Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

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Pipescs
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Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by Pipescs »

I found this 1973 Southbend in the back of a local Blacksmiths shed. He stated he would take 700.00 for it and after seeing two on Ebay for around the 4000.00 arena (Plus Shipping) I decided to take a chance on it. I say chance as it was literaly in the back of a dark shop covered in dust.

All I had was his word that it was running when he put it back there. He could not remember when that was.

What I thougt was rust is turning out to be mostly dirt and old oil and grease.

First plan is to start cleaning now that it is in the shop and make a list of all the things it needs.
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I located a shop manual and set of service bulletins on line for it on line
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Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


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heisler0
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by heisler0 »

Nice find! Good luck bringing it back into service.
John Evans
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by John Evans »

You sure that is a "gear head" ? A friend of mine has that exact lathe and it is a vari speed. Electrically controlled Reeves style drive I believe. Has the little tach on it with a control push buttons,does have a back gear that's what the lever behind the chuck does. That said his has given him good service for decades.
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Pipescs
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by Pipescs »

You are right about the vari-speed and Reeves style drive.

I only called it a Gear Head Lathe as that is what the manual calls it. As to the name, the ony thing I can figure is it has a high/low range gear box between the Reeves Drive and the actual spindle.
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We spent about two hours on it today mostly pulling panels and inspecting for damage. My son was looking to do something on it today so I put him on a brass wire wheel and let him start on the chuck.

Before:
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After:
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Question: Is this a D1-6 chuck mount? I am totally unfamilure with them.
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Things I found in need of attention (other than dirt and lack of lubrication) was the high/low shifter linkage rod was broke off in the handle. The shaft moves freely and the gearbox will shift from High/Neutral/Low range with no issues. Looks like the new shaft will be made on the Logan. I am proud I found the handle in the parts box that came with the lathe.
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The Reeves Unit is clean other than dust and the drive unit can be turned easily by hand. The speed shift motor seems clean and tight. The belt appears to be brand new but I will no more later as I go into it.

The Tachometer pot located on the large gear is trashed though. It is all there with a part number and name but the shaft in it is totally wallowed out. It is a part I am hoping to be able to find in an electric supply house. Tit is simply a shaft driven 5K pot.
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Looking more and more like a large project but I am happier with it now that we have torn it down. I have set us up an area with a fan with AC filters taped to the front and back to trap dust, Picked up some metal primer and and dust mask. We will be sanding and painting for a while on the Beast.
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


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John Evans
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by John Evans »

The chuck mount is either a D1 - 3 or a D1-4 depending on the pin diameter and the taper bore size. ENCO catalog shows how to ID it exactly. A D1-6 or larger have 6 drive pins.
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Pipescs
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by Pipescs »

I thought something was wrong. I read a spec sheet on it and it called for a D1-6 but this did not make sense.

Thanks for the input.
Charlie Pipes
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dly31
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by dly31 »

I have had one of those lathes for quite some time although I haven't gotten it in usable condition yet. My opinion is that it is a very fine lathe with a few shortcomings in the design. The Reeves drive itself seems very sturdy, but the adjusting system and tachometer system are somewhat unusual and a bit fragile. Be careful that your speed control motor runs in the right direction and the limit switches work correctly and are adjusted properly. Otherwise you can run the adjuster past its normal limits and break things. Do not try to adjust the speed without the main motor running or the belt will jam the drive pulleys and likely damage something. As you probably know, the tachometer only monitors the position of the speed control and does not directly read the spindle speed. It is fairly simple, just a small power supply, potentiometer, and voltmeter.

Good luck.
Don Young
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Pipescs
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by Pipescs »

Manged to get the chuck off. Was expecting more rust in the spindle area.
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The speed control is in fact very simple. The scehmatic is in the manual for two variations of the control which as you say is a simple powersupply with two switches to drive the speed control motor in and out. The tach input is simply a pot that is turned by a gear on the motor shaft as it moves the pullys in and out. The adjustment is a pot in the control box

I have a tachometer for model airplane props that will help me calibrate it when the time comes.
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Levi Cleaning the chuck
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Charlie Pipes
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Russ Hanscom
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by Russ Hanscom »

Your helper needs goggles, face shield, and gloves.
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Pipescs
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by Pipescs »

Well Said

Thanks for the reminder. Sometimes we forget the basics.
Charlie Pipes
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Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
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stevec
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by stevec »

Great fiind! I was gonna ask if there were safety glasses under that full head of hair. He maybe shoud have some kinda shop coat so Mom doesn't freak out when she sees his clothes. LOL
I'm interested to hear/read that SB had an electro mechanical speed adjustment for their VS drive. I put one of my own concoction on my old Hendey 9 x 24 after giving up on the 3 hp DC motor and it's
Vacuum tube controller (boy those tubes gave of a creepy violet color!).
Hope the two of you keep at it 'til you can really enjoy it performing for you (my bets are, if you run out of projects your son will fill any gaps,LOL)
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Pipescs
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Re: Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

Post by Pipescs »

On taking the saddle loose from the apron I found what I had known was going to be there.

Once the cross feed screw shaft was free from the apron gears you could feel a drag when turning the handle thru half of a revolution.

One of the risk I took when buying this was that there was obvious damage to the handle on the cross feed where it had been welded back together.

It did not turn out as bad as I thought though. The shaft had been broken off and been re attached. but the worst part was that the bushing it rotates in was bent. Late last night I came up with a solution of shimming the bushing and it now rotates clean with no slop.
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still have to find a new handle to replace this one.
DSC_0059.jpg
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
Little Engines American
20 Ton Shay (Castings and Plans Purchased for future)
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