- Joined
- Apr 11, 2014
- Messages
- 18
Hello all.
I recently picked up an older south bend 9A lathe. Looks to be a 1946 from the documentation and serial #. One of the things that has been nagging me is the infamous 'ridge' it has on the front way starting about 9' from HS and goes for about 6-7". The heavy wear area, correct? You can catch a nail on it here but only in this area. Laying a thin .001' piece of shim stock along the ridge flushed the ridge out and a nail won't catch any longer.
Using the saddle lock test, if I turn the lock from tight to where I can move the saddle the bed length (4 1/2') takes about a skinny 1/8 turn.
Finally, I put a dial indicator on the front left portion of the saddle and placed the dial over the flat, unworn portion of the TS flat way area. The set up was done as close to the HS as possible, dial zero'd out and run down the length of bed. In the ridge area of the front V way the dial showed a .004" raise on the dial. Odd to me as a shim of .001 flushed out the v way ridge to the wear portion of the V way but that's what the needle repeatedly showed.
The reason I post all this is I'm starting to break the machine down for a felt and cleaning. I don't know enough to know what's within a reasonable amount of wear from experience. Don't want to invest in a full blown paint resto if the machine if too worn to warrant the effort.
Attached is the new tool with the apron off for cleaning and re-felting.
Any insights or recommendations from those with more experience here would be appreciated. That would be most everyone here I would guess.
I recently picked up an older south bend 9A lathe. Looks to be a 1946 from the documentation and serial #. One of the things that has been nagging me is the infamous 'ridge' it has on the front way starting about 9' from HS and goes for about 6-7". The heavy wear area, correct? You can catch a nail on it here but only in this area. Laying a thin .001' piece of shim stock along the ridge flushed the ridge out and a nail won't catch any longer.
Using the saddle lock test, if I turn the lock from tight to where I can move the saddle the bed length (4 1/2') takes about a skinny 1/8 turn.
Finally, I put a dial indicator on the front left portion of the saddle and placed the dial over the flat, unworn portion of the TS flat way area. The set up was done as close to the HS as possible, dial zero'd out and run down the length of bed. In the ridge area of the front V way the dial showed a .004" raise on the dial. Odd to me as a shim of .001 flushed out the v way ridge to the wear portion of the V way but that's what the needle repeatedly showed.
The reason I post all this is I'm starting to break the machine down for a felt and cleaning. I don't know enough to know what's within a reasonable amount of wear from experience. Don't want to invest in a full blown paint resto if the machine if too worn to warrant the effort.
Attached is the new tool with the apron off for cleaning and re-felting.
Any insights or recommendations from those with more experience here would be appreciated. That would be most everyone here I would guess.