Super Noob questions. South Bend 9A

Threadkiller said:
Onto question number 2. The back gear engagement lever is super tight, it moves and you can engage and disengage the gears but it shouldn't be as tight as it is. Is there a way to adjust this? Thank you in advance.
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There is also a set screw with a spring loaded shoe that applies force to the shaft - to hold the gears in mesh. This may need adjusted. Instructions for adjusting this are on page 4 of the Army manual for the South Bend lathe. It can be downloaded free.
Good luck..
Jim
 
I just searched for that manual. Thank you, that's a great resource. That adjustment may be my problem after reading the manual.
 
Rata222 said:
There is also a set screw with a spring loaded shoe that applies force to the shaft - to hold the gears in mesh. This may need adjusted. Instructions for adjusting this are on page 4 of the Army manual for the South Bend lathe. It can be downloaded free.
Good luck..
Jim
Click to expand...

The adjustment worked! Thank you so much! This machine came from a brass fitting factory where they just used it to cut threads all day long every day. I guess they wanted to make sure that the back gears never got disengaged.

I didn't get the chuck off as it was late and I was trying not to wake anyone up, plus my strap wrench is one of the cheesy rubber ones that stretches when you put any real force on it. I will try during the day with a different strap wrench.

New noob question, please ignore my ignorance as I am just trying to learn my machine. The dials on the cross slide and top slide are fixed, and I want to be able to zero them out if need be. There is a little slotted screw on the dial itself. Is this the way to zero them out? Loosen the screw and zero and tighten the screw? I tried it last night and it worked, just not sure if that's what I'm supposed to do. Kind of annoying but not a huge deal.

Going over the machine last night made me smile. I love that thing. Old American made machines are such wonders and amazing. Its such a shame that you don't come across things built like this anymore.
 
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