South Bend Picture Gallery

Hi Paula, i found your post for pictures of SBL. I would like to show my SBL from Germany. The lathe 9" model A was build in 1942. Serial Nb. 130979. It came with the 7th USarmy in Worldwar II 1944 over Normandy France finely to Bavaria Germany. There it was damaged in battle or was given up...I don´t know. The horizontal drive is completly gone. A farmer got it somehow and got it run. Now I received it and want to renovade it. I have done some renovation allready, but still need a few parts an maybe good advice. Will send more pictures after the renovation.
Thanks a lot! Best Regards, Christian

I was feeling the same way for awhile. I have a SB Model 16 factory red paint sn 37342N that I am trying to find more info on.

Hi all, just joined and this is my first post. I didn't want to immediately make a new thread since that's usually frowned upon so I hope this is an appropriate place to post pictures and ask. Anyway, my hackerspace got a donated 13” south bend lathe that came out of a tech school's machine shop.

Where do we even start IDing and rebuilding this? The nameplate was unreadable so I don’t even know what to search for. It’s a belt drive but that’s about the only useful detail I have right now. I read the pinned threads and found the S/N location so I'll look that up tonight when I can get back to see the machine in person.

Also, can single jaws be bought for 4 jaw chucks and if not, would it be insane to try and make one?

Thanks!

11" Number 27Y built in 1921 with casting # 10-22-20. Serial Number J727 still working.

The following was provided to me by someone (The Author) who is more knowledgeable than I with regard to the South Bend lathes [I hope the photo uploads].

This lathe is what the Author refers to as a Heavy 9 or a 9L. It is a 1 Inch collet lathe and it the side oiling ports on the headstock - capillary oiling system.

There were not many made before they ended production in favor of the 10L or Heavy 10.
Your ship date of 8/21/1939 is just before the date I found in a South Bend internal document
stating the approximate end of production of the 9L spindle was 9/14/1939. I would think your
lathe is one of the last one built. Also it's ship date is after the introduction of the Heavy 10.
I've been told they used the same spindle in the 10L, and the spindle specs do match.
We have never found what we consider the S series headstock with the side oilers on a 9L,
which all 10L's had.

I sent scanned images of the serial cards to the Author and he provided the following information:

I can explain all the numbers for you.
The first one that is very interesting is the headstock number: 102
These are design and change numbers. 100 is the original design. Any revision
to the unit gets added to this base number. Your headstock design has had 2 revisions
to the original design, therefore its a 102 "Unit Code". This is how South Bend kept track
of the parts that were used on the build of each lathe by serial number.
I am hoping that the 102 headstock revision is "the" side oiling S series 9L.

After sending the Author photos of my lathe, I received the following reply:

This is a true Heavy 9L.
I posted a photo and the serial card in the serial number database []404 Error - Page Not Found. Photos of the serial card can be viewed here as well]].
This is only about the 4th one I heard about and 2nd with photos showing the headstock.
One rare lathe indeed. Made for approximately 1 year.

It is possible to make replacement chuck jaws, at least from a super human tool maker like Stefan G.
Making a set of chuck jaws Part 1/3 - YouTube

Not trivial.

New to the world of machining here. Started with an Atlas 6x18 and quickly found it wasn't up to doing what I needed. I found a South Bend 9" cabinet model in sad shape for cheap, it was painted about 4 different colors and coated with grease, and spent about 6 months tearing it down and rebuilding. I'm happy with the result, and think this machine will serve me well for years to come.

Loooong Lathe!

How do I add a pic here.

ggandy said:

1917 South Bend 13" we are told this is a O series Model 34
some before and after photos, could use a thread dial to complete this project, maybe one off a heavy 10 will work.
View attachment 103487View attachment 103488View attachment 103489View attachment 103490

Click to expand...

¿que modelo es este torno?
26/5000
What model is this lathe?

1937 9" R junior unrestored

Purchased lathe for $750 and designed and built the cabinet system with flip out end shelves for parts.
South Bend 9" R Junior model. Cat# 422YN
Still adding items from many sources.
Currently working on fabing up an atlas milling attachment to fit.

Looking for replacement cross feed nut and compound nut, if anyone knows where they can be located.
I did take about half of the backlash out of my bronze crossfeed nut by taping ( ever so carefully) the top to tighten up the threading.

My 13” as I picked it up - large dials, taper attachment, turret and standard tailstocks, lever collet closer, Chinese BXA post

Quite possibly the ugliest in the thread, but it makes nice parts sometimes.

If anyone wants the design for the quick change tool post....it's a very simple design I made that is easier to make than any of the others I've seen. I'm happy to make prints when I get a chance and share them.

Elegant Assembly for the Power Switch.

Born 4/26/1946. Sold in Cambridge Mass. Made its way to Chattanooga TN from Maine this year. Still making chips

Trying to post pictures of my lathe. Tapatalk #$$$


I give up all pictures post sideways.. very non user friendly

13" Toolroom from Hensley & Gibbs

Here's one with some neat history...



Serial Number - 10407TKX14
Catalog Number - CLC8175C
Bed Length: 6'
Extras - Handwheel collet attachment and rack, handlever collet attachment, large faceplate, telescoping jaw steady rest, telescoping jaw follower rest,handlever bed turret (serial number of lathe stamped into it), handlever turret (tailstock style), square turret, taper attachment, thread indicator, and an unused full set of metric transposing gears.

The back story to this machine is that is was sold by Star Machinery to Mr. Jim Gibbs of Hensley & Gibbs Bullet Molds in 1965. Quite a few years after Mr. Gibbs had (sort of)retired and his son Wayne had taken over the business, my father had become acquainted with Jim and they became very good friends. As years went by, Jim decided to start selling some of the machines he had kept, and at some point, he graciously offered this South Bend and a Bridgeport mill to my dad. To make along story short(er), Pop has gotten on in years and has not touched or run the SB for many years. It's pretty dirty but is in great mechanical shape and run like a dream. Needs cleaning and some paint here and there, but with it's history I may just leave well enough alone...
Here's a few more pics. Thanks for letting me share...

Extra pics for above post

Extra pics for above post (#438)... Paula, if this is not allowed, please remove post.

Finally got my serial number card for the above 13" Toolroom lathe (Serial #10407TKX14)that came from Hensley & Gibbs and wanted to share pic of the PDF Grizzly sent me. Also wanted to put in a couple pics of the accessories...

Thanks for letting me share this...

Serial# Card


Tailstock turret


Unused Metric Gear Set


Fine Feed Handwheel


Camlock Spindle

Looks great in black. The timber bench suits it.