How Did I Do On This South Bend Purchase?

[mordamer]

I just purchased this lathe but have yet to get it into my shop. I have been reading up on the South Bend 9" lathes but I am an amateur at best (only about 20 hours using a lathe, but I am a mechanical engineer and understand them pretty well). I did read the write up on mermac about inspecting a used machine before I went to look at this lathe. I could find no major issues on this lathe. As far as I could tell the bed shows very little wear. I ran all of its functions on all speeds and it sounds perfect to my ears. The compound had definitely been crashed a couple of times. The lathe was supposedly owned by an oil refinery when new and then a highschool up until the late 90's. The man I purchased it from had acquired it from the highschool and was somewhat of a tool hoarder, but seemed to know very little about the machine and claimed to only have used it a few times in the last 15 years.

I know nothing of the value of these lathes around the country, but I have been looking for one for months and this is the first to pop up for sale in the area. I paid $1400. Comes with a steady rest and follow rest as well as an extra compound rest that has not been crashed. Comes with all the tools in the pictures.

Is there anything you guys can tell me about my new lathe by looking at the pictures?
Is there anything glaringly obvious that is wrong with it that I missed because of my inexperience?
How old is this lathe?

 

[mordamer]

Pictures of some of the tools. Also comes with the south bend book on how to run a lathe which is awesome!

 

[David VanNorman]

It uis great Taper ATt and all . You did fine .

 

[DoogieB]

It's an older one with only one git oiler at the QCGB and small dials, but it's still the "modern" design. You would have to spill the serial number at the tail stock for a better year designation.

You can never tell by a few pictures on the internet, but the lathe looks in good shape: no rust, no missing teeth on the gears and the cabinet looks clean and not obviously abused. Highlights are the preferred (to me anyway) space saving under-mount drive, both rests, face plate and taper attachment. Looks like you even got a thread stop in the drawer.

I would say that about 75% of compounds for the SB9A/10K have chuck dings, including my lathe. That someone picked-up a clean one is nice.

Make sure it's oiled-up to play with it, but you will definitely want to re-felt the lathe soon. When these lathes sit awhile the felts turn into licorice and don't work very well.

 

[the gentleman]

You got a fair deal , enjoy your new purchase

 

[songbird]

Looks like a good deal here in southern Californial, just for a bench top lathe. The cabinet model makes it a super deal and having the taper attachment makes it a super score! Congratulations!

 

[mordamer]

Thanks for the informative post doogieb. I will replace the felts in the near future.

Serial number is 30032NKR7.

I do not know what a thread stop is. LOL. I will google it in a second.

On the taper attachment, that is one of the things on a lathe I have not been educated on. The previous owner never even mentioned it being on there during the sell. I also think that I may never use it. Is it something I could sell to offset the cost of the machine, or would you guys recommend keeping it?

 

[Chipper5783]

Don't sell the taper attachment. You probably won't use it often. Instead, learn to use it. There are several ways to generate a shallow taper using a lathe - using a taper attachment is one of the easiest/slickest methods.

I have the TA on my machines and have used them only a couple times in many years - but certainly nice to have when you need them.

You have a nice lathe with the full dress package - don't break it up. Even if you never use that attachment, it will help sell the lathe when you pass it on.

 

[DoogieB]

Looks like it was made in the early fifties.

If you haven't been here already, you might want to root around in this site. Lots of good information:

http://wswells.com/

Chipper gave you some excellent advice. Besides, you're in the wrong hobby if you want to save money. You've only begun to spend...

 

[woodtickgreg]

I'd say it was a fair price for a well tooled complete machine with the taper attachment. Nice looking lathe.