Boxford – South Bend Interchangable?

[Alan CharlestonParticipant @alancharleston78882]

Hi,

I have an old Boxford AUD lathe which is badly worn in front of the headstock. I'm from Auckland New Zealand and I can't find anyone with the skills to regrind the bed. The worn bed isn't a problem for most things but I would like to get it back closer to being true. I'm reluctant to have a go at it myself in case I really foul it up.

A Southbend 9A bed has turned up on the local auction site and is described as being in good condition. From what I can ascertain, the Boxford beds and the Southbend 9A beds are identical.

Does anyone know if they are interchangeable?

Regards,

Alan C.

[Alan CharlestonParticipant @alancharleston78882]

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

I can't help with a Boxford and I have a 9inch Southbend which is interchangeable with Hercus parts that were made in Australia.

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

I have changed a Boxford CUD bed with a Southbend one several years ago. If I remember correctly the beds on all the Boxford AUD, BUD & CUD are the same. The only thing may be the gearbox mounting holes could be different on the SB. But in general all the large cast parts are interchangable.

The spindle threads on the SB are 60deg & the Boxford 55deg.

Good luck.

regards

[Alan CharlestonParticipant @alancharleston78882]

Thanks for the replies. I was wondering about the gearbox myself. Unfortunately the bed is 400 miles away so I can't inspect it before (if) I buy.

Regards,

Alan C.

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

Alan

When I put a Boxford saddle assembly on my SouthBend bed the only significant issue was with the gear drive to the power cross feed. I had to re-work a leadscrew buy splitting it and putting a SouthBend gear section in the middle. Southbend gear centres were slightly shorter so the salad didn't quite sit down on the bed.

Everything else lined top wand worked fine although some folk have reported that the apron to cross slide joint may not be at the right level necessitating shimming or gearbox and leadscrew positional adjustment.

Fairly sure the gearbox mountings don't all line up.

Clive

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

The other way around, I put a Boxford head and gearbox onto a Southbend bed without any difficulty 30 years ago.

[Alan CharlestonParticipant @alancharleston78882]

Thanks Clive and Speedy – good to know>

Regards,

Alan

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