Yet another SB 9 headstock bearing question

Hello all
This is my 2nd post and what seems to be a common issue.
I replaced my slippery stretched leather drive belt on my 9C and found my bearings not looking to good along with bad felts and their springs.
Photos attached.
Is this a bad case of damaged bearing?


Getting the shaft cleaned up is easy enough.
I would like to do the best job I can repairing it as these old lathes are not cheap here in New Zealand.
I believe it is an old Education Department lathe so would have had a hard life at school metal work classes.
New felts kit on the way so just got to make the best of the headstock and spindle.
Shims look like they are made out of aluminium sheet, are they normally?
Easy enough to make though

Thanks
Adrian

I've seen a lot worst in my past.

Best thing to do is take a cylindrical shape slip stone and carefully hone down any high spots in the bore. Clean real good with Brake clean of fresh solvent. Install your new felts, lots of oil and reassemble your spindle and call it good.

That's about the best you can do. As for accuracy, it's going to do as good as you want it to.

Ken

4GSR said:

I've seen a lot worst in my past.

Best thing to do is take a cylindrical shape slip stone and carefully hone down any high spots in the bore. Clean real good with Brake clean of fresh solvent. Install your new felts, lots of oil and reassemble your spindle and call it good.

That's about the best you can do. As for accuracy, it's going to do as good as you want it to.

Ken

Click to expand...

Thanks Ken

Yep, just stone down the high spots and use lots of oil. Replace your felts. There is so much surface area in these bearings that it is hard to wreck them. I've heard of shims being made of brass, steel, aluminum, and paper.

If it helps at all, the Hercus lathes (Australia) are a direct fit for the South Bend. The only difference between the two that I know of, is the brand. Otherwise identical.

Thanks for the helpful reponses guys.
Yesterday I started stripping the whole lathe down and giving it a thorough clean.
So far the headstock, bed and tailstock have been done using 7 cans of degreaser and a large pile of rags.
What is dismaying is the amount of brass/bronze 'cuttings' I have found though the lathe.
A previous owner must have been turning a lot of this metal as it was everywhere, a decent amount under the head stock in the bed casting.
This is a bit upsetting as I was always taught to clean and oil your lathe after the job or at the end of the day I am wondering if the cuttings might have got in between the bearing and spindles?
I briefly thought about giving it a paint and doing a full restoration but I like the used look that tells its history and if I get the new felts and the bearings and spindles cleaned up and it running well I will be happy.

The scoring on the headstock bearing journals is more or less from the lack of lubrication. If a air gun was used to clean off the lathe after a says work, there's a remote chance trash could have made it's way to the journals. Was there signs of metals accumulated in the journals?

4gsr there was no metal in the bearings but I am thinking this machine has been apart in the past to some degree so maybe that was cleaned out.
I just made a set of 4 of the wire clips that drop into the holes leading to the bearing reservoirs but not having any brass wire I amde them out of 1.6mm (1/16")TIG welding wire, I can always make some out of electrical 1mm csa copper but that is a bit soft.
Anyone got an opinion (nicely worded) about me making them out of TIG wire?

Ohhhh, I'm not too sure what you are trying to do there, but the original design of lubricating the journals. There was a spring wrapped around a piece of round felt about 3/4" long. This was inserted into the hole in the headstock housing and held in place with a tooth pick. The tooth pick held it down below the surface of the journal while the spindle was installed. After installation the tooth picks were removed. On the outside of the headstock housing just above the oilers is a hole. The tooth pick was inserted into this hole. The spring with the felt was compressed and the tooth pick was jabbed into the spring, holding it down below the surface. Sorry for the way I explained it. And really, any piece of wire could be used, too. This is what my dad taught me to use. Ken

Edit: you had mention that it look like someone has had this apart before. They probably discarded the spring with the felt for the reason they could not get it back together. From this, the journals were damaged from not being oiled properly. IMO.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/haplesspeanut/Main/SBLjournalrear.jpg

Sorry I was referring to these in the link
Those strange brass clips in the oil return passages

those look good to me, they're just there to break the surface tension and allow the oil down the return hole. It would be a good idea to check the felts too though, plenty of pics around showing the difference between new and old. Even if the old ones look ok, they still might not be doing their job (too short, gummed up etc). They're not alot of money for the peace of mind and you don't want to be going back in there for a while if you don't have to!

Felts on order.
They have been logged as having left Tokyo on the 18th.
USPS routes mail to NZ through Tokyo.
Overdrive pressure gauges I ordered from the USA took three weeks to get to Tokyo then two days to get to me.