if I'm giving up too much footprint to still end up with a small bore.

In the near future, I also plan to complement my lathe purchase with a mill (either BP or RF45/clone). Not sure how relevant this is, but figured one could dictate the size/usage of the other to a degree.
 
For your purposes, the only problem that I see is the lack of a quick-change gearbox. If you don't mind shuffling the change gears for threading, the lathe will serve your shop until you desire better accuracy or capacity. I would fit a 4-jaw chuck, as well as a better three-jaw, if needed. Put that lantern toolpost on the shelf, and find a chinese copy of a wedge type AXA toolpost. Search for a copy of L.H. Sparey's book, "The Amateur's Lathe". Don't worry about the scarcity of parts. Regards, Clark
 
Sealark37 gives you one point of view and highlights a few positive things about that lathe. From the photo the lathe looks clean, well maintained, and generally unaltered. It also looks like original paint, a good thing in my opinion as it usually means the lathe hasn’t beeen significantly messed with and mostly original. That lathe is an older design made for line shaft with the overhead drive added, very common for the day. The price with those accessories and if there is nothing significant broken like the bull and back gears (headstock) or severely worn like the bed then the price is on the high side of fair. The longer bed is a good thing in my experience. Even if you don’t need the length for long turnings the elbow room is nice, also good for facing long parts using the steady rest, nice for diameters that won’t fit through the spindle hole.

If I were to buy this lathe I’d offer $500 and be willing to go up a little.

Tooling should not be much of a problem. Pre-thread back plates are available but find out what the spindle nose is threaded and check back here for comments on availability. The spindle is small and won’t take 5c collets, something you prabably had with the Jet.

You might want to hold out for something newer in the 13” swing(WWII or later) there are some advantages making that step up, like a larger spinal hole and larger swing in the same basic floor space. Something a little newer will have better parts availability too.
 
There is plenty of iron out there. Instead of trying to restore old iron you might want to consider something newer and also a geared head. You can pick up a inch only leblond 13-15" lathe - a Regal or Servo Shift reasonably. That old South Bend is not even a quick change machine. Get a good rigid machine that you can take good cuts, machine harder materials, and hold good tolerance then your interest will grow. Play with old light duty machines and it is easy to lose interest.
 
large lathes can be very dangerous. Regardless of brand I do not recommend anything larger than 13” swing for a beginner. Ideally 10” flat belt drive makes a great beginner lathe, the belts will slip some and save a few repairs and maybe a finger or two. A 10” can be deadly but not near so as 13” and bigger. However the op has some 13” lathe experience and implies the need for something a little bigger than 10”. 13” sounds ideal.

The $1000 budget is prabably low for a 13. However most of the cost is in tooling, the initial cost difference between a 10” lathe and 13” will quickly be forgotten. A budget is absolutely necessary when looking for machines. Buying something inadequate for the need just to stay within the alotted money does not make sense unless trading up is part of the long term plan. Trading lathes can be profitable if one is a bit frugal.
 
There is plenty of iron out there. Instead of trying to restore old iron you might want to consider something newer and also a geared head. You can pick up a inch only leblond 13-15" lathe - a Regal or Servo Shift reasonably. That old South Bend is not even a quick change machine. Get a good rigid machine that you can take good cuts, machine harder materials, and hold good tolerance then your interest will grow. Play with old light duty machines and it is easy to lose interest.

I agree with this statement except for 15” recommendation, reason in post #8. Be sure to consider the weight. A 13” modern lathe or older Southbend will be under 1500 pounds. That size and up in a nice industrial quality machine will easily double that weight. Moving a 3-4000 pound something around a two car garage is a lot different than a 900 pound 11” machine. That said and having plenty of space I’d take a Leblond or Monarch any day.
 
Great information, thanks for all the helpful responses. I'd love to get a 13" machine, but the only ones I've seen for sale so far have been $2k+ or a basket case. I guess I should hold off and look around a little more. I could up the budget if it's going to get me something I can be happy with for a long time.

Asking opinions here - is a 9" too small for me? Considering I do have access to the 13" machines at work, I may be able to get by?
 
That's a cool old machine. It would be something that I enjoy to tinker with as a challenge. I agree with all the others who said that a more modern machine (1950's ish) would be better suited to a shop where time and money matter more than tinkering and playing.
 








 
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