1941 Heavy 10 South Bend Lathe
Length of bed – 4 1/2 ft.
Serial No. 119631
Catalog No. 187R
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I finally finished the restoration on my 50 dollar South Bend.
Before …
After …
The tray I fabricated out of 22 gauge sheet metal. For the lips I took some 3/8th inch hard drawn copper and used a cut-off wheel in a dremel to cut a slot lengthwise in the copper. I then slipped it over the end of the sheet metal and soldered it all together.
I made a mistake when measuring for the tray and it ended up an inch longer than I wanted 
. Someone in the past had mounted a tray and I didn’t want to drill new holes in the lathe so I just made some clips out of brass and hung the tray using the old holes.
The drawer I made out of 26 gauge paint lock.
Every thing was stripped to bare metal then primed and painted and all the hardware was polished. New felts and wicks. New Bearings in the 3/4 hp instant reversing GE motor.
The paint is ALK 200 industrial acrylic enamel. I used two shades of gray. Lighter gray for the base, bed and headstock. A shade darker gray on the doors and covers, gear box and apron. And a little black for some contrast.
A huge thanks to Kenny (sicero from the Practical Machinist Forum) for selling the parts I was missing.
Thanks for looking,
Shane
A couple of weeks ago I posted a WTB ad in the local classifieds for an used and abuse metal lathe. I must of received more than 20 calls but most wanted more than I could afford. Then I got a call from a gentleman that I bought my big Boice Crane scroll saw from a year or two ago. He said he had a beat up South Bend lathe taking up room in his garage. I figured since it was a South Bend it would be more than I could afford but then he told me he only wanted $50 for it. I told him to consider it sold and I would stop by on my way home from work to pick it up.
He was right, it was beat up, ugly and missing a ton of parts. It was bought new in 1941 by the Utah board of education and I am assuming it was them that painted it green.
How’s this for clown colors?
All the gears between the head stock and the gear box were missing, along with the back gears, plus several more parts, all of which I was able to find when I made a post on the Practical Machinist site.
I pulled the instant reversing 3/4 hp GE motor and cleaned it up and put in new bearings. It purrs like a kitten now.
(pic taken before cleaning)
This weekend I stripped and painted the base, bed, legs and cross slide. Still got the apron, gear box, head stock and tail stock to finish.
Lookin better but I can see with the camera flash that I did a crappy job of painting it … lots of touch ups to do.
So $50 for the lathe and another $150 for parts, not to bad for a 10″ South Bend … I’m happy!
I’ll post more pics when I get it done.
1953 Walker Turner Vertical Spindle Shaper
Model 6111
Serial No. 0000413
I picked up this beautiful Shaper a couple of weeks ago for $200. It’s in great original condition so I don’t think I will paint it, except for maybe the 3 h.p. 3 phase Baldor motor.
Here’s what it looked like when I picked it up. Great shape, just a little dirty.
I used some degreaser and cleaned it inside and out.
What it looks like now.
I added some glass reinforced plastic skids to the feet (see pic above). I put these on all my machines. It makes it very easy to slide them around.
I then did a quick polishing job on all the hardware.
I removed the wood from the fence and ran it through my Crescent planer and gave it a couple of coats of tung oil. I also added a new piece of cherry to the ring guard.
I love the design of the fence system. Very easy to adjust.
(pic taken before cleaning)
I removed the 3/4 inch spindle and cleaned that up. It came with a couple of different size bushings and a couple rub collars.
I changed out the belt with a new one and replaced a grease cup that was missing a cap with a zerk.
I replaced all the wiring and fired it up …. Works fantastic.
Today I sold my light duty Rockwell Shaper for a $125 so the Walker Turner only cost me a total of 75 bucks.
Now I just gotta get some more cutters and I will be good to go.
Found this little Craftsman heavy duty router listed in the local classifieds for 20 bucks.
It looks complete except for the sub base, which should be easy enough to fabricate.
Brought it home, cleaned it up some and tried it out … works great.
(can for scale)
taken apart
Data plate
The drive wheel for the variable feed on the Crescent planer was in sad shape so I decided to replace it.
It’s not an original but it’s been on there a long time. It’s starting to crack and is to fat, which made it so I couldn’t set the feed rate slow enough.
I pulled it off of the planer and took it apart.
My plan was to use a wheel I picked up at the local surplus store.
I removed the steel hub …
… drilled some holes through it and made a wooden shim so it would hold it’s shape.
I mounted it to the planer and fired it up …. unfortunately it only lasted about 10 seconds before falling apart.
So much for that great idea.
Next I decided to try a drive disc for a lawn mower. I went to the local small gas engine repair shop and we looked through the catalogs. We couldn’t find one for a lawn mower but we did find one for a MTD snow blower that should work.
It’s nice and thin so it should allow me to get the feed rate down to where I want it.
I had to do a little modifying to it to make it fit …
but once I got it mounted it worked great.
See the video below to see it in action.
Tags: Restorations