I Found a South Bend lathe, 9" with a 4' bed. It will be auctioned off locally. Comes with some tooling accessories, but I dont know what exactly. I dont know much more than that about it. I am looking at getting it to do some gunsmithing at home. I have had some metal working training and I know a couple of gunsmiths that will help me set it up. I called a machinist that I shoot with, and he said it's a good lathe. I would like any input regarding this equipment if anyone has first hand expierence with one.

1. Is the South Bend a good lathe?

2. I think it will go cheap, but what are they worth?

3. Should I just pass on it and get something better?

yes, yes, no

If you can get a Lablond that might be better but, you won't know the diffrence for a while. Buy the lathe and feel fortunate.

I worked on one years ago and liked it except for one thing....the flat belt slipped often.

I'm not sure if parts are available if you need either.

In it's day it was a good lathe and if it's in good shape it'll do fine for you.

Make sure there is a hole thru the spindle at least 1.25" diameter.

Parts are available, but I think that the spindle hole is too small to chamber in the headstock.
Butch

whats wrong with chambering in the steady rest?

The steady rest is more prone to vibration than the headstock of the lathe. It can be done both ways, but more care must be taken when cutting a chamber using the steady rest.

Thanks for the replys.

I am going to the auction today, I'll let you all know how it turns out.

If the ways look nice, I'd jump all over it.

I think I've still got electronic copies of the service manual that shows how to adjust the headstock bearings, etc.

After looking through this info below, it appears ALL of them had a 3/4" spindle hole...

Before you go - print off this guide and take it with you to decipher exactly what it is....

http://www.southbendlathe.com/catno.htm

http://www.southbendlathe.com/serialno.htm

http://www.southbendlathe.com/workshop/9index.htm

Small parts availability is generally pretty good - provided you've got the essentials (a tailstock for one).

Thanks again, for the opinions and information. I met a machinist there and he went over the lathe and extra parts. He thought it was worth about $750.00. An amish guy thought it was worth a lot more than that. I will keep looking in the paper and auctions for lathes. If I find something I will try and get some opinions here before I get it.

I've got a 9" Sbend with a 3 1/2' bed. It's too short for barrel work. The spindle hole is only 3/4", so chambering through the headstock won't work. It's a great lathe for doing smaller work. I've got a Kent TRL-1340 for the bigger stuff now. Could get rid of my little Southbend now, but it's too hard to part with a great little machine.

quote:

Originally posted by mousegun:
Thanks again, for the opinions and information. I met a machinist there and he went over the lathe and extra parts. He thought it was worth about $750.00. An amish guy thought it was worth a lot more than that. I will keep looking in the paper and auctions for lathes. If I find something I will try and get some opinions here before I get it.

A who? Not an Old Order Amish, I'd guess. Where are you, and what kind of Amish live there?

I run a South Bend 9" x 54". It is a great lathe but for the fact that the hole thru the headstock, as pointed out, is only 3/4". Most newer lathes are more like 1.5" or better. You can live with the 3/4" tho and work around the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:


A who? Not an Old Order Amish, I'd guess. Where are you, and what kind of Amish live there?

On a machining forum I read about Amish machinists using lathes that are air-driven. Sipposedly very smooth. IMHO, it seems odd to go to so much trouble just to avoid electricity.

I also read that some will have fully modern shops; electricity, phones, computer, etc. After work, they'll walk back to an 18th century house and life. Bizarre. But hey, I'm an atheist.

SBend lathes are good equipment. Throughout the US, many high school and Junior College shops are equipped with them because, like a Timex, they take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.

At the same time, buying a lathe with a 3/4" headstock hole for gunsmithing is kinda like buying a 10-ton truck without power steering. Sure, you can make it do the job with enough patience, but why go through all the effort if you don't have to?

If I wanted to do my own barreling work and could only have one lathe in my shop, I'd definitely hold out for something with at least a 1-3/8" hole in the headstock. (I actually have two, but one of them has a 1-5/8" hole in the headstock......)

The Amish around here have been buying hit & miss and stationary engines for some time now - seems like if it is running off a belt, they're ok with it.....

Never thought about a belt driven lathe though.

Kinda sucks, used to be able to pick up some nice old engines for nothing - the prices have went crazy at the farm auctions around.

quote:

Originally posted by fireball168:
The Amish around here have been buying hit & miss and stationary engines for some time now - seems like if it is running off a belt, they're ok with it.....

Never thought about a belt driven lathe though.

Kinda sucks, used to be able to pick up some nice old engines for nothing - the prices have went crazy at the farm auctions around.

The Edison Museum in Dearborn has a whole shop run by belts off a driveshaft that runs the length of the shop at ceiling level. There is also a Springfield Arms museum we saw in Vermont that still uses the machines driven in that same way ( largely for demonstrations - they're not in the gun-making business itself ).

I have a South Bend Heavy 10, spindle hole is big enough for a 5C collet closer, and most barrels will go into a 5C collet of one sort or another.

What I meant was - I never thought of the Amish driving a lathe with a belt - via a stationary power source/hit&miss engine, etc.

I collect old pictures of machine shops and the like, here's a couple of my favorites:

Look at the size of that woman's tool holder!
Look at the grip she has on that wrench!

And why is she doing that when the machine is running?

A friend of mine is into antique machinery and has rigged up a very old wood lathe to run off of compressed air, as opposed to the original overhead belt.

the 9" is too small for most barrel work, imnsho, as using the steady to chamber means you will knowingly add runout.

great lathe, though, but the spindle is too small.

i am looking for a 15" these days.

jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by fireball168:
What I meant was - I never thought of the Amish driving a lathe with a belt - via a stationary power source/hit&miss engine, etc.

I collect old pictures of machine shops and the like, here's a couple of my favorites:

Me either, I am surprised to hear of them even using a hit-and-miss engine.

Nice pictures.

I happen to live in amish country. They seem to be moving in overnight. I thought it was quite a sight to see a team of belgums pulling a gasoline powered, John Deere green, hay baler. Actually, most of the amish wood working shops are all gasoline powered. No plumbing or electricity though.

The other day I got behind an amish buggy with a deer head hanging out of the flap in the back. I wish I had a camera for that one.