A Shop Project For My Other Projects

[keflaman]

Having access to a lathe and milling machine at work made me realize how much I could use them at home as well. I started an earnest search probably six to nine months ago and was getting pretty frustrated. I finally decided to run a WTB ad on Craigslist and see what would pop up.

Within 24 hours I got two contacts; the first was a local already running an ad for a 13" South Bend Lathe and wanting $2400. The lathe had been listed on and off several times and from the pictures the price was too high for me.

The second respondent was a gentleman in Strasburg, Virginia, who also had a 13" South Bend and said it was broken down, stripped to bare metal and repainted. According to his email, everything was there, but it needed to be reassembled. I emailed him back thanking him for his time and trouble to answer my ad, but I wasn't looking for another project to add to my already too long list of projects.

He said he was looking to get $400 for it "as is, where is".

I replied back immediately to find out exactly "where is" was!

So long story, short, I grabbed my trailer and brought it back before he could change his mind!

He threw in the remaining felt and wick kit, along with the "Rebuilding A South Bend Lathe" guidebook. He believes it came out of a factory in Gettysburg, PA, and the data sheet says it was sold to "York 261", so I presume that refers to York, PA.


It has a 3ph motor, but, Craigslist came through for me again and I picked up a lightly used 2hp rotary phase convertor.


The chuck has its share of battle scars...


And the compound looks like it gave, as good as it got!


The half-nuts are worn to a sharp edge belying their original square acme thread...


The apron was still disassembled and awaiting paint. Inspection of those parts revealed the worm, and worm bushings, to be worn severely. I found a used set on eBay for a reasonable price and they arrived today.


There was a LOT of lash in the cross feed and compound screws/nuts, so I am going to replace them with new items and have the half-nuts reworked before I put her back into use. Lastly, I am looking for a six-jaw chuck and insert holders to use with the quick change tool post I have.

Overall, I'm quite happy with what I ended up with. In the end, I'll basically have a rebuilt lathe for the average asking price of a used one. Now, with the same level of patience, I hope to pick up a milling machine as well!!

Here she sits, patiently awaiting the last few items to get her up and back into action...

[DesktopDave]

That's an awesome tool to have in the shop. Nice work on the shopping too, that'll be a really solid piece of equipment once you've finished it up.

I'll be honest with you, I don't even know what most of that lingo means. It still looks the business, though. I wonder if 'York 261' was the buyer's business phone number, back in the day.

[Darky]

Nice work Keith
I see to many of these beautiful machines get thrown out no one know how to use them, or what they can do!
I'd love to have one myself.
Cheers Rohan

[keflaman]

Thanks, guys. It's really fun to be back on ebay looking for parts and hunting for the "deals". I've learned a lot about the machine and it's not as intimidating as you might think. Buying one in pieces (and being lucky that the seller was honest about everything being there) was good for knowing exactly what kind of shape everything is in.

The project has really given me a shot in the arm and raised my enthusiasm for getting back into the shop to clean and organize.