What have you made WITH your South Bend?

I had my first serious project for my SB 13 when my neighbor's John Deere Model 47 snow blower sheared the 1" impeller shaft.


Unfortunately, JD made this gear/shaft out of one piece of steel, and they no longer stock the part. With help from people on the tractorbynet forum, the old shaft was bored out, then a new shaft machined and assembled with a .002" interference fit. The shaft/gear interface was then staked with bolts torqued in and trimmed off.





The whole process is covered here:
Repairing sheared impeller shaft - JD 47 snowblower attachment

DanMc77 said:

I had my first serious project for my SB 13 when my neighbor's John Deere Model 47 snow blower sheared the 1" impeller shaft.

Click to expand...

A single piece of steel? Seems fairly wasteful, but there are a lot of vertical forces on the gear. Maybe Deere was worried about the gear being pushed out of mesh.

What part of the gear did you indicate it on?

Made a nice chuck key for my go-to lathe chuck. I was using a ratchet extension with a T handle for the past year and always knew that was a temporary thing. Finally got around to it with some help from the members here.

Since I use it so often and it sits right in front of my work area I wanted it to be nice to hold and to look at. So I set off. I used some 8620 round bar. My operations were a little out of order and when I make the next one for my 4 jaw I'll get the key part done first. As it was things turned out OK but I learn as I go.

I used a hacksaw to rough the square and then chucked up a nice sharp rota-cutter to clean up the sides. This went better than expected.





After this methodical work I realized that I wanted the key to be longer so I used the same cutter and did a plunge on the four sides. My good fortune that I liked the aesthetic and went with it.



I wanted some rounded shoulders for the contact points with the chuck and had just the cutter needed.



Turned out great.



Next post the finished product...

Result





Test fit



Rounded shoulder makes good contact with chuck

What are none of you guys making anything with your lathes? lol

I've had a big ole beaten up Wilton vice that needed some TLC. A few years ago I painted her and got some new jaws, etc. I finally made some time to fix her up a bit more. The swivel base adjusters were wasted from years of kooks beating on them with hammers to tighten them so it was time. I saw cut these off the threaded nuts and cleaned them up in the lathe with some light cuts.





Time to make some new parts



I'm getting better at work sequencing working right to left with my stock too. Err a or maybe I got lucky? nah... There were a few ways to skin the cat but I decided to make a short end piece to press fit into the longer one.



Ready for another 50 years of service!



Next rainy day I want to remake the big handle but I need to figure out a radius tool first.

Nice work, you could turn the radius by eye, you might be surprised, it is not as difficult as people think. A radius gauge makes it easier but if you don't have one you could cut one out of cardboard. Gary P. Hansen

Kevin T said:

Next rainy day I want to remake the big handle but I need to figure out a radius tool first.

Click to expand...

On mine, I didn't bother - I replaced it with a piece of 1144, then turned some knobs with a heavy chamfer, cross drilled and secured with a roll pin. I'm not a stickler for original, just need it to work.

paulsomlo said:

On mine, I didn't bother - I replaced it with a piece of 1144, then turned some knobs with a heavy chamfer, cross drilled and secured with a roll pin. I'm not a stickler for original, just need it to work.
View attachment 330948

Click to expand...

Yes I could see myself going there. I have some HSS radii cutters that could make it look pretty good....hmmmm

Moved forward with a few things and made a new handle for the vice. I didn't tell the story yet but there was a fellow that came in here and asked about a Holdridge Radii Cutter he had. I saw it and became interested in that tool and just missed buying it on the bay. I had to do some research to see if it was compatible with my lathe and by the time I figured out it was...it was gone. Fast forward a couple weeks and it seems everyone has one for sale. I picked a cherry one from the choices and put it to use to make a new handle for the vice. I figure if I make 150 more handles the tool will have paid for itself! LOL

So if you are like me and packing a 16" South bend you will be in the know that the Holdridge 4S or 4D is compatible but needs a 1/2" spacer to bring the center up to the right height. I used a couple of MoMax bars but I am getting ahead of myself...

What is that on the seldom used end of my 1941 Tool Room Lathe?



There are a lot of possibilities in this box....



I had to modify my Aloris QCTP compound block to add a couple holes for the 2" SHCS that hold the tool in place.



The spacer setup for the 16"



All set...



cont....

Once the machine was setup the task was straight forward..



It was interesting to control the material removal with my arm swinging the tool. This is not trivial because the changing shape renders a changing speed at the cutter. (I was trying for perfect 6's like McLoad)



"Ole Paint" didn't much care for the transition zones from tangent (material OD) and started asking for slower feed in those areas so I obliged.

It's a good brain teaser to manually feed a cut this way. Here we are getting close...



...and done. I sort of missed my target idea to have a "ball" on the handle by concentrating on the shaft thickness and cutter position. I realized this as the first end was nearing completion but decide that it looked badass this way so, in accordance with prophecy, I got this shape. I am sure this is what Mr Wilton intended he just couldn't invest in the holdridge!....yeah that's it!




cont...

So all done and to make a long story short... I made my vice nicer to look at (and use) with my South Bend lathe. (at an enormous cost!) On to other orbs...



Some of you may notice the South Bend shaper cabinet I have.

Here's the old and new...



The Wilton is looking good.



/EOM

Kevin T said:

Some of you may notice the South Bend shaper cabinet I have.

Click to expand...

Where you hiding the shaper ? or didn't it come yet ?

That radii cutter is real nice. Digging the vice too.

My favorite is the wrench !

texasgunsmith said:

Where you hiding the shaper ? or didn't it come yet ?

That radii cutter is real nice. Digging the vice too.

My favorite is the wrench !

View attachment 332994

Click to expand...

I gave up on the shaper for the time being. I know you like that wrench!

I have a couple live centers that I really like but they were a bit too short to eject from the tailstock. It dawned on me that the end is threaded with a big set screw....



Since they both have different depth of engagement on the MT3. I had to make two different sizes.



These are sized and work but I had to add some design flair and make it nice to look at.
Out comes the milling attachment again (maybe Santa will bring me a mill?)...



Used a 3/4 endmill and created the shape I was looking for. After some clean up with files and sandpaper...



These came out super nice! They will look good next to my drill chucks with the same shape arbor.

Got around to paying down that Holdridge yesterday! lol

Since my Drill Press is almost useless, unless for wood I've been using a mag drill on a metal table for drilling in metal. Not ideal but it works pretty good. The one I got my hands on and semi restored had a missing handle. I turned the handle and threaded both ends and then a ball out of nylon.

I made a cordless drill.

I found a small hand brace in a box lot I bought. You know, the kind used with wood boring bits with the square taper shanks. This one is considerably smaller in length and throw than the typical brace. It had no chuck and the chuck shank threads were a total mess. It was too cool to scrap since it is an unusually small size. I also had a keyless chuck from an old eggbeater drill sitting around. All I needed to put the two together was a custom made threaded shank for the brace.

I knocked the pin out and pulled the shank from the brace. Sketched the dimensions for that. The chuck used a 7/16-22 thread. Don't have dies for that. Sketched the thread and set up to single-point those. Made the shank in very little time. Drilled the pin hole and knocked it together.

Now I have a 3-jaw drill chuck on a hand brace. It will take up to 3/8" drill bits or 1/4" hex shank screwdriver bits. Driving deck screws is easier than I would have thought. And I am able to completely control how deep they sink into wood. The battery is always charged as long as I eat breakfast. Quick, easy, incredibly effective, and completely off-grid. I think the kids call that "green" now.

No pics, sorry. the threads look like dog scrap. I set the compound to 29-1/2° like I always did on my little ancient AMT lathe. The SB degrees run the opposite direction around the compound. I turned the cutter 1/2° away from the work, rather than toward the work. D'OH! The right face of the thread looks like tiny stair steps. But it works OK, and I only made it for my own amusement. If it was for a customer I would have remade it and made it pretty.

Kevin T said:

Got around to paying down that Holdridge yesterday! lol

Since my Drill Press is almost useless, unless for wood I've been using a mag drill on a metal table for drilling in metal. Not ideal but it works pretty good. The one I got my hands on and semi restored had a missing handle. I turned the handle and threaded both ends and then a ball out of nylon.

Click to expand...

A Holdridge? That's an expensive ball!

paulsomlo said:

A Holdridge? That's an expensive ball!

Click to expand...

I've made a few now! I am cost averaging to about 125/ball! lol

Hello. Is anyone interested in making a metric lead screw for a project of mine. I have an SB13 lathe but Im a newby and having belt issue with my lathe. Anyways since this thread is somewhat related to what Im trying to accomplish, i figure ill post it here.
Regards.
Rob a.k.a ub360

ub360 said:

Hello. Is anyone interested in making a metric lead screw for a project of mine. I have an SB13 lathe but Im a newby and having belt issue with my lathe. Anyways since this thread is somewhat related to what Im trying to accomplish, i figure ill post it here.
Regards.
Rob a.k.a ub360

Click to expand...

I have read that the guys who need lead screws try to purchase them already made and then adapt the ends to their purpose. I looked into making some too but backed out when I realized that the sizes I need were going to be difficult if not impossible without a follow rest...Very spendy accessory! Good luck. You may also find some help in the hobby machinist forumns.