Plate for lathe dogs? 13" South Bend-Single 1 7/8 8 TPI

Holy Cow, that's great to have the specs. I had no idea there was a taper in the spindle. I have work to do.
I have been so busy with building up my equipment, making obvious cleaning, adjusting, repairs to this old equipment I have not had much operating time. That is going to change soon.
Thank you!!
 
Do yourself a big favor and find a copy of South Bend's "How to Run a Lathe". There are many versions (any will do) and they are available in paper or you can find a free one to download in PDF. There are other books available that cover the same type of basic info, but this one was published by South Bend (the maker of your lathe) and is loaded with pictures of the different lathes, their tooling, dimension, basic operating instructions and some pretty unique setups that you can make. It will help put a name on the different components and devices used on South Bend lathes along with how to sharpen tooling, etc..

Ted
 
Speaking of lathe centers, I once had a lathe of approximately 24" swing and 6 ft center distance that was likely built in the 1840s or 1850s, it was back geared, had cone pulleys and made to be driven by line shafting, no gear guards and vee thread lead screw, but not equipped for threading, only feeding, it did not have a rack and pinion for moving the carriage, but instead had a flat leaf chain; with that background, my point here is that it had SQUARE tapered centers, about the size of #3 Morse taper, the spindle was not hollow, and had a tang slot to eject the center, and the tailstock ram was hollow and a knockout bar was used to eject that center. Add that to the list of things that I should have taken pictures of!
It finally was traded off to a machinery dealer who collected antique machinery for a buyer who collected antique machine tools.
 
Technical Ted said:
Do yourself a big favor and find a copy of South Bend's "How to Run a Lathe". There are many versions (any will do) and they are available in paper or you can find a free one to download in PDF. There are other books available that cover the same type of basic info, but this one was published by South Bend (the maker of your lathe) and is loaded with pictures of the different lathes, their tooling, dimension, basic operating instructions and some pretty unique setups that you can make. It will help put a name on the different components and devices used on South Bend lathes along with how to sharpen tooling, etc..

Ted
Click to expand...

http://www.campkahler.com/files/How_to_Run_a_Lathe_SB_1of2.pdf

http://www.campkahler.com/files/How_to_Run_a_Lathe_SB_2of2.pdf
 
Technical Ted said:
The plate is called a "face plate". You will most likely need an adapter to go from the spindle taper in your lathe to a #2 or #3 morse taper so you can use a center. The adapter will have a taper that is close to a morse taper angle, but an odd ball diameter. I made one for my 15" SB lathe, but got one when I bought my 13" SB. The only time I use the adapter is to hold centers when I regrind them with my tool post grinder.

You don't need a face plate to use a center and lathe dog. In fact, you don't even need the center. Take a piece of round stock and put it into a 3 or 4 jaw chuck and turn your compound to 30 degrees and turn a 60 degree taper on the stock. Now you have a center that runs perfectly true! Use a lathe dog to drive you work piece by putting the driving end of the dog up against one of your chuck jaws.

In all my years, I've used a face plate to hold odd shaped pieces, but have never used a center in the spindle with a face plate for turning between centers. I've always just used the method with a 4 jaw chuck I just described.

Works great for me,
Ted
Click to expand...

I use the same method. While I do have face plates and centers that fit the headstock it's much simpler and faster to use the method Technical Ted described. In fact I have about a dozen different diameter and length pieces of stock I've used for centers in a rack on the back of the lathe. Each time I use one I do a skim cut just to be sure it runs true. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've used the larger face plate.
 
I bought a D1-4 spindle adapter for my lathe with the idea of making a dog driver from a piece of 1/2" steel plate I have. I thought about the design for some time, but then I thought of all the times I needed to use a lathe dog and could not find one that could fit the work at the same time it fit the driver. I always ended up modifying something or just using the cut center in the chuck idea. My current plan is to make a dog driver if and when I need one, and only make it fit the job of the moment, then modifying it for every new project that will not fit the way it is. It sounds like the lazy man approach, and it is, but guessing what I might need down the road is just a waste of time and effort. Too many variables...
 
I did the adapter plate, plus a steel plate for mine



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
For my 9" Monarch lathe, I made both a driving plate and a faceplate; I made patterns and had them cast in iron, I took the design of the faceplate from an original one borrowed from a friend, for the driving plate I just winged the design, making it just like original ones that I've seen, I made a thread plug gage to fit the thread when I machined them. Also pictured is the follw rest that I made and steady rest.288262288261
 
That's pretty cool John.
Having your name on the drive plate makes that a one of a kind.
Beautiful work. Bob mentioned you still had a collection of beautifully made molds.
We are in the presence of genius. This is a lost art IMHO.
 
Jeff, I also thought that putting the pattern maker's name on it was pretty cool, and gives John credit for posterity. When I mentioned it, John said, nah, it is so they can find your pattern and part at the foundry. Makes perfect sense. John loves to show and explain his work, but always for sharing knowledge, not so much for patting himself on the back. There are many patterns and parts in John's shop and in the field with "York" on them.
 
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