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Who can I call to recondition my South Bend Lathe?

M

mdeimen

Plastic
Joined
Jan 22, 2018
Hi folks,
I have acquired an older South Bend Lathe. Not sure if its a 9" or a light 10 (10K). I'm looking for a place to take it to be reconditioned. I live in Northwest Ohio. Can anyone recommend a reliable company to contact?

Thanks for the help with this.

Michael D.
 
I think there are a couple guys on here who always seem to be fixing up machines so maybe there are people? Perhaps yours is nice enough to use as a trade in and consideration? You are missing out on a lot of what keeps the love of these machines strong though by not getting dirty and digging in. Maybe you are just way smarter about your time! lol I killed 13 months breaking mine down before I was making chips and even then it was another 2-3 months and I was still dialing things in to make it work better!
 
The OP is correct in looking for someone to restore his old SB, because he most likely does not have either the skills or the tools required. Then there is the expectation issue. I suspect the OP is a beginner and if so, he likely has no idea what to expect without significant experience, which he likely does not have. Then there is the cost/value issue. In this case a proper assessment should have done by an expert prior to purchase. From a practical point of view, as a beginner when a problem occurs using a lathe and they do on a regular basis, how is a beginner to determine whether the issue is him, his setup or a clapped out used machine? This is why a new lathe is not only less expensive in the end, it will allow him to concentrate in acquiring the machinist skills he needs and not get wrapped around the axle.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking beginners here, we were all beginners once upon a time. I'm just giving advice that creates less unnecessary pain. Beginners and clapped out machines do not mix well.
 
Not nearly enough information, so you better give us what your exact definition of that recondition term means to you mdeimen and what your budget is. Because if you mean properly rebuilt to as new or better condition and to expand a bit on what Dalmatiangirl accurately pointed out, $2K +++++ isn't going to cover it even if you can do some of the work yourself.
 
I had exactly the same challenge as the OP about 4-5 years ago. I had purchased a SB 9" that was in excellent shape but had been sitting still for 50 years. I outsourced a complete rebuild top to bottom including adding DRO. I did this because a) I had zero experience and did not have the skills or knowledge to rebuild, and b) I had zero tools, no way to fix any problem I found along the way. In retrospect, this whole adventure was a disaster. The outfit I chose to do the rebuild had a good reputation and a lot of experience (ex Lawrence Livermore Lab machinists), but turned out to be con men from a business standpoint. Ultimately to get the lathe rebuild fully completed I ended up burning almost $30K... AND, to add insult to injury as I continued learning more and building my skill set I decided early on to move to a much more capable lathe. I do have probably the most perfect SB 9" in the country, but it most definately is not worth the money put into it.

Some in-progress photos:

Photo May 02, 6 02 35 PM.jpgPhoto May 07, 7 11 55 PM.jpgIMG_0707.jpgIMG_0709.jpgIMG_0717.jpg

And, yes, paint was completely stripped and it was repainted in a custom color of my choice, in retrospect, would not have expended that cost. DRO is nice though.
 
drcoelho said:
The outfit I chose to do the rebuild had a good reputation and a lot of experience (ex Lawrence Livermore Lab machinists), but turned out to be con men from a business standpoint.
Click to expand...

This didn't happen to be D&L did it? I've heard some not-great rumors, but never from anyone who worked directly with them. They certainly seem to maintain many of the manual machines for several larger companies around the bay area.
 
drcoelho said:
I had exactly the same challenge as the OP about 4-5 years ago. I had purchased a SB 9" that was in excellent shape but had been sitting still for 50 years. I outsourced a complete rebuild top to bottom including adding DRO. I did this because a) I had zero experience and did not have the skills or knowledge to rebuild, and b) I had zero tools, no way to fix any problem I found along the way. In retrospect, this whole adventure was a disaster. The outfit I chose to do the rebuild had a good reputation and a lot of experience (ex Lawrence Livermore Lab machinists), but turned out to be con men from a business standpoint. Ultimately to get the lathe rebuild fully completed I ended up burning almost $30K... AND, to add insult to injury as I continued learning more and building my skill set I decided early on to move to a much more capable lathe. I do have probably the most perfect SB 9" in the country, but it most definately is not worth the money put into it.

Some in-progress photos:

View attachment 335148View attachment 335149View attachment 335150View attachment 335151View attachment 335152

And, yes, paint was completely stripped and it was repainted in a custom color of my choice, in retrospect, would not have expended that cost. DRO is nice though.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to understand how someone ends up with a lathe, yet has no tools to work on a lathe? I have always thought of a lathe as an extension of ones mechanical abilities, which generally means you have hand tools already? When I tore into my first lathe I was pretty clueless, and there was no internet for guidance, I had to drive 30 miles down the highway to talk to the grumpy old curmudgeon with a warehouse full of machines to figure out how several pieces came apart. Today with internet forums, youtube, and step by step tutorials with pictures, it seems to be a lot easier.

Note, I can understand paying someone to do the scraping if you are a novice, but disassembly, painting, reassembly is easy enough, and puts you in a position to really know your machine.

Edit: OP, there are numerous threads in the South Bend forum with all the info you need to disassemble, clean, inspect, and reassemble your lathe. Unless its completely worn out beyond acceptable limits, it does not need to be perfect to make good parts in a home shop. Use it as it is for now, learn to run a lathe and make parts, if you decide in the future you need something more precise, there are better machines out there.
 
Not saying anything not already said here, but I'll repeat it anyway. The economics don't really make sense. You will spend more to have someone else fix up a lathe than you would to buy a reasonable new import of similar capability. Fixing one up for yourself is a passion and/or tool for learning about machines and machining. Fixing one up yourself, you would be hard pressed to have a machine that was worth more than your cost, even if you don't count your time. I've gone down that route myself, and don't regret it, but don't fool yourself. Paying someone else to do it is a loosing proposition, it would be cheaper to buy one that someone else has already fixed up.
 
mdeimen said:
Hi folks,
I have acquired an older South Bend Lathe. Not sure if its a 9" or a light 10 (10K). I'm looking for a place to take it to be reconditioned. I live in Northwest Ohio. Can anyone recommend a reliable company to contact?
....
Click to expand...

There's a lot of sage advice being delivered here. For your consideration, some more:

Don't recondition the lathe. Clean it and run it. To see if this is good advice or simply nonsense, please put up some photos of the machine. As a first machine for a novice, a well-worn 9" model A or a 10K are probably the best machines to start on. If you see along the way the machine has shortcomings then you are a leg up on deciding what you *really* want.
 
A lathe is lots like a car...
To start with a beater is where you learn for less...
A beater can teach you what things you find important...
If after you decide you want more of a lathe.... sell the Southbend and move on...
Its easier to buy a better lathe when you know what to look for...
 
My progression: a 9" Atlas TH54, then a *really* worn out 9" model A southbend, then an equally worn heavy 10, traded up to a much less worn heavy ten. Then things sorta went non-linear, and lathes began piling up. Each step on the ziggurat teaches a lesson.
 
Halcohead said:
This didn't happen to be D&L did it? I've heard some not-great rumors, but never from anyone who worked directly with them. They certainly seem to maintain many of the manual machines for several larger companies around the bay area.
Click to expand...

Not D&L. Very painful experience...but don't really want to name names.
 
dalmatiangirl61 said:
I'm trying to understand how someone ends up with a lathe, yet has no tools to work on a lathe? I have always thought of a lathe as an extension of ones mechanical abilities, which generally means you have hand tools already? When I tore into my first lathe I was pretty clueless, and there was no internet for guidance, I had to drive 30 miles down the highway to talk to the grumpy old curmudgeon with a warehouse full of machines to figure out how several pieces came apart. Today with internet forums, youtube, and step by step tutorials with pictures, it seems to be a lot easier.

Note, I can understand paying someone to do the scraping if you are a novice, but disassembly, painting, reassembly is easy enough, and puts you in a position to really know your machine.

Edit: OP, there are numerous threads in the South Bend forum with all the info you need to disassemble, clean, inspect, and reassemble your lathe. Unless its completely worn out beyond acceptable limits, it does not need to be perfect to make good parts in a home shop. Use it as it is for now, learn to run a lathe and make parts, if you decide in the future you need something more precise, there are better machines out there.
Click to expand...

I agree there are plenty of resources available to help one tear down a SB 9". That being said, in my case I had no spare time, I had some money, and I wanted some modifications (add DRO) to the machine that did require an operational milling machine with experienced machinist operator...tools/skills I just didn't have at the time.

AND, in the end, my solution to this conundrum (after the SB 9" was long forgotten) was to buy new:
Weiler Praktikant lathe from germany
Deckel FP1 manual mill from germany
Brother Speedio CNC mill from japan
Mitsui surface grinder from japan
Studer S20 cylindrical grinder from switzerland
along with an insanely expensive amount of tooling and other stuff such as CMM and microscope. I am happily learning to machine stuff, and have all the tools I'll need now....been a long and expensive journey though....but I do not regret the above purchases at all.
 
drcoelho said:
You are too cruel....it is actually a very nice lathe within the limits of what it can do. Very nice lathe to get started learning the skills....
Click to expand...

I learned on one honestly. Once I started using the leblond servoshift I rarely went back to the southbend. The southbend was in great shape though. Nothing wrong with them, except being toys.
 
Agree with Jim R . Buy the book & felt kit & have at it . I had never rebuilt a lathe when I got my 9A . Now I have touched every part on the machine , & I have a much better idea on how they work . You will learn so much about your machine by doing the work your self . If you just want a runner & not a show piece you can probably do it in a few weekends with a hour or 2 after work cleaning & checking parts .
YMMV
animal
 
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