My late uncle had a lot of woodworking and metal working tools.  He knew I had most of the woodworking and his would be duplicates, but while in hospice, he asked if i would please keep his lathe - that was his pride and joy.  The things he could do with that thing were unbelievable.

 

So here is the lathe as is sits in my workshop.  i am slightly familiar with how to operate it and have done several minor jobs with it.  Looking to retire within the next year, may look into taking a class or two on how to properly operate it so it can be of more use to me.

 

Not exactly sure of the year it is from, maybe late 1940's, early 1950's, pretty sure it was after the war though.

 

 

Edited July 27, 20187 yr by IrishWoodCarver

That is a nice lathe.  I have an Atlas 6" and a Unimat Hobby lathe.  I make regular use of both of them and wouldn't want to be without them.  On the tool rest.  The curved piece should be under the tool bit holder.  The curve rides in the dish making the bit height infinitely adjustable for height.  Not being critical just trying to help.  I was in the same boat as you and had to learn the how to from books and such. 

I'm sure your uncle would be proud to know you are keeping the lathe safe.

22 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

That is a nice lathe.  I have an Atlas 6" and a Unimat Hobby lathe.  I make regular use of both of them and wouldn't want to be without them.  On the tool rest.  The curved piece should be under the tool bit holder.  The curve rides in the dish making the bit height infinitely adjustable for height.  Not being critical just trying to help.  I was in the same boat as you and had to learn the how to from books and such. 

Thanks - makes sense.  I will check it out and move it when I get home.  Appreciate you taking time to notice and comment.

I guess this should have gone in the Old Machinery Forum, not here - I did not see that forum until I scrolled all the way to the bottom and saw i there.  MY BAD!

Edited July 27, 20187 yr by IrishWoodCarver

Great to see you have the lathe still and hopefully get some time to use. Didn't your Uncle make you a steady rest before he became ill? Seems I recall he made some very unique tooling for your woodshop?

@HandyDan, @Cliff and @Fastback (been a while since he posted) will be great SME resources when you get ready to use it Bob. Probably others too, but these three came immediately to my mind.

Edited July 27, 20187 yr by Grandpadave52

5 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Great to see you have the lathe still and hopefully get some time to use. Didn't your Uncle make you a steady rest before he became ill? Seems I recall he made some very unique tooling for your woodshop?

@HandyDan, @Cliff and @Fastback (been a while since he posted) will be great SME resources when you get ready to use it Bob. Probably others too, but these three came immediately to my mind.

HE made an attachment for my screw mount on my Delta wood lathe.  it goes through the spindle and screws into the screw mount for turning.  Rather than trusting the taper to hold the screw mount into the spindle, this screws into the back end of the screw mount to hold in place.  Not sure I totally explained it - but basically is to help prevent the screw mount from popping out of the spindle.

Grandpadave is right I have not been here for some time.  Being retired takes all of my time and energy.  Yes, I do have a 9 inch South Bend as well as a 10 inch (10L also called a heavy 10) .   Irishwoodcarver, you have a real nice lathe there It is a model A, which is the top model of the 9 inch lathes.  This thing can do a ton of work.  It has power longitudinal as well as cross feed.  What makes this the best model is the quick change gears.  This is used for feeds for turning and threading.  My model is a model B which is the same as yours with the exception of the quick change gears.  They also made model C which is a manual lathe no power feeds except for the threading and I guess you can also use it for turning on the longitudinal axis.

 

I do wish you luck finding a class on lathe operation.  We do not have much of anything around here.  However, there are a ton of informational videos on you tube that will help you out.  Look for Mr. Pete on you tuber.  Also, there is a book that was put out by South Bend that is great.  Its " How to run a lathe" not a large book but has all the information to get started.  I think you can even download a free copy of an early version.  You lathe may be from the 40's you can find out for sure with the serial number.  I think you can still get the original shipping sheet from Grizzly for a price.  I think I payed $10 for each of mine.  Grizzly bought the South Bend brand a few years back.

 

Good luck,

Paul

 

 

6 hours ago, Fastback said:

Grandpadave is right I have not been here for some time.  Being retired takes all of my time and energy.  Yes, I do have a 9 inch South Bend as well as a 10 inch (10L also called a heavy 10) .   Irishwoodcarver, you have a real nice lathe there It is a model A, which is the top model of the 9 inch lathes.  This thing can do a ton of work.  It has power longitudinal as well as cross feed.  What makes this the best model is the quick change gears.  This is used for feeds for turning and threading.  My model is a model B which is the same as yours with the exception of the quick change gears.  They also made model C which is a manual lathe no power feeds except for the threading and I guess you can also use it for turning on the longitudinal axis.

 

I do wish you luck finding a class on lathe operation.  We do not have much of anything around here.  However, there are a ton of informational videos on you tube that will help you out.  Look for Mr. Pete on you tuber.  Also, there is a book that was put out by South Bend that is great.  Its " How to run a lathe" not a large book but has all the information to get started.  I think you can even download a free copy of an early version.  You lathe may be from the 40's you can find out for sure with the serial number.  I think you can still get the original shipping sheet from Grizzly for a price.  I think I payed $10 for each of mine.  Grizzly bought the South Bend brand a few years back.

 

Good luck,

Paul

 

 

Well, funny thing - you mentioned "How to run a Lathe" - that kind of struck a chord in this old brain.  I went through all the remaining "stuff" I have to go through frm my uncles estate.  Look what I found!    How to Run a Lathe from South bend, and Lathe Operation and Machinist Tables.  In addition I found an original South Bend Lathe catalog, some South Bend Lathe Works bulletins - AND a deck of South Bend playing cards - IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS IN JULY!!!!  LOL

That lathe was maintained in pristine condition.  It still has the frosting on the ways from the scraping.

I've never seen one of that vintage in such grand condition. IT's almost factory floor new.

So  it's  a fabulous machine age not withstanding.

be sure you understand the lubrication requirements.  Often they were "Oil Daily"    And be sure use the correct weight oil.

 I'm guessing that rig is from the 1940s.  You can date it with the serial number  I bet the vintage machinery site has a resource for that.

Well it looks like you have the material to start you on a new hobby.  I can offer one machinist site that will be helpful and that is the "Machinist Web".  This is a site that will not look down on you as new to machining an help with any questions you may have about your new acquisition.

 

Paul

11 hours ago, Fastback said:

Well it looks like you have the material to start you on a new hobby.  I can offer one machinist site that will be helpful and that is the "Machinist Web".  This is a site that will not look down on you as new to machining an help with any questions you may have about your new acquisition.

 

Paul

Not to hi-jack the thread, but great to have you back posting Paul. Hope all has been well. Appreciate your input here.

Thanks Grandpadave, I really have been busy and things are going well for me.  I finished building my sawmill this spring, and I hope to get some wood sawed this fall.  I also hope I have not hi-jacked the thread.  I do have to admit that I could not have built the mill without the lathe etc.

 

Paul 

@GrandpaDave - I think this is what you were thinking of.  My uncle made this - which goes through the spindle and seats itself on the back side.  It screws into the back of my screw mount to prevent it from popping out if I am not using a tailstock.  I remember him taking all the measurements to ensure it would seat itself and provide enough threads at the end to screw into the screw mount.

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 20187 yr by IrishWoodCarver

Yep, I remember it now Irish...he was a very skilled machinist & craftsman for sure. I would have loved to have met him.

Excellent job for sure!   A good place for that attachment would be with the drill chuck at the spindle.  Maybe, I'll have time to make one sometime.

 

Paul

On ‎7‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 1:51 PM, IrishWoodCarver said:

I guess this should have gone in the Old Machinery Forum, not here - I did not see that forum until I scrolled all the way to the bottom and saw i there.  MY BAD!

That is one sweet lathe. Your post found the right place.

I have 4 Southbend lathes like yours. You can take the ser.# off the right side top of the bed and send it to Grizzly Tools and get a bill of sale telling you all about your lathe. 

It will look something like this...

I went from full time woodworking to retired metal working. You can do a lot with that machine. If you make a milling attachment for it, many more projects can be done. OR go whole hog and get a small milling machine. An excellent video series is "Thatlazymachinist" & "Mr. Pete" 

That lathe should never have the spindle run in reverse because the chuck is threaded on (I think??) You can even make that lathe do metric threads buy changing some gears, information on line. CAUTION..it can be addictive! Being able to make all sorts of "special tools" knobs, hardware, repair parts, the list goes on. A few days ago my shop needed to fix a broken electrical connector. Simple, remove a pin with a short wire and replace it with a pin with a longer wire. But, needed a way to release the pin from the housing. No one in town had a tool that was long enough for the Italian version. I made one form a broken router bit on my lathe. Drilled 0.096" x .75 deep, turned to 0.103 diameter 1" long. Note that means the wall thickness was 0.0035" It worked!

The OP is an awesome metal lathe.  Great job and thanks for showing.  I haven't seen one of them since about 1968, in Cleveland, OH.  It was for small parts, but 2 other large lathes ran most of the time.  That machine can produce many parts.