South Bend 13 lathe repair

Greetings! I need some advice about repairing a SB 13 lathe. I recently purchased one (my first) and was transporting it home when a Freightliner ran into me. My truck and trailer were total losses; my lathe has serious damage. I'm trying to figure if I should even attempt repairing it. I intend to use it for precision rifle hobby gunsmithing.

A partial list of lathe damage:
Tailstock has bent quill & broken handwheel.
Broken saddle
Broken back gear or quill gear
Misc broken covers on headstock
Lead screw is bent in 2 places
Lead screw bracket is broken

Should I even consider this repair? An insurance company will ultimately pay for the repair or replacement. There may be more damage that I haven't noticed yet.

I live in Oklahoma and our used lathe market is crap. I found an identical lathe to mine (serial is even consecutive to mine) but it's in North Hampton, NH. But I'm not going to buy a used lathe without someone inspecting it first and the insurance hasn't been able to help me there.

If anyone has any advice about repairing the lathe, replacing it or sorting this out with the insurance company then I'm all ears.

Thanks,
BP

What a nightmare! I hope there were no injuries, everything else can be replaced. Sucks that happened when you were getting your “new” lathe home.
How quickly a day can go bad!
My gut would be that it is not worth repairing, the damage will no doubt be worse than you can see now, when (or if) you decide to strip the paint etc, who knows what is lurking below the surface. I doubt you will ever get the precision you need for the intended use.
Even a good South Bend costs a fair amount to refresh but when you add significant structural damage on to of that, it could quickly spiral out of control in time spent as well as $’s
A road trip to Ohio or somewhere that lathes are more common is probably a smaller cost in both of those metrics.
Just my 2 cents.





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Join the club of knowing what it feels like to be hit by a truck...

If other party is at fault do not even think about repairs and do not touch anything.

Do take lots of photos.

Price paid not relevant as you could have got a bargain unless you paid high.

These are not an off the shelf item.

Contact your insurance claims and have a discussion about process.

You may file claim with your carrier who works with other.

Do NOT discuss details of accident or claim with anyone until settled as all are discoverable and can be used against you.

Do use eBay completed to find completed sales of exact or near same unit so you can get fair market value.

There will be many so try for exact model match then look for serial numbers close to yours if they are more expensive than those not so close.

Print out a handful along with photos of your model plate and serial number so you can show to someone who knows nothing of lathes the ability to see that your selections are same and can determine worth.
The cost of the lathe is not much compared to test.

Primary focus is your well being so be sure to get plenty of medical examination to be sure you are okay.



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when you say broken saddle, is that the apron of the lathe or the carriage.

as you probably know, due to the dual V ways of that lathe you have to scrape the carriage to fit the bed, they are not interchangeable.


if you can only get the insurance to pay back what you paid for the lathe, then i would sell the bed and the headstock if they are still good to someone who has a much more worn out lathe.

The labor to fix every thing else probably exceeds the cost of new. though you could give it away to someone who has way too much time on their hands.

its also possible the bed has had sufficient impact it has been bent.


the leadscrew being bent in two places probably justifies replacing it, but if you have to get a keyway cut the whole length then its going to warp. so you could theoretically fix the bent leadscrew but the time to do that may exceed the time to unbend a cut keyway in a rolled acme leadscrew. yeah, the rolled acme rod isn't of the same accuracy southbend cut their screws to, but .003" per foot error is not a problem regarding stress distribution in a screw, so i doubt anyone would care if their threads are off by .00015" per inch.


anyhow i'm imagining the lathe has a lot more damage than initial observations, it may be a total loss. so follow tony's advice and don't touch anything.

Thanks for all the advice, lots of good stuff posted. I have had so many things to deal with that it gets overwhelming. Fortunately I'm at least alive & healthy enough to worry about my lathe. First world problem for sure.

Thanks,
BP

I would trash that lathe, it is just not economical to fix it.

allan

hmmm...an opportunity to make lemonade....esp if you get a payout for the damage.

Take that $ and stategically part out the machine.

Buy a really nice machine.

Having just gone through a 16" restoration, I expect the cost to repair will be a bridge too far.

That said, I think this story ends with how effective you are at convincing the insurance adjuster(s) what the machine was potentially worth prior to the accident. There's a bright line between what that lathe was worth to a professional machine shop and what it's worth to a home user. However, the new machine replacement options aren't that dissimilar for both types of users and the responsible parties should take that into account.

Luck of the draw will determine how your insurance reviews look at it. It certainly doesn't hurt to provide comps of the same capacity (13" x 40", etc.) right out of a catalog to give them an upper bound, then bracket the low end with used machine prices off eBay or dealer sites.

Best of luck--I can appreciate how upsetting this entire process must be for you, and I hope it works out in your favor.

Tom

BP,

Glad to hear you are okay. That's the most important thing. I'm very curious as to how you had it strapped/bolted down and how well it held though the accident. Did it go sliding down the interstate? Open or enclosed trailer? I've given much thought to what would occur during an accident while hauling a lathe. I've never known anyone that it happened to.

bpctcb said:

Greetings! I need some advice about repairing a SB 13 lathe. I recently purchased one (my first) and was transporting it home when a Freightliner ran into me. My truck and trailer were total losses; my lathe has serious damage. I'm trying to figure if I should even attempt repairing it. I intend to use it for precision rifle hobby gunsmithing.

A partial list of lathe damage:
Tailstock has bent quill & broken handwheel.
Broken saddle
Broken back gear or quill gear
Misc broken covers on headstock
Lead screw is bent in 2 places
Lead screw bracket is broken

Should I even consider this repair? An insurance company will ultimately pay for the repair or replacement. There may be more damage that I haven't noticed yet.

I live in Oklahoma and our used lathe market is crap. I found an identical lathe to mine (serial is even consecutive to mine) but it's in North Hampton, NH. But I'm not going to buy a used lathe without someone inspecting it first and the insurance hasn't been able to help me there.

If anyone has any advice about repairing the lathe, replacing it or sorting this out with the insurance company then I'm all ears.

Thanks,
BP

Click to expand...

You may be in luck, There are currently a lot of parts showing up on Ebay for a 13". The covers may be hard to find but may be easy to repair. Good Luck!

hsracer201 said:

BP,

Glad to hear you are okay. That's the most important thing. I'm very curious as to how you had it strapped/bolted down and how well it held though the accident. Did it go sliding down the interstate? Open or enclosed trailer? I've given much thought to what would occur during an accident while hauling a lathe. I've never known anyone that it happened to.

Click to expand...

My open-top utility trailer (bought new 7-18)had a wood floor. I placed thick plywood under the lathe then secured the lathe to the floor with lag bolts & washers. I then secured the lathe with 4 10k# straps to the trailer. I took the utmost care to ensure the lathe was secured properly.

The trailer flipped at some point during the collision. The back gear (quill gear?) was ground partially away. The lathe was still partially under the trailer when everything came to rest and the trailer was still attached to my pickup.

I am quite proud of how my towing setup held up to the ultimate test. Nobody was injured except for me and my passenger. I was very fortunate to survive this event.

BP

If passenger is not family you should seek legal help.

Finding a good one is difficult as many advertise...good ones do not need to...

Be careful what you discuss with your insurance company and if the at fault party wishes to interview you ask that your insurance company has a person on the phone.



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