Southbend 14 X 40 Gear Head Lathe

[GlennW]

What is the thickness of the hard felt you need?

Ultrasonic cleaners do wonderful things to sight glasses. I have cleaned all of them on my machines.

Do not spray them with brake cleaner or contact cleaner without testing first. It can cloud them up. (yep, I learned the hard way...)

[Pipescs]

The book I sent you will tell you the weight of oils you need or you can find it on the plate mounted to the quickchange gearbox

. The closest I could find around here was tractor gear box oil which was 140 wt. The chart on the gear box calls for 140 to 170 viscosity in both the headstock and gearbox.

My sight glasses are all three black and unusable. I figured out a dipstick method on the apron and the on the headstockI have looked into and filled up to the middle of the sight glass by looking inside. Have not tackled the gear box yet.

when you get oil in the head the pump should prime on its own. If you dont get oil after just a few turnovers by hand it is probably just a stuck check valve. They are brass and screwed into the plastic pump body. One of mine was stopped up and I cleared it with WD-40 and a few taps on the bench top.

[Pipescs]

Today was mostly a lawnmower repair day.

I did manage to finish up the tail stock exept painting the handwheel and lock lever. Also mounted the finished thread chasing dial.

Also managed to jockey it into the position it will sit in for the future. My shop is in the basement and is 30 X 30 feet so I am setting the shop up into a machine tool area, general work area in the middle and the woodshop on the far side of the room. This mostly means cleaning and throwing out old stuff that has been collecting dust for over ten years. Some of it I do not even remember why I was keeping.

I am getting down to the final little bits of sanding and painting. I still need to hook up the linkage for the high/Lo lever which is two pins with clevis snaps. Not expecting too much trouble there but you never know.

I have two covers and a few odds and ends left to sand and paint. Biggest project is the center rest which is pretty grunged out.

I did manage to see that the gearbox under the headstock is ok on its gear oil. The site gauge is working.

Next payday I will be buying the parts I need to get the idler motor up and running along with the wiring to pull to the lathe.

I will give a little advice here. I have learned I would not tackle a project like this in the future without really doing a good inventory of parts prior to jumping in. Luckily this project was complete exept the taper turning attachment. Even something as simple as a faceplate or chuck in this size late runs inexess of 200-400 dollars. A good deal could quickly turn into a money pit from hell.

[crazyelece]

Well the thing I was woried about with the viscosity ranges is I din't know if they directly translated into oil weights. So I did some researching and found this chart.



I figured I'd post it here for you because it seems like 140 gear oil may be too thick.

[Pipescs]

Thanks for posting this.

This is a list from the manual. I notice it says to stay away from automotive types.

[Pipescs]

Your are right. 140 wt would be too thick. The 140 viscosity the chart calls for is actually what you are calling 90 wt gear oil.

when I compared the oil I drained from the headstock and apron they apear to be about the same color and weight of the tractor gearbox and transmission oil put out by Texeco.

[crazyelece]

I think the gear oils might be GTG, I think the automotive oils they are refering to are motor oils. Probably because many motor oils have detergents and additives to keep the crap in suspension so it gets filtered out through the pressurized filter. The bearings don't look much different than rear axle bearings on trucks. I think I'm going to give the 90 weight a try for now. After I order some tooling I'll most likely switch to Mobil DTE, seems well recommended and I have mobil oils for my bridgeport anyway. I already have vacrtra for the bridgeport so I am just using that for the apron and other oiling points. I still have to get back into the lower side and see if I can check that oil level somehow.

I took your dipstick idea and figured out how to check the apron. One of the cap screws is directly over the sight glass, and a piece of solid copper wire fits down perfectly to just below the sight glass bottom. I just put a mark on it where the top of the sight glass window lines up with a file - and BINGO an instant dipstick to measure the oil level. Unfortunately the oil level here was also low, so now I will be checking the transmission no matter what to positively identify the level in there.

[Pipescs]

Spent three hours today cleaning out the shop.

Started relocating all the tools and figuring out where to set up the power system.

This will be the machine shop area.

The area next to the garage door is being kept for the Bridgeport I am looking to buy this year.

Did manage to paint the wrench for the tailstock today.

I also noticed as I posted this Photo I need to go back and strip/paint the bearing block on the end of the lead screw. I did not want to leave the shaft unsupported so I put it back on after cleaning it.

Finally have the wifes permission to burn the green piano that she has been planing on refinishing for 20 years. Of course I have to buy her a new one which I still figrue will be cheaper than fixing this one.

[Inspector]

At least pull the piano keys before you torch it. Ivory and ebony are hard to come by. I'd just about kill for a shop like yours.

Pete

[steamin10]

I'll second that emotion. I act like a pilot.

Pile it here, pile it there. Pile on top.....

[Pipescs]

I already checked

Its a cheap piano she picked up in college. There is a lot of masonite and the keys are white and black plastic.

[Pipescs]

Came home early today due to the passing storms in Northern Alabama.

Have all the belts back on with the gear box serviced and hooked up. With a few pannels left to paint and odds and ends left, it is now ready for power.

I did take this one dealer panel off the end door of the cabinet.

Googled it but did not find them in the listings.

One is curious as to the life of a lathe that started its travels from St Louis Mo. and ends up in a blacksmiths shed in Piney Chapel Alabama thirty five years later.

With luck it will stay in my basement until I pass it on to the son.