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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
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    Default Any Australian South Bend Lathe owners on here?

    As the title says, are there any Aussie South Bend Lathe owners on here?

    Not Hercus but South Bend

    I have a nice little South Bend 10k I recently tidied up. I havent restored it yet, I wanted to strip it down, clean it up and see what needs repairing. As it turns out everything works as it should and its tight, Ill eventually replace all the felts and anything else thats a little worn.

    It didn't have a motor on it when I got it so I put a 3 ph with a VFD on it, which I will mount under the bench (the vfd) and I am about to make a remote switch panel to operate the lathe. Its beautiful old machine, I love it.

    IMG_4480.jpg

  2. #2
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Feb 2006
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    Perth
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    Default

    Nice looking machine indeed

    However, I do have some concerns about the location of the VFD.
    I don't see any remote controls so I assume the operator has to reach across the machine to access the controls.
    Secondly I reckon that the VFD is too close to the chuck and swarf could find its way inside the VFD.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    Nice looking machine indeed

    However, I do have some concerns about the location of the VFD.
    I don't see any remote controls so I assume the operator has to reach across the machine to access the controls.
    Secondly I reckon that the VFD is too close to the chuck and swarf could find its way inside the VFD.
    Thanks Bob Yes the VFD is now mounted under the bench.

    I have ordered all my switches etc to make a remote switch box but they are on the slow boat from China I think

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Cairns, Qld.
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    70

    Default

    What a great old machine. No wonder the Brits & the Aussies copied them. The Sheraton C model that I'm rebuilding currently being a fair example of the other non-gearbox model.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
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    843

    Default

    yep - 1941 10L "heavy 10".

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
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    Default

    She's a good old sort

    IMG_20200810_172801.jpg
    IMG_20200810_172844.jpg

    Edit: gear train cover is off as I'm doing some work there.

  7. #7
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    Yep she is a beautiful old machine. I bet it still turns as true as the day it was made too.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
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    Default

    not quite. . but, pretty good for an old lathe. Like anything used during the war effort it was have been totally flogged. It has had at least one bed regrind in its life and has a few alignment issues - like the taper attachment is really nowhere near where good alignment. The tailstock quill is a shop-made replacement. No doubt the original was flogged to death, and it replacement is also hideously worn. It makes drills kind of wobble about more than a little. The gibs are shimmed etc etc etc. An old machine.

    But, all mechanically sound and working. I've some things to fix. What I find amazing is the plain cast iron spindle bearings. They look new. Amazing.

    I cant recall seeing a 10k in Australia. What year is it? The post war tarrifs on US machinery kind of halted the South Bend imports.

  9. #9
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    Oct 2019
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    Quote Originally Posted by StrayAlien View Post
    not quite. . but, pretty good for an old lathe. Like anything used during the war effort it was have been totally flogged. It has had at least one bed regrind in its life and has a few alignment issues - like the taper attachment is really nowhere near where good alignment. The tailstock quill is a shop-made replacement. No doubt the original was flogged to death, and it replacement is also hideously worn. It makes drills kind of wobble about more than a little. The gibs are shimmed etc etc etc. An old machine.

    But, all mechanically sound and working. I've some things to fix. What I find amazing is the plain cast iron spindle bearings. They look new. Amazing.

    I cant recall seeing a 10k in Australia. What year is it? The post war tarrifs on US machinery kind of halted the South Bend imports.
    Ok yours is heavily used then. Mine is like new. Well not new, but nothing is flogged out so its had very little use. (the tail stock is a few thou too low, but Ill shim that when my shimming material arrives)

    I do not know its history. I intend on buying the south bend manufacture card to try and find out but I bought it from a Malaysian gentleman locally. According to my research it is a 1963 model. The gent I bought it from thought it was a heavy 10. Either he thought it was or he tried to sell it as that I am unsure!!

    He told me it was imported from the USA when he lived in Malaysia. I also bought an Atlas shaper from him.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
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    Melbourne, Australia
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    It makes sense that the 10k is a 'grey' import. Good catch then - they seem to be well regarded machines.

    Grab the card from grizzly. I did. Very interesting. For those reading: grizzly now own south bend, but they have the manufacturing data for all serial numbers still. So for $25 they'll fish out the manufacturing details for your machine and PDF it to you. Amazing that they had the record for my 1941 machine.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Southern Highlands NSW
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    Speaking of "new" South Bend lathes, I have a friend who bought one from an estate.
    It's a 9 inch model and is brand new - never been used evidently, possibly made in the '40s or '50s.
    The only part that is missing is the left side cover.

    He was looking forward to using it, but when I told him that US tool enthusiasts would probably fall over themselves for it, it sort of spoiled the party.
    Been a while since I've seen him, I wonder if he couldn't resist using it, even if it "cost" a lot to do that.

  12. #12
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    Aug 2015
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    Melbourne, Australia
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    Wow. Reminds me of buried war surplus stories!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
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    Tasmania
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    I got onto a South bend Heavy 10 locally that I thought was going to be for a good price ($500) and make a fun project. I quite like the look of them but on inspection it had lived a long and sad life covered in grinding dust and was completely flogged out, and I mean completely. The change gears almost had no teeth left on them, everything was floppy and wallowed out, leadscrew almost had no thread left. It had spent years running in a grinding dust environment (right next to some grinders) and had never been lubed or cleaned or oiled and the grinding dust had just worn her away. Don't know how long it had been there.

    I would have been prepared to try rebuilding it which was my first thought when I saw the ad but on inspection it was just too stuffed. Nothing on it was any good even for parts so I left it. I would have loved to have put it in the corner of the shed and worked on it but this was not the one. I passed on a Hembrug DR1S lathe too that needed a little bit of work but would have been a good buy at $650, but at the time I was in a rental situation and likely to move soon so I just couldn't get away with taking it on. But I still think about that lathe.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
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    Melbourne, Australia
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    Pity about the 10L. Always a shame to see machinery neglected. Certainly one of the good things about them is there is an abundance of spares in the US. They might not cheap, but at least they're there. New parts being made for them by various folks and also a bunch of NOS floating about. When I was getting mine back on its feet I opened a myus.com account and got a bunch of stuff from ebay.com and some tooling into a consolidated box and then shipped that here.

    They con't come up very often here, I guess like many old things. Back in 2014 me and the missus drove to Sydney (from Melbourne) to pick this one up - I had been keeping an eye out for one after seeing them in many US youtube vids. They break apart pretty easily into a dozen or so pieces so good to transport. And also good for getting into submarines etc - which they did during ww2.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
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    Yeh I agree parts are very easy to get for them. Even a lot of the Hercus parts fit of course, as an example I recently purchased a certain tooth gear from the hercus supplier for my South Bend.

    I even recently managed to buy the new threading and lubrication brass plates for mine!

    And there is a massive amount of info online and on youtube so you can not go wrong rebuilding one.

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