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Southbend 16" Parts/advice needed

kevin.decelles

Jack of all trades -- Master of none
Premium Member
My neighbour got wind of a large barn-find lathe in the area so we went to have a look. Turned out to be a Southbend 16" (7' bed) w/stand.

The bad? If is mostly disassembled (head-stock is mounted), saddle/apron are removed as are cross slide and compound. This lathe 'had' a quick change gear box but it was stolen (longer story), and there are no change gears. This isn't an issue as we plan to convert it to ELS. It also has 1/3 of the taper attachment (see notes on crash below)

The good? It has 'most' of the pieces you'd expect (tailstock, cross silde, apron, compound, steady rest, under-bed motor mount (3ph) and VFD. The lead screws are straight and in good shape. Little to no rust on anything, due to 6-8 years of dust and grease.

There is 'significant' wear on the ways, with a decent edge on the v-ways. This lathe was also dropped or 'tipped over backwards' as the gear-train cover casting is broke as is the taper attachment casting.

We negotiated to $400 for what I've described above, thought being that this is close to scrap price.

After transporting it, degreasing and reassembling the apron, cross/compound, there are are some pieces to acquire/replace, mostly on the cross/compound, mostly bearings and bushings/dials etc. The bushings/dials can be made, but the bearings is where I need assistance first.

The bearings I'm looking for are the H2/T2 (AS841H2 and AS841T2 respectively). I need two of each. I did the typical deep dive on the web but have come up short of a 'supplier' for these exact parts, most people get them from other southbend owners so that is where I'm starting!

If anyone has extras of these, or knows were to acquire NOS parts, or knows the McMaster Carr equivalent etc. I'm all ears. Here is some info I've found on these parts, this came from posts from other sites.

pn AS841H2 (measured id .630, od 1.120, 10 balls, .155 diameter)
pn AS841T2 (measured id .630, od 0.988, 10 balls, .125 diameter)


Note: Yes, we know this machine won't turn out aircraft motor parts...... My neighbor has the bug and needs to turn pins for his loader etc. so We're hoping that we can get it to do that semi-accurately. For $400 I figured there was no loss...... I personally think it would make a great shooting rest, and I've agreed to purchase it for $400 if/when we abandon this. At the minimum, I think there is probably 1500-2000 in parts to sell of (tail stock, threading dial, follow rest, chucks etc.)
 
While I can't help with the acquisition of parts, I can say "Sounds like a good find, and should be fun getting things together and getting the old girl running again."
 
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