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Working on my South Bend 9C

I put the headstock assembly back together yesterday and I feel like the main pulley cone and the back gear are quite tight on their respective spindles.

There's no obvious binding or grinding, and I can turn them by hand (I haven't finished the drive assembly yet and wanted to make sure this isn't a problem before powering up) but it takes a little effort/has a decent amount of drag.

How freely spinning should those parts be? Not sure if it's normal as is or if something is off.

I assembled them with grease as directed in the Ilion manual but I could always strip it back and run oil if that's better for this vintage of machine...
 
@140mower well I didn't want to learn and then forget!

@DavidR8 still one crucial change needed before I can actually run it - one of the turnbuckle bolts needs to get cut down so I can actually lock it out. But it's come a long way! (And thank you as well for the help)
 
I put the headstock assembly back together yesterday and I feel like the main pulley cone and the back gear are quite tight on their respective spindles.

There's no obvious binding or grinding, and I can turn them by hand (I haven't finished the drive assembly yet and wanted to make sure this isn't a problem before powering up) but it takes a little effort/has a decent amount of drag.

How freely spinning should those parts be? Not sure if it's normal as is or if something is off.

I assembled them with grease as directed in the Ilion manual but I could always strip it back and run oil if that's better for this vintage of machine...

Hi Michael,

Forget the grease ! Clean it out and use oil.
 
Very nice indeed!
I wonder what the degree wheel (?) that’s screwed to the bull gear was used for?
Maybe poor man’s gear cutting?
I have seen them mounted on the gear train end of the lathe for indexing.
 
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