South Bend 9a Restoration (pic Heavy)

Darn nice job on the lathe. Cleanest shop I ever did see.

Not currently! It's a mess!! My German Shepherd passed away about three months ago and I just haven't made it back into the shop since. (I know that's an unintelligible and nonsensical correlation, but never the less- there it is.) The shop sits in a 95% completed state just waiting for me to get back in there and finish it off. I do have high hopes of spending a good amount of quality time with the lathe (and mill) once snowfall hits this winter. At least that's the plan. And hey- if I don't get in there, it's not like the machinery is going anywhere. I have sooooo many hobbies and so little time.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!
 
I am a dog person too. Tough to lose a friend like that. So sorry to hear. If I'm in the shop for too long my little girl comes in to let me know to take a (play) break.
Shop looks great!
Robert
 
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Color me impressed. That's a sweet shop.
Amazing work on the lathe.
I will be following along with interest as I prepare to endeavor into my 1940 9A.
 
I have a nice set of updates for the lathe for you all to enjoy!

I got the lathe bolted down as well as the countershaft assembly:
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I drilled a hole in my work bench to accept these cable grommet things. Actually this wasn't particularly easy since this is a 1.75" thick rock maple bench top:
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Once the lathe and countershaft were bolted down, I could measure for the belt lengths:
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For the record, I opted for an AX42 belt for the countershaft, which seems to work just fine.
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I also made sure the belt alignment was set before finally bolting everything down:
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Unfortunately, I do measure .007" wobble in the motor pulley which causes a noise as the belt spins on there. While the hub of the large pulley is clearly not on center, I do only measure .001" wobble in the large pulley. Both the motor shaft and the countershaft measure no reasonable runout. So the noise is from the motor pulley itself. At least this is a cheap fix:
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I mounted the VFD below the bench. I bought a TECO JNEV-101-H1N4S (which is the weather proof enclosure) because it had the built in direction and speed pot. I mounted the VFD forward enough where it's comfortable to reach under the bench and find the speed pot directly. This way I don't have to mess with installing a remote speed pot somewhere else. Besides that, I got a good deal on the VFD via eBay:
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I got the spindle and back gears finally installed as well:
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Switch

My lathe is a 1941 model (made in Oct 1940, actually) and was originally equipped with the now obsolete and impossible to find push button switch. When I bought the lathe, the push button switch gear guard casting was included but had been retrofitted with a drum switch. I realize the drum switch is probably the better option, but I really wanted to pay homage to the lathe's history and restore it to original. Of course, you simply can't get these switches any longer. I decided I would make my own.

I designed the switch plate based off of this photo of the original switch:
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I used a stop switch from a 1971 Allen Bradley switch box. The FWD/REV arrow switch buttons are from a vintage Evinrude boat motor controller. The 3D printing was really course and needed a LOT of work to bring into a usable shape:
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I used an epoxy filler designed for smoothing 3D prints in order to fill in the gaps in the print:
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Lots and lots of layers of paint and sanding to fill in the smaller pin holes:
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It ended up with a pretty nice finish!
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The Allen Bradley stop switch was highly modified and then mounted to the 3D print:
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The Evinrude switch buttons were shortened, drilled out, and the electronics switch buttons inserted in them so that the switch buttons will snap onto the switches:
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The switch assembly was then assembled:
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Turns out that my VFD doesn't support on/off via momentary switches like I thought it did. I ended up using the schematic mentioned here in order to build a flip-flop latching relay circuit so I could turn my momentary switch pulses into a latching switch. I built this circuit:
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Wires were installed on the switch:
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And then somehow I had to figure out how to fit this mess into the switch casing:
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...Which went fine:
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Completion!

The lathe is now complete! I still need to level it and do all the setup stuff, but the restoration is complete. It took me 313 days of work start to finish (off and on, of course). I'm really pleased with how it came out, and I'm excited to start making some chips!!

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And if 159 photos in this thread weren't enough for you, here's two videos of the final result that you might enjoy.

 
Wow!

That is a very thorough restoration. Building your own custom switch plate to get the vintage look........Fantastic.

I can see/hear the pride in your work.
That pride is well deserved.
Great Work!

-brino
 
Very nice work! Like fine sculpture. But it isn't a lathe until there are chips and cutting oil in the chip pan...;)

Indeed! Yet *so much* to learn still. I think about this often- I've made stuff my whole life; I have a garage full of tools and a brain full of knowledge on how to use them. If I want to make a bench, for example, I know where to go to buy the material. I know how to choose one material over another. I know what tools will be needed. I know what order of operations I want to perform. I know how I would go about finishing it. I know how to do it...

But I don't know any of this for machining! I don't know where to buy material. I don't know the differences in materials. I don't know how to grind a tool bit. I don't know how to adjust my feeds/speeds. I don't know how to improve my finishes. I don't know the order of operations... Know what I mean?

I guess the good thing is that in knowing what I don't know- I have a clear and obvious path forward. Sure it might all be new to me, but fabricating something- anything- still has the same design process regardless of the material and tool. I just need to do lots more research on my questions and start making some chips! All in time, all in time.
 
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