- Joined
- Oct 25, 2014
- Messages
- 35
Well, it has been a year and a half since I was offered my grandfather's old 16" gap-bed lathe. I now finally have the lathe in my shop. The other threads are here:
and here:
It is definitely a South Bend and has the gap-feature that I remember. There was a little confusion on the s/n, but the original number was correct - G25032 - which puts it at around 1922. In fact on wswells s/n database (http://www.wswells.com/sn/sn_index.html), there is a same-year 16" gap-bed 40 numbers off that looks identical. So, before I get too hot and heavy on reassembling the machine, I'm trying to asses all of grandpa's 'treasures' that I now own.
- There is a stack of change gears: 24, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48 (x2), 52, 54, 60, 69, 80, 104, 120 and a 90 (?) that does not seem to mesh with the rest. I'm not 100% sure all of these gears are actual South Bend, one or 2 look slightly different, though they seem to mesh with the rest.
- 7" 3-jaw (with an extra set of jaws?)
- 8-9" 4-jaw adapted to my other lathe (10" Sheldon) that would most likely go better with a 16" lathe
- a MONSTER 13" 4-jaw that is a 2-man lift
- ATW lathe steady rest that is adapted to fit the South Bend
- Tool post grinder
- 1 1/2 hp 110/220 motor that attaches to a homemade overhead countershaft arrangement. The wires are only little stubs now, so as I have 220 in the shop I'm going to just go that route. Someday I may contemplate 3-phase, but for now I want to get the lathe back together and running.
These are the biggies, I'm pretty sure I'll find a bit more as I go through the other stuff and figure out all that I have. Some of this junk is really junk... One of the main things is that I need to CLEAN this thing! Holy Cow is it DIRTY! There is 100 years of swarf, shavings, caked grease, dirt (?) and mouse turds from long storage. Most of the gears I had to wipe to read and to get them to mesh they need to be cleaned (maybe that I'll be able to see if they actually do mesh). The plan is to do a basic cleaning, reassemble, get it operating and then do a complete tear down. I know this seems a bit of a drawn-out process, this actually helped with my Sheldon. That one had also been in storage for some time and by doing some basic operations I had a really good idea as to how it should actually work after I put it back together. I also found a few things broken that I wouldn't have if I hadn't stripped it down. Fortunately they were easily fixed. I don't know if I'm going to go to the extent of stripping and re-painting, but there are several layers of paint, in various stages of flaking off, that it would be easy to miss a crack.
So now I have rambled on, I have some questions.
- Does anyone here have a similar year lathe? The controls, while transposed for the gap, are different than my Sheldon and the later SBs that I have used. I think I have an idea of how the feeds on the apron work, but I'm not totally sure.
- Are the early ATW change gears actually compatible with the SBs? If not, does it appear that I have a compete set of change gears?
- I know that many larger lathes have a crane arrangement for the chucks. Does anyone here have one? Where did you find it or did you make one?
- So far I have not found an adapter sleeve for a center in the headstock. My understanding is that these are a #3 MT, but its a "big" #3 MT, actually a SB thing. Is there a place (probably ebay...?) where I could find this animal?
- The spindle thread (I thought) was supposed to be 2 3/8 - 6, but I've measured it 3 times and I've found it to be 2 3/8 - 8. Anyone ever heard of this one? The spindle also sticks out quite a ways, almost 3", as though there was some other chuck-holding arrangement and then it was changed. Almost like the Long Taper arrangement I remember on a later SB. When did the Long Taper first come out? Or, did someone replace the spindle? When I talked to my uncle he had no idea. He was there when grandpa picked up the machine and doesn't remember any about the spindle (though that was the late 70s...). Guess its not that huge of a deal, between all of the lathes I can make adapters, its just kinda odd.....
Guess that is the big questions for now, though I'm sure I'll have more as I fool with the lathe. I do have a number of additional things that came with the lathe that do not go with it, I'll post those on the proper forum, though if someone has a thread dial or a traveler rest I'd be interested.
Thanks
Old SB, maybe ATW lathe(s)
It looks like I will be inheriting another of my grandfather's machines. This was "the big lathe" that I dimly remember as a teenager (over 20 years ago....) and didn't have the room for a few years ago. What I remember is that it was WW1 era, originally overhead line-drive shafting adapted to a...
www.hobby-machinist.com
Grandpa's old 16" gap
So, it looks like I am going to inherit another machine from my grandfather. I now have more information on this old lathe: https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/old-sb-maybe-atw-lathe-s.71999/ Just to recap, this is grandpa's 'big' lathe that I remember as a teenager. I always understood...
www.hobby-machinist.com
It is definitely a South Bend and has the gap-feature that I remember. There was a little confusion on the s/n, but the original number was correct - G25032 - which puts it at around 1922. In fact on wswells s/n database (http://www.wswells.com/sn/sn_index.html), there is a same-year 16" gap-bed 40 numbers off that looks identical. So, before I get too hot and heavy on reassembling the machine, I'm trying to asses all of grandpa's 'treasures' that I now own.
- There is a stack of change gears: 24, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48 (x2), 52, 54, 60, 69, 80, 104, 120 and a 90 (?) that does not seem to mesh with the rest. I'm not 100% sure all of these gears are actual South Bend, one or 2 look slightly different, though they seem to mesh with the rest.
- 7" 3-jaw (with an extra set of jaws?)
- 8-9" 4-jaw adapted to my other lathe (10" Sheldon) that would most likely go better with a 16" lathe
- a MONSTER 13" 4-jaw that is a 2-man lift
- ATW lathe steady rest that is adapted to fit the South Bend
- Tool post grinder
- 1 1/2 hp 110/220 motor that attaches to a homemade overhead countershaft arrangement. The wires are only little stubs now, so as I have 220 in the shop I'm going to just go that route. Someday I may contemplate 3-phase, but for now I want to get the lathe back together and running.
These are the biggies, I'm pretty sure I'll find a bit more as I go through the other stuff and figure out all that I have. Some of this junk is really junk... One of the main things is that I need to CLEAN this thing! Holy Cow is it DIRTY! There is 100 years of swarf, shavings, caked grease, dirt (?) and mouse turds from long storage. Most of the gears I had to wipe to read and to get them to mesh they need to be cleaned (maybe that I'll be able to see if they actually do mesh). The plan is to do a basic cleaning, reassemble, get it operating and then do a complete tear down. I know this seems a bit of a drawn-out process, this actually helped with my Sheldon. That one had also been in storage for some time and by doing some basic operations I had a really good idea as to how it should actually work after I put it back together. I also found a few things broken that I wouldn't have if I hadn't stripped it down. Fortunately they were easily fixed. I don't know if I'm going to go to the extent of stripping and re-painting, but there are several layers of paint, in various stages of flaking off, that it would be easy to miss a crack.
So now I have rambled on, I have some questions.
- Does anyone here have a similar year lathe? The controls, while transposed for the gap, are different than my Sheldon and the later SBs that I have used. I think I have an idea of how the feeds on the apron work, but I'm not totally sure.
- Are the early ATW change gears actually compatible with the SBs? If not, does it appear that I have a compete set of change gears?
- I know that many larger lathes have a crane arrangement for the chucks. Does anyone here have one? Where did you find it or did you make one?
- So far I have not found an adapter sleeve for a center in the headstock. My understanding is that these are a #3 MT, but its a "big" #3 MT, actually a SB thing. Is there a place (probably ebay...?) where I could find this animal?
- The spindle thread (I thought) was supposed to be 2 3/8 - 6, but I've measured it 3 times and I've found it to be 2 3/8 - 8. Anyone ever heard of this one? The spindle also sticks out quite a ways, almost 3", as though there was some other chuck-holding arrangement and then it was changed. Almost like the Long Taper arrangement I remember on a later SB. When did the Long Taper first come out? Or, did someone replace the spindle? When I talked to my uncle he had no idea. He was there when grandpa picked up the machine and doesn't remember any about the spindle (though that was the late 70s...). Guess its not that huge of a deal, between all of the lathes I can make adapters, its just kinda odd.....
Guess that is the big questions for now, though I'm sure I'll have more as I fool with the lathe. I do have a number of additional things that came with the lathe that do not go with it, I'll post those on the proper forum, though if someone has a thread dial or a traveler rest I'd be interested.
Thanks