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South Bend 16 Toolroom Lathe - The Adventure Begins...

Kevin T

Stainless
Joined
Jan 26, 2019
Aloha I am a new owner of an 8117-E South Bend! Quite a find out here where I had given up hope of ever having a real lathe in my garage until I found this beauty! Imagine my surprise as I took inventory of a building that my company owns.

What is that over there?

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Oh, it's just something that I always wanted!

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I asked around and found out the owner was willing to let it go since this building is scheduled for sale and he had no where to put it. We struck a deal and I started working on figuring out how to get it home.

-continued-
 
Moving the lathe...

I was lucky enough to find a guy to haul it and did a bunch of brain crunching to see how to get it on a trailer safely,
This is what we did.
Used a forklift to place it on top of two pallets and then used two pallet jacks to move it into position. The tilt bed trailer had a winch to help it get on but the electric pallet jack turned out to be the real star of the show.

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Then the issue of unloading. I have to admit that I was light on planning but I did have enough raw materials around to MacGyver something should the need arise. Here we are off the trailer and almost there.

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It took a while to get the rest of the way and could not have happened without a railroad jack (aka Highlift Jack) some different lengths of 4x4 lumber, a heavy duty pry bar and a 1 inch diameter steel rod that we rolled under the pedestal to get to the final position.

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I have been posting in my favorite part of this website (the antique machinery and history forum) because of the obvious enthusiasm and collection of knowledge but I will have many many questions going forward and it was suggested that here in the South Bend forum is the place to be.

Just to be thorough I ordered the serial card from Grizzly. You have to search for South Bend serial card the link in the sticky thread above has changed.

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I found some wonderful markings on the lathe from Raritan Arsenal but had missed the plate stamped on the casting under the tailstock end until I got her home.

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I am getting started with plans to clean the machine up and get familiar with it so I grabbed some initial pics to have as a reference of where I started. Right now in the back of my mind I am thinking to get the grime off put a shine in a few places but not to repaint anything I really like the patina of it. I ordered the full on rebuild kit to help me along the way. I didnt get to take all the pictures I want yet but here are some teasers.

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-cont-
 
Welcome to the ultra-elite "117-E" club. Ha. Mine started life as a 117-E from 1943. It's now more or less an 8117-E after restoration and a few strategic mods.

Happy to answer any questions you have as you get into it. Being in Hawaii, getting parts is going to sting if you need anything shipped from the mainland.

Your headstock is segmented cast iron, no bronze sleeves--you can tell because there are no threaded holes in the bearing caps for bronze bearing expanders. That will be the first order of business as you're tearing it down to assess the condition of those bearing journals. If the POs took good care of the lubrication, they'll be in fine shape. If they didn't, then you, too, may wind up with a later model headstock same as me.

Best of luck, enjoy the journey including the inevitable bumps in the road that you'll have to get across.

Tom
 
Got shipped to the arsenal a couple of days before Pearl Harbor... probably did some interesting work while at Raritan. Look forward to seeing your progress as you go along. Jim
 
Welcome to the ultra-elite "117-E" club. Ha. Mine started life as a 117-E from 1943. It's now more or less an 8117-E after restoration and a few strategic mods.

Happy to answer any questions you have as you get into it. Being in Hawaii, getting parts is going to sting if you need anything shipped from the mainland.

Your headstock is segmented cast iron, no bronze sleeves--you can tell because there are no threaded holes in the bearing caps for bronze bearing expanders. That will be the first order of business as you're tearing it down to assess the condition of those bearing journals. If the POs took good care of the lubrication, they'll be in fine shape. If they didn't, then you, too, may wind up with a later model headstock same as me.

Best of luck, enjoy the journey including the inevitable bumps in the road that you'll have to get across.

Tom

Oh thanks so much for checking out my pictures. I mentioned in another thread that i "almost" backed out of the deal when I saw your awesome restoration thread. Glad I went through with it though. Yes shipping out here is terrible but you get used to it after a while and just have to shift your budget and scale of spending around. I am glad you mentioned the headstock and what to be aware of. Are there any other pictures I should get to help awareness of any other areas?

One thing I want to do fairly early on is to focus on the power switch. It's a Cutler-Hammer art deco beauty. The detents inside are a little sloppy and I was thinking about maybe rebuilding it at some point and making a new front plate too. I see that there are some newer ones available on ebay maybe I could swap my cover onto a newer one? Has anyone done this maybe with a link to some cross reference numbers?
 
One thing I want to do fairly early on is to focus on the power switch. It's a Cutler-Hammer art deco beauty.

I can't tell you what C-H switch parts will interchange, but I'm sure there are lots of options out there for making a working switch that looks original. I'm making a new 1930s era C-H metal badge for a vintage bandsaw switch in WA state now. Once you sort out the switch, if you don't decide to just buy a new old stock housing, I can make you new etched tag for that switch as well as any other part of the lathe. I had to learn how to etch tags for my own restoration, and now I offer it as a service for other restorers. If/when the time comes, drop me a note using the contact link on my website: VI Home I just received a new quote request yesterday for a complete set of SBL 14.5" tags. It's nice to see my etching mask artwork get used more than once.

Seriously, though, don't get frustrated with what you find under the grease. There's going to be broken parts and wear, especially when you get into the apron. The good news is everything on this machine is fixable without exotic tools or skills. That's why it's the perfect machine to start out with IMHO.

Tom
 
From the photos lathe looks like in good shape, That was a find that we all dream about, will be watching for more posts about the lathe..
 
From the photos lathe looks like in good shape, That was a find that we all dream about, will be watching for more posts about the lathe..

I took the chip tray off and bent it back into shape and re-installed it. Not perfect but much better, I dont think anyone would notice unless I pointed it out. When "whomever" tried to lift the thing by the tray the bolts that hold the brackets to the pedestal were a little bent so I replaced those. They dont look right with a bright cad finish but you only see them if you are laying down. I wouldnt mind finding some 3/8-16 x 1 black bolts for those connections!!

I have been carefully cleaning and trying to figure out where to clean and where to leave the old patina. I will get some fresh pictures in here in the next couple of days but its moving along. It's a lot of work to clean a big lathe! I found a friend locally that has some expertise with phase converters so that is a relief since I am very weak when it comes to things electrical.
 
Had the weekend to put some work into the lathe. I started with a plan to clean the ways and the valleys between and got busy. I used a bunch of Scotch Bright pads with WD-40 and Kerosene to help the process and am very happy with the result. Here is the little sparkle I am greeted with when I go out into the garage. You can also see from this first pic the results of bending the chip tray back into shape! Much Better!

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I got a better pic of the stamping on the bed now that it is clean too.

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After the ways cleaning I started on some of the oil fill cups that were painted over with a brush at some point in their lives. I was able to apply a little pressure with a bamboo stick and the paint "popped off" so I left it there for now. I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself before I take a look at the lathe rebuild/restoration book I ordered.

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Also you can tell I removed the tool tray and cleaned it up too but realized that it will probably need to be treated/repainted at some point. It was a different color than the rest of the lathe or maybe just a mixed patina of rust and cooked on oils and greases. I am starting to think about if I need to paint some things how I may go about it.
 
Question about bnrackets on backside of lathe

I found these brackets on the back of the lathe and was wondering about the purpose of them. Two bolts and a piece of steel one at each end of the lathe.

Anyone?

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The end of the ways looks wrong to me with the paint gobbed up.

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I want to clean a portion of the paint away but am not certain how to do it. Anyone have a good method? I was thinking about scribing a line through the paint to make a parting line with a razor blade and then cleaning up the upper ends but not sure if scratching the casting is a good idea either!

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I think it's time to consider a little self medicating....OCD is kicking in.

Just kidding, whatever will be fine there short of a hammer and chisel...heck, that might even be ok although I cannot recommend it.

That looks to be as fine condition SB of that vintage I have seen.

Great score.:)
 
Looks to be a twin to mine- right down to the gaudy yellow paint... does anyone know what the significance of the yellow was? Mine has much more yellow, was built in 1943, and is also a "war board" lathe, 183-E.
 








 
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