South Bend Heavy Ten Fixed Steady

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year everyone.

My planned Christmas present from Mrs B was delayed, but fortunately an item I happened to see on Ebay turned up just in time to replace it.
A fixed steady for the South Bend lathe. This is a very rare item in the UK, where these lathes are uncommon to say the least, and an expensive import so this one was worth a punt. In the event this item not only fits perfectly but also works perfectly as well, so I am very pleased. The only point of note is that two of the knurled locking screws have been replaced with brass slotted grub screws, this has happened recently as the screws are bright; I would have thought that they are a bit easy to damage, so I shall seek or make replacements.

This should allow me to machine long shafts and tubes, especially some steel I have that will be good for wheels and rolls for the small traction engines and rollers that I like, I am still crossing my fingers as the diameter that this fitting allows is a bit small. That's what you get with a tool room lathe that assumes that there is a bigger lathe somewhere. The upside is that this casting is very strong and flows metal around the adjusters, which are sublime in action, so it is many times better than the current style of inexpensive lathes that have most of the metal slotted out. Either way this important piece of kit was missing from my machine so it is now complete in that I have a travelling steady, three and four jaw chucks and a taper turning attachment.

Allowing for the chuck I should be able to cope with 500mm long workpieces.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

That's a good stout steady. Makes the flimsy Myford equivalent look laughable. Very handy for machining and parting slices of the ends of bar too big to fit up the spindle bore. I have plans to make a similar one for my Myford. Made one for the old Drummond and wouldn't be without it.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Nice taper turning attachment too.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Roger Best on 27/12/2020 11:39:57:

[…]

The only point of note is that two of the knurled locking screws have been replaced with brass slotted grub screws, this has happened recently as the screws are bright; I would have thought that they are a bit easy to damage, so I shall seek or make replacements.

[…]

.

My guess being that the originals had the scars of Mole Grips all over the knurling

… Nice steady

MichaelG.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

There have been a few clones but the SB is pretty rare here

A good solid machine with a good reputation

[mark smith 20Participant @marksmith20]

They are nice rests , i got both with my SB 9A. A few pics and one of the thumb screw attached.

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

Good looking machine.

Mine was the later version on a square cabinet with D1-4 spindle and all the bits except the 5C collet adapter. Collets but no adapter. £350 to import the adapter direct from SouthBend back around 1995 (ish). Yikes!

Toolroom in SouthBend parlance meaning "comes with all the bits" as opposed to super accurate and super expensive.

It was very accurate but getting the taper turner set up just so nearly drove me to drink. Any drag on the thing twists the saddle causing it to ride up slightly on the front Vee so getting a well finished taper to Mores accuracy was hard. No hold downs on the front of a SouthBend saddle. Just the rear gib which, so far as I could see was best set to run with clearance, about half a thou in my case.

Outed it when the idiot short travel tailstock popped the drill chuck out once too often on retraction the same weekend as an affordable Smart & Brown 1024 VSL turned up within collection range. Weekend before a freidns friend had asked me to let him know if I wan't to sell it suggesting a very sweet price. By the time the dust had settled I was basically out two lots of transport costs at petrol'n beer style mates rates for the changeover.

Still got an under drive single pulley countershaft unit hanging around left over from when I changed mine to dual pulley to get the extra speeds. Someone will want it one day.

Clive

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

If you have a mill, you could easily make a second set of fingers with little ball races at the ends, then your steady will be complete. When usung a steady, cut a disc of card to fit on the work to stop swarf getting caught in the fingers.

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Cheers Guys

Mark – 1/4 what? UNC maybe? Thanks for the pictures, they will encourage a paint job and buff up.

Old Mart – good tip, thanks. This is an old machine so there are very few rolling element bearings, a few small races would be a good update.

Clive – funny you should mention Morse tapers, I just got a pm mentioning the funny South Bend spindle taper. I expect an adaptor is the first thing people want to make with the taper turning attachment.

ta, Rog

[mark smith 20Participant @marksmith20]

I think they a 1/4" x 20 UNC

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Posted by mark smith 20 on 27/12/2020 16:55:21:

I think they a 1/4" x 20 UNC

Thanks, a good place to start.

R

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

Lucky to find that steady, they are rare as hens teeth. I have the same machine (less the taper attachment) which I'm just finishing rebuilding. I don't know of any other small lathe with a larger spindle bore. I put a dial gauge on the internal taper on mine and it didn't even move as much as a tenth.

Do you have the metric threading banjo on yours?

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Posted by Pete Rimmer on 27/12/2020 17:23:13:

Lucky to find that steady, they are rare as hens teeth. I have the same machine (less the taper attachment) which I'm just finishing rebuilding. I don't know of any other small lathe with a larger spindle bore. I put a dial gauge on the internal taper on mine and it didn't even move as much as a tenth.

Do you have the metric threading banjo on yours?

No Pete I don't. It has a table of metric settings and a diagram on the cover but the extra bits are missing.

Not a big deal but sod's law a says I will regret it one day.

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

I would appreciate it if I could get a good pic of the metric setup diagram Roger. I mean to make a metric banjo and gear set of my own. Would you be able to take a photo of it do you think?

Pete.

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Posted by Pete Rimmer on 27/12/2020 19:00:11:

I would appreciate it if I could get a good pic of the metric setup diagram Roger. I mean to make a metric banjo and gear set of my own. Would you be able to take a photo of it do you think?

Pete.

Certainly Pete.

I have one at low resolution but it isn't clear enough, I will take a better shot today.

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Posted by Pete Rimmer on 27/12/2020 19:00:11:

I would appreciate it if I could get a good pic of the metric setup diagram Roger. I mean to make a metric banjo and gear set of my own. Would you be able to take a photo of it do you think?

Pete.

I have put three images in my album at different resolutions, I probably should have cropped them down. (DOH!)

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Posted by old mart on 27/12/2020 14:35:48:

If you have a mill, you could easily make a second set of fingers with little ball races at the ends, then your steady will be complete. When usung a steady, cut a disc of card to fit on the work to stop swarf getting caught in the fingers.

Nice little project:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/South-Bend-Lathe-9-10-Telescoping-Steady-Rest-Jaws-Fingers-with-Bearings/192871164977?hash=item2ce8046c31:g:GksAAOSwj0NUlxGH

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

Posted by Roger Best on 28/12/2020 19:50:03:

Posted by Pete Rimmer on 27/12/2020 19:00:11:

I would appreciate it if I could get a good pic of the metric setup diagram Roger. I mean to make a metric banjo and gear set of my own. Would you be able to take a photo of it do you think?

Pete.

I have put three images in my album at different resolutions, I probably should have cropped them down. (DOH!)

Seems like the forum has re-sized them all to 1024. No matter, they are legible so I'm off to make a set of gears and a banjo.

Thanks Roger.

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Great

keep us in the loop Pete, I am sure to copy you one day.

There are differences related to the gearbox used, which do you have? The later machines seem to be a lot easier.

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

I have the same setup as you Roger, I'm pretty sure. Yeah the later 2-tumbler box would be much easier to do.

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Nice lathe the SB Heavy Ten.

I have a few contacts in the US who use them for gun-smithing duties as they can fit a rifle barrel through the headstock and using an outboard spider they can cut and ream a chamber for custom rifles.

Wouln't mind one.

* Danny ^

[Chris GunnParticipant @chrisgunn36534]

Roger, I have some knurled screws that are 1/4" x 20 whitworth that would do nicely, they should fit OK, I will send some if you PM me with your address.

Chris Gunn

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Posted by Pete Rimmer on 30/12/2020 01:19:26:

I have the same setup as you Roger, I'm pretty sure. Yeah the later 2-tumbler box would be much easier to do.

Ooh Pete, that looks like it should do. Are you trying to encourage me?

Is there a post on speed control and large dials I should be looking at?

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Super screws arrived in the post, big thanks to Chris Gunn and Mark Smith 20 for being so helpful and inspirational in their machine maintenance.

[Author]

Posts