Gunsmithing South Bend 16x72 acquisition

[MK20]

I just picked up this machine out of an estate. I had to disassemble it as they basically built the garage around the lathe.

It is in running condition and all the parts are there. I will be giving it all new felts as well as a good bath in diesel before reassembly.

 

[papershredder]

Offset or overhead drive pulley? Does it have the quick-change gear box or is it manual? Nice find either way! Looks like it's still in decent shape for it's age. Having torn down the lathe that far, it would be tempting to replace the bronze spindle bearing and having the bed re-scraped as well. But, if you're not planning on using it for precision work or hard use, that might be overkill.

 

[MK20]

Overhead drive. No manual. The spindle had no play whatsoever when I checked.

Who re scrapes beds and about what does that run?

 

[papershredder]

If the land of many waters means Minnesota, Give these guys a call. There's a handful of shops around the great lakes region that offer hand scraping services. H&W machine in Ft. Wayne, IN. And a couple other in Michigan and Ohio that I don't recall the names of at the moment. Unfortunately, South Bend no longer rebuilds their old machines.

 

[MK20]

Nope. I am out in Idaho.

 

[MK20]

It's hard to find large machines or specialty machining services here.

 

[SONIC SAAMI]

It's hard to find large machines or specialty machining services here.

Although when you do find it out here in the west it’s usually in pristine condition never been used for production work.

 

[chevy_man]

Overhead drive. No manual. The spindle had no play whatsoever when I checked.

Who re scrapes beds and about what does that run?

Put a straight edge across the bed. If there's any low spots that you can get a feeler gauge in, then it needs scraped. Most of the time the bed wears down wherever it sits in the first 4-8" of travel from the chuck since most operations don't travel much of the bed.

Scraping is quite literally just scraping it flat again. All the little gouges hold oil, and help to combat wear.

I think Abom79 has a few videos on YouTube about learning. You can do it fairly easy with hand tools if you have the tools to check flatness.

Since it's already torn down, I'd get it done now if it has any real wear.



And then you're into the fun part. The lathe is the cheapest thing you can buy. Once you have 25x the purchase price invested into tooling and gauges, you'll think the gunsmith was cheap!

 

[Yondering]

I'd be more concerned about getting the headstock back on the bed straight and true, than whether it needs scraping.
At minimum, you'll need to spend some time with an indicator (or several) to verify that it's true, and be ready for some shimming.
Most machinists prefer to avoid removing the headstock from the bed for that reason.

 

[Wannashootit]

I own a Sheldon and a SB...so big fan of 'Merican iron; but that's a road too far for me.
Unless that machine saw very little use back in it's day, scraping isn't going to cut it- if there's a significant wear ridge at the top of the front v-way, the bed will need to be planed, then the saddle, tailstock and headstock turcited, then scraped.... you could buy a new Taiwanese machine for the cost. Scraping is the final step- you gotta get it "there", first.

 

[ZiaHunter]

Good luck with rebuild and restoration. Just starting the process with a SBL Heavy 10. Flame hardened bed and the ways are in excellent condtion. Needs a good cleaning and replace all the felts. Friend who chambers my barrels purchased it several years ago and never put it in service since he acquired a high end gunsmiths lathe. Comes with several chucks, Aloris tools and collets.