1957 South Bend "Heavy 10" lathe project

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - 1957 South Bend "Heavy 10" lathe project

Posted: 9/14/2017 11:06:07 AM EDT

Not a full restore, but a modified face lift. I honestly didn't want to part with the $3,000 for a bed grind and scrape just to eliminate a few thousandths of wear. I know, go be poor somewhere else. Maybe down the road I can take a scraping class.

It was really just a basic tear down, clean, paint, replace some worn parts with less worn parts, new belts, new bearings, new nuts, new shims, re-wick and re-assemble with a single phase motor. Total time was 6 months working on it about an hour a night. It just turned out nicely and wanted to share. Seems like there was another rebuild SB floating around here somewhere.

Before:

During:

After:

Posted: 9/14/2017 11:32:38 AM EDT

[#1]

Wow!! You did a great job!

Impressive that you got it all back together!!

What kind of paint did you use?

Posted: 9/14/2017 2:43:04 PM EDT

[#2]

Really nice job. Nice photos too.

Posted: 9/14/2017 3:11:16 PM EDT

[#3]

Holy shit, that's incredible!

Posted: 9/14/2017 3:14:43 PM EDT

[#4]

Slick... what a beauty!

Posted: 9/14/2017 3:22:57 PM EDT

[#5]

Thats amazing

Posted: 9/14/2017 5:32:35 PM EDT

[#6]

Great job!

Posted: 9/14/2017 7:10:18 PM EDT

[#7]

That is a thing of beauty, it really is.
Nice work!

Posted: 9/14/2017 7:24:23 PM EDT

[#8]

NICE job!

Posted: 9/14/2017 7:33:31 PM EDT

[#9]

Very nice, same lathe I used in jr. high metal shop. Your looks a lot nicer the one in jr. high was a crappy green.

Posted: 9/14/2017 7:34:02 PM EDT

[#10]

I saw that one or one exactly like that for sale on ebay before fix. You did a great job on it.

Posted: 9/14/2017 7:46:24 PM EDT

[#11]

Wow! I'm jelly.

Posted: 9/14/2017 10:11:34 PM EDT

[#12]

That is beautiful. You didn't happen to take any video did you?

Posted: 9/14/2017 10:20:24 PM EDT

[#13]

Posted: 9/14/2017 11:08:01 PM EDT

[#14]

Thank you for all the compliments.

I used alkyd enamel from Tractor Supply and just mixed grey and black. It came out lighter than I was planning but I think it's fine.

This one is a tad different than some because it has a less common L-00 spindle instead of a direct thread. You can do operations in reverse without worrying about the chuck spinning off.

It has some bed wear but will consistently hold .0015" on a 6" long piece of unsupported 2" diameter 6061.

It's a neat little lathe and it's been a fun project. I picked up a newer Heavy 10 with a 4.5' bed a little while back but now I'm looking at it thinking do I really want to do it all over again??? We'll see.

Posted: 9/14/2017 11:37:19 PM EDT

[#15]

Very nice

Posted: 9/15/2017 12:47:05 AM EDT

[#16]

Beautiful work. Great to see the old tools brought back to life. Much better than ending up in a junk yard.

Posted: 9/15/2017 12:58:07 AM EDT

[#17]

It is really beautiful and I am jealous.

Posted: 9/15/2017 11:32:38 AM EDT

[#18]

Damn son!

3rd pic came up and was all

Looks great!

Posted: 9/16/2017 8:09:52 AM EDT

[#19]

Pretty awesome job dude.
That spindle is called a D1-4 cam lock spindle. And it is good for the reasons you said. It also supposedly holds true better.
Your table the lathe is on is an older table which doesn't match the year of your lathe. Not a big deal if you aren't going for 100% true restoration. Frankly, the table you have is the one of four south bend made for the heavy 10 that i prefer as far as looks and character go.

Restorations are my specialty. I purchased a heavy 10 at auction last year but sold it as it had more wear than i prefered. It was an 80's model, all the newer bells and whistles.
I have since purchased a 13"x60" South Bend, and am 6 months into the restoration now. Its been put on hold for a little bit due to family obligations. Can't wait to finish it.

Keep all the accessories like the steady rest and collet closer and mic stop. Do not sell any. They aren't making anymore and restoring South Bends is a huge thing right now.

Good luck on the other H10 restoration!

Posted: 9/16/2017 8:13:53 AM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
Pretty awesome job dude.
That spindle is called a D1-4 cam lock spindle.

View Quote

No, it's definitely an L-series spindle nose, most likely (on a 10" lathe) an L-00 just like he said.

Posted: 9/16/2017 8:20:41 AM EDT

[#21]

Here is one that to me looks just like yours. What is a fair price as it sits?
https://charlotte.craigslist.org/tls/d/south-bend-lathe/6300943586.html

Posted: 9/16/2017 8:43:53 AM EDT

[#22]

Nice work!

Posted: 9/16/2017 9:10:33 AM EDT

[#23]

Quote History

Quoted:
Pretty awesome job dude.
That spindle is called a D1-4 cam lock spindle. And it is good for the reasons you said. It also supposedly holds true better.
Your table the lathe is on is an older table which doesn't match the year of your lathe. Not a big deal if you aren't going for 100% true restoration. Frankly, the table you have is the one of four south bend made for the heavy 10 that i prefer as far as looks and character go.

Restorations are my specialty. I purchased a heavy 10 at auction last year but sold it as it had more wear than i prefered. It was an 80's model, all the newer bells and whistles.
I have since purchased a 13"x60" South Bend, and am 6 months into the restoration now. Its been put on hold for a little bit due to family obligations. Can't wait to finish it.

Keep all the accessories like the steady rest and collet closer and mic stop. Do not sell any. They aren't making anymore and restoring South Bends is a huge thing right now.

Good luck on the other H10 restoration!

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:
Pretty awesome job dude.
That spindle is called a D1-4 cam lock spindle. And it is good for the reasons you said. It also supposedly holds true better.
Your table the lathe is on is an older table which doesn't match the year of your lathe. Not a big deal if you aren't going for 100% true restoration. Frankly, the table you have is the one of four south bend made for the heavy 10 that i prefer as far as looks and character go.

Restorations are my specialty. I purchased a heavy 10 at auction last year but sold it as it had more wear than i prefered. It was an 80's model, all the newer bells and whistles.
I have since purchased a 13"x60" South Bend, and am 6 months into the restoration now. Its been put on hold for a little bit due to family obligations. Can't wait to finish it.

Keep all the accessories like the steady rest and collet closer and mic stop. Do not sell any. They aren't making anymore and restoring South Bends is a huge thing right now.

Good luck on the other H10 restoration!

I'll show you the difference between a L-00 and a D1-4. Both are my spindles (L-00 on top, D1-4 on bottom) and I chose to re-use the L-00 on this one because it came with it. I'll save my D1-4 for another one.

This link is to a 1952 catalog which is the closest I can find, and it is still on a tubular base.

1952 South Bend Catalog

The 1957 is slightly a guess using a serial number data base that has a slightly lower SN at November 1956 and a slightly higher SN at September 1957.

Off the top of my head I've owned 11 South Bends.

Quoted:
Here is one that to me looks just like yours. What is a fair price as it sits?
https://charlotte.craigslist.org/tls/d/south-bend-lathe/6300943586.html

I saw that one when it listed. If it isn't badly worn that's a fair price.

Posted: 9/16/2017 9:59:20 AM EDT

[#24]

Nice work.

I rebuilt my Hendy 14x30 lathe some time ago. Reground the bed and cross feed. Cost was ~1200

The D-1 spindle is the most convenient that I have used. Repeatable, rigid, and easy on and off. Two of my lathes have D1-6 spindles.

Posted: 9/16/2017 10:30:29 AM EDT

[#25]

Posted: 9/16/2017 10:47:23 AM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:
Thank you for all the compliments.

...
It has some bed wear but will consistently hold .0015" on a 6" long piece of unsupported 2" diameter 6061.
...

View Quote

Unless you're doing serious close tolerance work then it'll be fine

And the compliments are well-earned, you do good work. It cleaned up nice

Posted: 9/16/2017 10:50:13 AM EDT

[#27]

My apologies. I stand corrected.

To be completely honest, i have never seen that type of spindle before. My father is a retired machinist and i am learning a little from him.
To be further honest, i didn't even look at the spindle when i posted that comment. I just assumed you were referring to a camlock spindle and referred to it incorrectly. Only when i saw your correction did i even lol closer to notice that it was in fact not a d1-4 spindle.

Here's mine prior to restoration
It came out of JM Wright RVTS Technical Highschool in Stamford, CT. The school was upgrading machines and its older stock went out a couple years ago. It was sold at public auction to another individual in CT, whome i purchased it from. It sat in storage for a year and he put it on clist and i got it for $900! It saw no production work of any kind and the ways are gleaming. Im about 40% done restoring it. I will keep the 3 phase motor and get a VFD. I'm really psyched!
I love old american steel!

Attached File

Posted: 9/16/2017 12:21:23 PM EDT

[#28]

Quote History

Quoted:
My apologies. I stand corrected.

To be completely honest, i have never seen that type of spindle before. My father is a retired machinist and i am learning a little from him.
To be further honest, i didn't even look at the spindle when i posted that comment. I just assumed you were referring to a camlock spindle and referred to it incorrectly. Only when i saw your correction did i even lol closer to notice that it was in fact not a d1-4 spindle.

Here's mine prior to restoration
It came out of JM Wright RVTS Technical Highschool in Stamford, CT. The school was upgrading machines and its older stock went out a couple years ago. It was sold at public auction to another individual in CT, whome i purchased it from. It sat in storage for a year and he put it on clist and i got it for $900! It saw no production work of any kind and the ways are gleaming. Im about 40% done restoring it. I will keep the 3 phase motor and get a VFD. I'm really psyched!
I love old american steel!

https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/26371/IMG_1919-308880.JPG
https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/26371/IMG_1918-308881.JPG

View Quote

I remember speaking with you by PM when you bought that machine. It was listed with another in a storage unit up in the NE. Let us know how it turns out when you are finished.

Posted: 9/16/2017 8:20:51 PM EDT

[#29]

Really nice work! I hope you have a son or daughter that will appreciate it and use it some day. It's beautiful.

Posted: 9/16/2017 8:36:56 PM EDT

[#30]

Quote History

Quoted:
My apologies. I stand corrected.

View Quote

The long-taper spindles are a bit uncommon. I think the most common machines to use them were LeBlonds. L-00 is the smallest and, IIRC, it goes all the way up to L-5. The L-00 is a pretty good size fit for a 10" machine, but they were found on machines up to 15" (but those were considered "undersized" or "lightweight" for a 15" machine. My LeBlond Dual-Drive has an L-00 and finding chucks (good ones) for them is a bit challenging. Heck, just for a long-taper backing plate (quality) you're looking at $300+. That played into the fact when I bought my LeBlond with 3 chucks, a 12" 4-jaw cushman, 8" 4-jaw Bison, and 8" 3-jaw Bison (nearly new). I took a gamble on my LeBlond, I knew it had been abused (but used very little), but I also knew that I could part it out and make money if it came down to it. I'm 90% done rescraping the surfaces that needed it and once the new head-stock gears are done I'll put it back together. I've already done nearly all of the repairs and I was done stripping and painting it a year ago... by the time I'm done it will be a 2-year full restoration (minus the factory coolant pump that was completely missing).

Posted: 9/16/2017 8:48:55 PM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:
Not a full restore, but a modified face lift. I honestly didn't want to part with the $3,000 for a bed grind and scrape just to eliminate a few thousandths of wear. I know, go be poor somewhere else. Maybe down the road I can take a scraping class.

It was really just a basic tear down, clean, paint, replace some worn parts with less worn parts, new belts, new bearings, new nuts, new shims, re-wick and re-assemble with a single phase motor. Total time was 6 months working on it about an hour a night. It just turned out nicely and wanted to share. Seems like there was another rebuild SB floating around here somewhere.

Before:

https://i.imgur.com/EiXTikI.jpg

During:

https://i.imgur.com/DPQQ4k3.jpg

After:

https://i.imgur.com/TnjgKEp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YWTbRQB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Qx042xZ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/hFCdbip.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/GAtpLC2.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/q5oSX8v.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/kmHu5Yq.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/pZrV5SN.png

https://i.imgur.com/HoKzXLg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mABPm4n.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LdK9hww.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/IgcsUPV.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/fv66Ba3.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qiam57g.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HoX29d9.jpg

View Quote

Saweeet job. Used to do that kind of thing for a living. Scraping and flaking isn't hard, just takes a lot of practice to leave a 'pretty' flake job. Saw a book on it the other day when I googled it.

Posted: 9/16/2017 9:13:30 PM EDT

[#32]

That is a thing of beauty. I want one. Takes patience (and time) to complete such a job. Congrats OP.

Posted: 9/16/2017 11:08:44 PM EDT

[#33]

Quote History

Quoted:
Really nice work! I hope you have a son or daughter that will appreciate it and use it some day. It's beautiful.

View Quote

I have a 2 year old little girl. She's rather familiar with lathes already. I've got 4 at the moment.

I've repainted several and each one has progressed a little more in depth than the previous in moving towards a true restoration. While this one came out aesthetically pleasing at the end of the day is still a bit small (the whole cabinet will fit between centers on my LeBlond) to do much and was something to keep me occupied. I didn't put the money into a bed job because I'd never get it back out and I won't own this very long, hopefully.

The process is fun. One day if I ever find "the one" perhaps I'll go all out.

2 years ago I'd never turned a lathe on, much less knew how to use one. Anyone with 3 weeks of actual Machinist training can run one better than I can but I ground my own tool and cut my own 7/16x10 LH acme threads to replace the worn Crossfeed screw. I ultimately made a mistake and scrapped the part at the very end but it's all part of the learning curve.

The next one will be better and the next one will be better.

Posted: 9/17/2017 10:25:06 PM EDT

[#34]

Beauty! Really like the color.

Posted: 9/17/2017 10:33:02 PM EDT

[#35]

Nicely done! I've a 10 heavy that I use for odd jobs now and then. My resto project got as far as sourcing a gallon of the proper paint. This gives me inspiration!

Posted: 9/19/2017 3:27:40 PM EDT

[#36]

Hey, you wanna take a measurement for me? I want to know the OD of the micrometer dial, the engraved surface. Thank you.

Great looking work and a well tooled lathe.

On bed grinding- a forum member on PM reground his own and it turned out very well. He used the underside and insides of the tailstock's longitudinal ways. Generally speaking, those ways are in great shape unless something catastrophic happens.

Posted: 9/21/2017 7:48:22 AM EDT

[#37]

Very impressive. I did similar with a 1960s 9" a few years ago. Paint did not turn out as glossy which was disappointing. I'm still got a few things to tweak on it and a lot to learn, buts it's a fun toy.

Posted: 9/21/2017 9:44:59 AM EDT

[#38]

Quote History

Quoted:
Hey, you wanna take a measurement for me? I want to know the OD of the micrometer dial, the engraved surface. Thank you.

Great looking work and a well tooled lathe.

On bed grinding- a forum member on PM reground his own and it turned out very well. He used the underside and insides of the tailstock's longitudinal ways. Generally speaking, those ways are in great shape unless something catastrophic happens.

View Quote

Sure. I'll measure them up tonight and edit them into this post.

ETA: 1.375" on the smooth engraved surface.

Posted: 9/21/2017 10:49:24 AM EDT

[#39]

Quote History

Quoted:
Very impressive. I did similar with a 1960s 9" a few years ago. Paint did not turn out as glossy which was disappointing. I'm still got a few things to tweak on it and a lot to learn, buts it's a fun toy.

View Quote

Unless it's a showroom piece glossy paint isn't a good thing, it shows scratches MUCH easier. And if you use it, it will get scratched...

Posted: 9/21/2017 12:45:40 PM EDT

[#40]

Quote History

Quoted:

On bed grinding- a forum member on PM reground his own and it turned out very well. He used the underside and insides of the tailstock's longitudinal ways. Generally speaking, those ways are in great shape unless something catastrophic happens.

View Quote

Are you talking about the guy that made that linear slide fixture and did it with an angle-grinder?