I have a 1964 South Bend Heavy or 10L that I purchased 8 years ago as a retirement present. I’ve used it quiet a bit at times, nothing hard. I had to replace the carriage feed screw nut & associated bearings, cleaned it up and replaced all the felts & proper oils. All shafts and bushings were fine. About 6 months ago, it started slowing to a stop in forward, no mater of the operation. It would run fine in reverse. I first thought it was the spindle, so I disassembled it only to find nothing. Then I determined it was the quick change gear box and after taking it apart two times and cleaning it, I finally figured out it was in the apron. I completely disassembled it, inspected everything. The only thing I found was the clutch disks were a little worn and whoever put it together last did not put the two 1/8” pins in the worm gear nuts and the small clutch bearings were installed wrong. I corrected all this, reassembled it and it ran about 5 minutes and locked up in forward. I put it in reverse and it did fine. I let it run in reverse for more than an hour while I cleaned and put tools away. I went back over and put it in forward and it froze right up.
I just left the shop. I’m disgusted that I can’t fix it. I spent a lot for it and spent a lot for tooling. I’m looking at other machines but it’s such a waste. This machine is in awesome condition, but I cannot find anyone in my home state to take it to and I obviously don’t have the skills to fix it.
When it jams up, it only does it in forward. It will jam regardless of the position of any lever on the apron. I removed the quick change gear box one more time and hooked a high speed drill to the feed screw and spun the hell out of it in reverse while pouring Type C oil in the gits . I had oil pouring out. I switched the drill to forward and it spun a minute or less and Jambs up. At one point, I helped the drill over-ride it and it came free. I then kept spinning it forward at high speed and like always, it jammed tight.
I’m at the end of my ropes with it. There is one constant. It only jams up in forward and it will jamb regardless of any operation as long as it is in forward. In my opinion, it can only be the worm. Specially, the nut on one side of the worm, because as the worm turns in a given direction, it pulls the one nut to the hardened bushing. When you reverse directions, it pulls the opposite nut to the opposite hardened bushing. It has the be the bearing surface between the one nut and bushing, but checked them and lapped them. I set the final assembly with .004” play, then .002” play, nothing changed.
What am I doing wrong????? Is there anyone out there that is familiar with this lathe that could fix it for me? I emailed Lilion, where I bought my parts and manual, but they’ve never replied. If someone is experienced enough with these lathes, I could pull the apron and ship it to you. I will of course clean all the oil out so it will be clean when you get it. I know it’s something simple that I am doing wrong or overlooking, but I have no idea what it is.
Thank you
....JR
I just left the shop. I’m disgusted that I can’t fix it. I spent a lot for it and spent a lot for tooling. I’m looking at other machines but it’s such a waste. This machine is in awesome condition, but I cannot find anyone in my home state to take it to and I obviously don’t have the skills to fix it.
When it jams up, it only does it in forward. It will jam regardless of the position of any lever on the apron. I removed the quick change gear box one more time and hooked a high speed drill to the feed screw and spun the hell out of it in reverse while pouring Type C oil in the gits . I had oil pouring out. I switched the drill to forward and it spun a minute or less and Jambs up. At one point, I helped the drill over-ride it and it came free. I then kept spinning it forward at high speed and like always, it jammed tight.
I’m at the end of my ropes with it. There is one constant. It only jams up in forward and it will jamb regardless of any operation as long as it is in forward. In my opinion, it can only be the worm. Specially, the nut on one side of the worm, because as the worm turns in a given direction, it pulls the one nut to the hardened bushing. When you reverse directions, it pulls the opposite nut to the opposite hardened bushing. It has the be the bearing surface between the one nut and bushing, but checked them and lapped them. I set the final assembly with .004” play, then .002” play, nothing changed.
What am I doing wrong????? Is there anyone out there that is familiar with this lathe that could fix it for me? I emailed Lilion, where I bought my parts and manual, but they’ve never replied. If someone is experienced enough with these lathes, I could pull the apron and ship it to you. I will of course clean all the oil out so it will be clean when you get it. I know it’s something simple that I am doing wrong or overlooking, but I have no idea what it is.
Thank you
....JR