Bench Top Lathes???

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I have an old south bend, 9”swing,48” bed. I wouldnt be without it. The bed isnt perfect,but i can manage most everything i need to do.i was lucky to trip over this one, toolpost grinder,and taper attatchment. Never needed the taper feature, its removed As it hinders other processes.
Rigidity is important, makes for better finish. Have to know your metal,feeds and speeds play a big part in it.
I need a mill, its on my watch list.
 
Are those Shopsmith MK5 all in ones any good? Always see them for sale for ~$300-600 locally. Probably another $500 to get live centers and precision tooling holder. Looks more for wood turning.
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I have an older South Bend 9" with a 42" bed, it also has a quick change gear box. I wish it had a 48" bed and larger hole through the spindle. I just bought a new 6 1/2" three jaw chuck, a new live center, new motor and put all new wicks in it. I also bought a Palmgren milling attachment, end mills and holder. I've used it a bunch but it's no substitute for a mill.

As mentioned you can do a lot of work on one, just have to be aware of it's limitations. I'd be lost without mine.
 
rustycowll69 said:
you could possibly turn the seal surface down and/or use a "speedy sleeve" to restore the seal area.
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The only problem with that is the entire snout will have to be turned down in order to get the speedy sleeve to the seal area.
 
I don't think they are bad enough to need sleeved.

Just too bad to be done by hand without mechanical help.
 
YY1 said:
I have a somewhat related lathe question-

Can you use a lathe to turn down a rusty drive shaft yoke?

I have several (many?) drive shafts that have been stored uninstalled and developed a good layer of surface rust on the polished yoke area.

Are the yokes ruined or can they be saved?
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Use a roll of emery cloth...
 
I had an Atlas like that...bought it for $100 sold it for $250... maybe I should have kept it!
 
YY1 said:
They don't appear to be pitted, just the rust is thicker than I'd feel comfortable manually sanding off.

Just having them turning so I could hold the sandpaper and guarantee an even application would probably do it.

If not, one or two very shallow passes with a tool would absolutely do it.
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Drop the yoke in a tube of 6% Cleaning Vinegar from the grocery store overnight, that will kill the rust. Degrease clean first, then wire wheel it to polish it up after the vinegar dunk, then a little Crocus Cloth for the seal surface final polish.

If not deeply pitted you should be like new again, like light polishing a crankshaft with Crocus Cloth.
 
By the way, my cousin moved and needed to store his old antique bench top lathe here. Made a nice little bushing with it a couple of weeks ago.

Dang handy to have around.
 
look up your local makerspace. mine has a 7hp 16-60 lathe and a 5hp bridgeport style mill. we also have a small cnc mill, laser cutters, etc
 
Krooser said:
I believe you are over thinking this deal. I've cleaned them up by hand and never had an issue.
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I've cleaned them up by hand as well.

these look just a little too rough for that but not rough enough to sleeve them.

plus I have a dozen.

If I can get a lathe (and know I can make it work) for the same cost as paying for them to be machined, them I'm ahead.
 
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