SOUTH BEND 9" LATHE APRON STUDY  

Sitting in my basement shop tearing apart my little Atlas horizontal milling machine (it beats nothing) for a good cleaning. God bless Mr. Pete and others like him for creating and uploading these tutorial videos.

Great video Mr Pete! I always wanted to see the workings of the fully equipped 9" South Bend lathes. I acquired a 1929 South Bend "Junior" in 1975. It's mounted on a well preserved 2x4 and 2x6 wood bench. The whole unit was well preserved, covered in grease,oil, and soot! The original owner had it mounted in a steam shovel that he operated in the thirties along with a mill and used it to keep a fleet of steam powered equipment repaired in the 30's. He kept the lathe as he said 2 fellows could handle it without too much fuss. He was old but still a very large man. The mill didn't make it to Texas as he said it was much larger. A very interesting man, that I ended up spending the day with. He must have enjoyed my company because he kept digging out things for the machine. After removing all the gunk the machine shined like a new dime. Really wasn't any significant wear any where. They were painted black back then with a red and gold badging. Had a extra bucket of extra gears and a brass interchangeable tag to swap for the standard one. He said it was metric gears. Never have tried them. One prize that he gave me was a 1929 version of South Bend's "How to run a lathe". What a prize! A simple mans how to in simple terms with easy to understand illustrations. I've rambled enough! Thanks for your time and sharing! 👍😎

Very nice demonstration of the "deluxe carriage apron" when I tore mine apart it was full of chips, swarf, and corruption. Definitely lots of compresed air used to clean my SB 13" in the past.

I don't own a South Bend but you definitely helped me understand what's going on inside the lathe I do own. Thank you!

Thanks for the detailed look at these lathes. It is really interesting to see the different options that they offered. Also, I really appreciate your attention to lighting in your videos. Everything is really easy to see and enjoy

That split nut lubrication system is genius. Oiling it not in use just adds oil to the reservoir on the top half nut. When the nut is engaged, the oil is tipped towards the half-nut oil hole to actually add the oil to where it's needed.

Both my Model A & Clausing 10" required repairs to the aprons. Found parts for the SB on ebay. Clausing was great allowing me to return unneeded parts for a refund.

Outstanding info as usual. We sure do appreciate it!!

Looks like it's time I remove my model A apron and at least inspect it, if not disassemble it and clean it. Thanks for your expertise. Stay healthy and keep up the great videos!

Hello Lyle, if you fit a model A/B apron, as well as milling the key slot in the lead screw, you will have to get a model A/B cross slide screw to gain the full benefit.

Thank you Sir!

There we go! I should go back and watch the whole A apron video. Yet I wonder how the B & A aprons oil the drive gear assy geared to the handwheel shaft against the rack under the way. Sorry but ya missed that oil hole on the C apron. Love this channel!

Thanks Mr Pete.

Thank you for the video, combining both aprons made it easier to follow.

Yep… you reconfirmed it’s been 20 year’s plus since mine was cleaned so I got the hint… it’s time to get around to it again. LOL Thanks for the great videos.

Thank you and God bless!

Thanks great video That information I'm gonna send it off to my show my son so you can see a better breakdown of it

I am going to love this series. All killer and no filler! Helps me understand my machines better

Thanks for a peek inside the apron. I have a 14.5 inch SB with the more complicated version. With nothing broken i haven't wanted to take it apart just to look inside. I'm not sure if it has curbed my curiosity or emboldened me to clean it. Either way, thank you for sharing another great video.

This is one of my favourite of your videos. I really like understanding how things works.

Very interesting for me.I dislike blowing the chips,rather brush them.Thank you.

Thanks for sharing 👍

Thanks,enjoyed the video very much,good explanation🤗😎🤗😎

another great presentation Mr. Pete, thank you!

Great video. I don't know of any other youtube machinist with your resources and depth of knowledge. If I ever get a Southbend lathe it will be a model A!

These beach lathes have open aprons. Industrial machines have fully enclosed aprons and are filled with lubricating oil. This keeps the dirt away from the open gearing and the air hose debris propellant isn't so problematic. Power is transmitted via the lead screw, but a shaft, often square, transmits power engagement for the spindle from the apron. This is a terrifically handy feature. Lead screw power disengages due to loss of spindle rotation. Often the spindle engagement apron disengagement function is duplicated with a foot operated bar the length of of the bedway. The spindle is engaged via clutch pack internal to the headstock. Add electric braking and you have features these small machines don't incorporate. My Atlas lead screw can be engaged near the headstock, forward and reverse, but only with the spindle idle. If done carefully it can be disengaged there while the spindle is running, but the throw is do short you risk unintentionally switching feed direction and grinding gears. Z axis engagement function is easy, but the cam function for the cheesey half it feels very sloppy. The cross slide feed engagement button/pull is poorly located and awkward to operate. The Southbend is far more robust and looks more ergonomic. The pot metal Atlas components feel like they will easily snap. The robust cast iron Southbend components look really desirable. The instant ON spindle function of these little machines is not as desirable of clutch operated spindles and/or soft start VFD functions. BUT owning a Craftsman branded Atlas is far better than not owning any machine!😃

Quite a lot of difference between the C and the A&B. Thanks for an interesting video.

Love the simplicity of that C model....

Morning sir

Brilliant.

Thank you for sharing. Enjoyed.👍

Thank you.

Excellent. Thank you for posting

Interesting Mr Pete - now I have info that will probably be similar to my 10L. John

7:15 BUT if the Craftsman has a power feed shaft (or keyed leadscrew) the leadscrew thread is going to get significantly less wear than with the SB as it's leadscrew has to do both tasks.

Very interesting, thank you for explaining sir.

As Lyle says keep the air hose away from your lathe. A good idea to keep it away from your milling machine and other machine tools as well. Compressed air saves time but it blows all that microscopic crud into every nook and cranny on the machine. When he pointed out the contamination on the back side of that model A apron, that would be pristine compared to some I've seen.

Good video.

So what was the percentage price difference between a c and a? I am sure you have mentioned catalog prices before but not sure if they were from the same years.

Hello sir thank you so much for all your content I have learned SO MUCH. A buddy told me you have a lathe inspection series for the south bend lathe? How do I find those?

mr.Pete you missed one oil hole on the apron of the southbend lathe there is one more for the gear stud

On my Southbend 9" Model A there is an additional part that I haven't seen on any other. On the back flat pulley mechanism: (going left to right) there is the double pulley that connects to the motor, the three pulley that drives the lathe, then to the right of that there is another pulley that seems to have driven something. Could be shop made but it looks original and well made. Maybe I can upload a link to a picture. Let me know if anyone has seen this before and what it could be for.

Got it.

Mr Pete, After your Petebay sale has concluded, could you report what the winning bids are so we can have an idea what is the acceptable ballpark pricing to bid?

MrPete How do you take the knurled knob off of the selector handle? Thank you

Mr Pete could you make a video explaining how threading dial works?

How about a study of differences of the 10 heavy?

I recently watched a very skilled machinist build a 6 jaw chuck. I was very impressed(he was not happy being out of tolerance .01mm). However he was using compressed air to clear chips. Would low pressure be exceptable to clear chips?

I have a model C, can I but a model B apron to upgrade it? Would it bolt on?

I have a 13" model b, are the aprons the same as the 9" ?

Ye ha!

Are the aprons interchangeable?

Mr. Pete, did that lathee give you consent to look under her apron?

pete you will be glad to know that i have tumbled across a procunier tapping device at the right price ...sorry for asking you to sell me one of yours .. but my father always told me if you dont ask you wont get ! anyway,, thats water under the bridge ..i once did some work for a scrap yard .. and got all my machinery.. for pennies !lathes shaping machines drills milling machines ect ect.. i was on cloud nine then sold everything for £150 and went to live in spain .. what a fool i was , of course i didnt adapt to life in spain ,, so back i came to start again .. and am slowly sl,owly getting set up again..i am never happier than when i am up to my elbows in grease sorting some or other problem out.. and i come in from my shed happy as a sand boy.. even the food tastes better... well enough of boring you .. carry on the good work ... regards,, laurence..