SouthBend Lathe, how big is too big?

R

Rock63

Guest
I read that the 9" is too small, that the 10" is perfect, but is the 14" or 15" "too big" for smithing work?
 
I use a 16" South bend

563924332_UkDRu-M.jpg


She's a little messy...:eek:

Mark
 
I'm a beginner, but are you using a spider to hold the barrel, with the spider held in the chuck and supported by a steady rest?

How do you support the other end of the barrel?
 
I see two identical pictures, no video.

But on the back side photo of your spider I can now see that it is a double sided spider. I'm guessing the two spiders are 6" apart?

How do you true the inside spider to prevent the barrel from beating the inside of the headstock?
 
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Why the Steady Rest?

Rock63 said:
I see two identical pictures, no video.

But on the back side photo of your spider I can now see that it is a double sided spider. I'm guessing the two spiders are 6" apart?

How do you true the inside spider to prevent the barrel from beating the inside of the headstock?
Click to expand...

Is it simply a Belt and Suspenders situation?
 
I would Qualify this by saying:

I have a Heavy 10L Toolroom Lathe made in 1943. It was totally rebuilt in 1990 or so. It is a fine little lathe but is only 36" long. A Friend made for me an Ahead of the Spindle Spider for it which took up a lot of the bed room available to work on . It will work but a 10L that is at least 48" long, to me, seems a better machine for being able to work with barrels. Also, a lathe that has more modern features like Cam lock chucks, clutch- break, Flame Hardned Ways and some of the other nice features seems to me a better situation.

There is also the issue of repair parts to consider.
 
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Pete,

Could you take a picture like this again, only this time have a friend hold a tape measure or a yahd stick between the conduit (Barrel) and the tail stock?
Picture180.jpg

I'd like to know how much room you have.

Thank You,

Paul
 
Nice picture Paul. You must have enhanced it somehow, eh? Ok, next time I am there I will measure the actual amount of room. I keep scraping that blue and yellow paint off every time I am near the machine. For some reason I can't abide the Blue and yellow. I got my tailstock centered yesterday and found it to be .003 high; surprised me, I expected it to be low by at least that amount.
 
I'm probably the third owner.

It seems to cut straight. The Flaking under the Saddle still looks good. One more shim and I'll be making Bearings for the head! They are $800.00 from Grizzly.
 
Yes, why do you hold the spider in the steady? Why I asked the belt and suspenders question. Wouldn't the chuck hold the spider securely enough?
 
That's a lot of overhang. Without a steady rest your bound to have problems. Turning and threading with those setups could be interesting.

As far as Lathe size, weight and size usually mean rigidity, and you can never get enough of that.
 
I was just thinking,

considering one is realy only interested in being able to make good threads and a shouolder on , say 1.5" of the barrel one is working with, one doesn't need much in the way of absolute accuracy for that 1.5"of bed ways or carriage travel. What one is reallllly concerned with it the runout of the spindle. If the spindle is running true, one can expect to be able to ream a straight hole into it, providing they do it all correctly. Am I way off base here in my thinking?
 
But, will it run true when tool pressure is applied? My moneys on it won't. When you have excessive overhang the material will try to climb over the tool. Put an indicator on the top of your fixture, out at the end toward the tail stock, and lift up on it, and see how much the spindle moves.

You may also find that your .003 misalignment could very well be the spindle running downhill. Even new high dollar lathes are not perfect, and the longer you make the tooling and the further you work from the spindle bearing the more the misalignment is exaggerated.
 
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