13" SB Single gets new Compound Screw and Brass Nut

[Janderso]

Wow, what a difference. Going through the Compound last night I never noticed the gib set screw on the side. Now I know why I couldn't get the gib tightened to my satisfaction. I had a bit over .040 slop in the compound travel. That's a bunch.
New parts, cleaned, oiled and adjusted. I love it! Maybe .002 now. It will open up but a tall order away from .040. It is 77 years old.
Miller Machine is my source. The cross screw and nut will be next. I am in the spending mode right now so I need to prioritize.
So many tools, so little time.

 

[MAKEITOUTOFWOOD]

Fantastic. I am going through something similar right now. I have adopted a 1957 logan 6560 14" lathe.

Enjoy,
Mike

 

[benmychree]

Slop in the compound travel will make little difference in the operation of any lathe; slop in the cross feed travel is quite another thing, especially when threading coarse leads.

 

[woodchucker]

that's not true John, I find when my compound is looser I have more chatter and parting issues. When I don't need it, I tighten it so make it much more rigid, and problems go away.
it definitely adds to the rigidity.

 

[Glenn Brooks]

Miller machine made up a nut and cross screw for my SB Fourteen also. World of difference! And they didn't charge me and arm and a leg.

Glenn

 

[benmychree]

that's not true John, I find when my compound is looser I have more chatter and parting issues. When I don't need it, I tighten it so make it much more rigid, and problems go away.
it definitely adds to the rigidity.

Perhaps you just don't have the gibs set as tight as they might be.

 

[Janderso]

I understand all machines have wear and backlash, but >.040 to me was difficult to work with especially with small dials. I look forward to using it when the cross feed is cleaned up too. The gibs are as tight as I feel I can get away with, too tight will just cause more wear on my new parts. IMHO.
I bow to the group, I have had some experience with lathes but that was in the 70's and early 80's. My High School had 2 South Bends.

 

[benmychree]

I think that the compound gibs should be pretty snug, but not so snug as to cause stick/slip conditions. When I cut threads, I have them snug, when I have to feed easily for a angle cut, I may loosen them up a little, but not so much as to cause an uneven cut, as when they are too loose, and the uneven cranking force causes the tool to weave in and out of the cut. I have owned three 9" south bends, two thirteen inch and one 16"; our high school had about 12 10" SB lathes, a 14 and a 16", plus a big bunch of other industrial size machinery, and a exceptional teacher who had an active program going, that was in the early 1960s; all gone now ---