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Login to post Forums » Off-topic discussion » I think I want to restore a Lathe...

Jan. 22, 2012 10:08 p.m. Woody SuperDork

Lately, I've had the urge to restore...something, but nothing has really jumped out at me.

My grandfather was an incredibly talented machinist and had a very well equipped shop in the basement of the house that he built. And when I say that he built it, I mean everything. My father tells me that he bought a mold and, every night after work, he would mix up a batch of cement and cast a dozen or so blocks for the foundation. He also did everything else after that.

So, he built a house and he had a shop in the basement.

I remember that he had a lathe, and I used to watch him create things out of metal. I was very young, so I was never able to learn how to work with metal, though he did let me turn a few blocks of wood on it. I'm not sure how old I was when he sold it, but it was a few years before he died. I was 18 when he passed away.

Ever since then, I've wanted to learn how to operate a lathe. I don't really need one, but I'd really like to own one like his. I haven't found any photos of his machine yet, but after a few hours looking online and testing my memory, I'm pretty sure that it was a South Bend. There may be better lathes out there, but that's not what I want. If I can learn to operate a machine like his and use it to create a fraction of the things that he did, I will be happy.

So, can anyone tell me what to look for when shopping for an old South Bend lathe to restore?
Jan. 22, 2012 10:41 p.m. 4cylndrfury SuperDork

Theres a yahoo group on old milling and machining tools, its a treasure trove. Id start there. I mayhave other sources, i will try to dig up links...
Jan. 22, 2012 10:53 p.m. Taiden SuperDork

So far my favorite tool I've ever used is a lathe.

I think people have predispositions to things in their blood.

I like naturally aspirated horizontal sixes.

I like butts more than boobs.

And I just feel right making chips on a lathe.

Maybe you do too!
Jan. 22, 2012 11:46 p.m. Stealthtercel HalfDork

For unusual fun with a lathe, check out Woody's thread about building a V12 over on the main forum.
Jan. 23, 2012 5:35 a.m. Grtechguy SuperDork

Stealthtercel wrote:

For unusual fun with a lathe, check out Woody's thread about building a V12 over on the main forum.

Look at who started this thread ...lol
Jan. 23, 2012 6:14 a.m. jamscal Dork

Archive site...pics and info on all sorts of lathes:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/

General home shop machinist site...very good:

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/
Jan. 23, 2012 6:45 a.m. mguar Reader
In reply to Woody: If you don't know how to use a lathe please start with a semi usable one and teach yourself. It's what I did.. (although I started with a really old vertical mill)
```
Anytime you pay scrap metal prices for something you have the potential to rebuild.  However do start with an old operating one.  The reason is tooling costs.. It's not terribly hard to have more than the cost of the lathe in tooling to use with the lathe.. 

Once you start using a lathe you'll quickly learn that there are several other pieces you'll need as well. First is a band saw.  The ability to quickly rough something to length is going to be very valuable..  That bar stock you will use maybe sold in 6-8-10 foot lengths and you only can fit 36 inches into your lathe..
```
Next I suspect a vertical mill (although I started with a vertical mill and later added a lathe)

One final comment..

Any good machinist is also a horrible hoarder . He'll never know when that odd cut off piece will come in handy so he won't toss it.. That cut off may become a bushing or sleeve that little scrap of a bolt head may wind up being a plug or something else..

So whatever you do start collecting Bins. Bins for brass or Aluminum. Bins for steel or various high strength steel pieces.. Square tube, round tube, thin wall, thick wall, 2 inch or 1/2 inch. Since some pieces will be a few inches and other pieces could be 6-8-10 feet long you'll need to figure out how to save those as well.

If you simply start to toss things in a pile eventually the pile will get to cumbersome and you'll spend hours trying to find that little piece of brass cut off.. Only to give up and spend more hours going to buy a replacement..

If you start knowing you'll need to stay organized you'll spend more time working and less time searching.. Things will actually get made rather than delayed until interest is lost.
Jan. 23, 2012 7:45 a.m. Woody SuperDork

In reply to mguar:

I have access to a friends lathe and his Bridgeport mill.
Jan. 23, 2012 7:46 a.m. Woody SuperDork

Grtechguy wrote:

Stealthtercel wrote:

For unusual fun with a lathe, check out Woody's thread about building a V12 over on the main forum.

Look at who started this thread ...lol

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/building-a-v12/44592/page1/
Jan. 23, 2012 8:24 a.m. Stealthtercel HalfDork

Ooops. What can I say? I was dazzled by 24 tiny pushrods going up and down. :)
Jan. 23, 2012 2:06 p.m. Woody SuperDork

I think that this is what I'm looking for, a South Bend 9 Inch:
Jan. 23, 2012 3:24 p.m. Taiden SuperDork

That South Bend is beautiful.

That v12 engine just blew my mind.

I want to make a scale model of a boxer 4 now
Jan. 23, 2012 4:00 p.m. Toyman01 SuperDork

In reply to Woody:

That SB looks a lot like mine, only prettier. Mine is not restored to say the least. I just got it unloaded out of the trailer and put casters under it Friday.

Might be on the agenda for the future though. Especially after I pick up this one.

This is a SB 13" lathe. At 1600 pounds I'm still not sure how I'm going to unload it at the house.
Jan. 23, 2012 4:17 p.m. Toyman01 SuperDork

Oh, and to the original question, check the ways. Old lathes will get sway backed like a horse as the ways wear. If the cross slide moves easy close to the chuck, or is sloppy, and gets hard to move, or tight, as you get farther away, the ways are worn. They can be scraped, but that is a long, intensive, and tedious job. I lucked out on my 9". It was used very little when new, and sat in a garage for 25 years before I bought it for $400.

The other main part that gets sloppy are the chucks. They are replaceable, but can be expensive. I priced one for the 13" lathe the other day, $1900 for a precision, quality chuck, and $700 for a Chinese knock off. Since I only paid $300 for the lathe, I didn't bother to check it over much. I'm hoping I get lucky.

If you are buying it to use, try to get as much tooling as you can with the purchase. My 9" came with very little. In the last 10 years I've spent many times the purchase price on tooling. It adds up quick.

Good luck with the search. They can be tough to find and when they do turn up, they usually sell quick.
Jan. 23, 2012 4:57 p.m. Woody SuperDork

What model is your South Bend 9 inch?
Jan. 23, 2012 6:59 p.m. Toyman01 SuperDork

My 9 is a early 50s 9A with the 54" bed. It'll turn just about anything I need. The only reason I wanted the 13" is I want to build a steam engine and need the bigger swing to turn the flywheels.
Jan. 23, 2012 7:42 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

I had the good fortune to stumble upon a Grizzly G9972z 11x26 with some nice tooling needing only a good cleaning and some adjustment that had to be sold or left behind and I got it for a price that ended my SB search right there on the spot.

Since I got it all sorted, adjusted, cleaned... and leveled - I'm pretty surprised at how stout and capable it is. I won't out-grow it any time soon and I have the suspicion that it is possibly a little better at everything than the older 9" SB that I had been searching for on the advice of "the internet collective".
Jan. 23, 2012 8:44 p.m. RossD SuperDork

In reply to Toyman01:

Please start a thread of the steam engine that you're building. (I just got done with a boiler class and steam really interest me.)
Jan. 23, 2012 9:20 p.m. Brotus7 Reader

Not sure if this is any help,

http://newhaven.craigslist.org/tls/2802512305.html

Think it's a little on the larger side.
Jan. 23, 2012 9:23 p.m. Brotus7 Reader

Brotus7 wrote:

Not sure if this is any help,

http://newhaven.craigslist.org/tls/2802512305.html

Think it's a little on the larger side.

Oh, turns out that one isn't that old. My bad. Good luck
Jan. 23, 2012 9:43 p.m. Woody SuperDork

I've been waiting to hear back from him. I emailed last night.
Jan. 24, 2012 11:28 p.m. motomoron HalfDork

I started with a wee 7" Atlas about 10 years ago. Space and access constraints forced me into a combination machine when I started doing real work - a Smithy Granite 1324, which once rebuilt and equipped with digital readouts could make decent parts. Once we moved to our new-to-us bigger project house and I had space for a real shop I commenced looking in earnest for adult sized machinery. It took the better part of a year to locate, negotiate, buy and have moved the entire contents of a small prototype shop. They were very motivated sellers, and once I sell off all my surplus machinery and tooling I should be pretty close to even up. It cost about $2500 to have professional machinery riggers move shop from a forklift accessible shop on to 2 flat beds, drive it 30 miles and place the lathe and mill in my basement shop and the balance of the machinery, pallets of materials and tooling, and benches and tables in the garage.

While I would love to have a Monarch 10EE, or a Hardinge HLVH - the 2 finest toolroom lathes ever made, I can't imagine getting a 4500# Monarch in the basement, or dropping the coin a decent Hardinge still fetches.

I grew up in a house w/ a lathe and a mill, and that experience had a more profound effect on why I'm who I am today than anything I ever was told in school. My dad says "I don't know how it's possible to run a house without a lathe".

The brute that's slumbering in the basement:

13x40" Turn Pro w/ Accu-rite DROs, coolant pump (photo where I bought it from)

And the matching mill:

9x49 Turn Pro Vari speed w/ Anilam DROs, coolant pump (Taken same location)

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