After a year of searching for a lathe at the right price and condition, I finally found what I was looking for, it's a South Bend Model 9A. Check out my Instagram channel: / jeffreyhunterbuilder
Beautiful machine, I just got the same machine from my father who got it himself from his father. This one arrived with the American soldiers in Europe in 1944. If my memories are correct, at the beginning of the nineties we had ordered and received replacement parts (vernier, thread nuts, and all the sprockets necessary for the metric thread. ..) It is complete, all chucks, "pousse-toc" etc. I went back to work on this beautiful machine, which despite its age is still very precise! Of course she's an old grandmother, but in my region, we say "it's in the old pots that we make the best soups" 😉 good continuation and happy chips
That first item from the box is for cross-drilling round stock. It is held in the tailstock and run against a bit spinning in the chuck with the round stock held in the groove
finding an example is very good condition is hard to find! for such a machine, you will pay a little extra as they are rare! I was going to get a 4 ft one in great condition such as this one from a co-worker who got it for free from his neighbor but still have not gotten it after almost an yr, I asked twice already, he said he will hold onto it a little longer, so I left it at that, may get it or not, but 2 weeks ago I got lucky and got an older model thats also a 4ft long with quick change gearbox for free on craigslist, I was lucky to be 15 minutes drive away from the owner and he was happy that I was so close and said I could come over and get it. cant complain, it ran fine but have not tested the runout on the spindle or anything yet.
Those rods you're holding at @7:45 are likely a mandrel of sorts, it could have a very shallow taper (maybe a few thou or something small over the ground length) that you would press a precision bored part onto for "light" lathe work (parts may spin if take heavier cuts), the mandrel would be held between centers and driven by the dog plate gripping the un-ground portion. I'm not 100%, but I've seen similar applications for similar looking things
Congrats on the beautiful new machine which will undoubtedly clean up very nicely with just a bit of elbow grease and a few Scotchbrite pads. Very very nice assortment of included tooling.The tailstock item with the V grove is a crotch center. You can order the sales birth certificate for your lathe from Grizzly ($30 I think) using the serial number which you should find stamped into the way nearest you at the tailstock end of the lathe. Not sure if it is applicable to your machine, but there is a letter code attached to some serial numbers which denotes features of the machine as it came from the factory. Thanks :)
It looks like a tool with some great potential. All those accessories should allow you to do some experimentation. Hopefully we will see this in action in the future.
pick up a book called: A guide to renovating the South Bend Lathe, its on Amazon for about 30 bucks, it gives you a complete exploded parts view, hope it helps, good luck.
JeffreyHunterBuilder ok I just order that book on Amazon. Thanks for your help, now I would like to find out the date of my lathe. I have the serial # 71914. My dad said it might be in the 30’s. It runs awesome and is clean and in great shape.. thanks for your help buddy
Shirley, you can't be serious? This is solid American Iron, not Chinesium. This bad boy is close to 400 lbs. Most import lathes of this size are barely half that weight. That translates into stability and accuracy. Watch a video on import lathes and see how much the chuck dances around or the drill will jump in the tailstock when hitting the work piece. This setup looks like a great deal with all of that tooling and lathe condition. Jealous!
You have no idea of the quality of equipment that was made many years ago. I wish you could find the quality in equipment made today. Everything is made so cheaply now .
