South Bend Model 9A Lathe, 48" Bed

Here's the first piece of "old iron" -- the machine that started me down the slippery slope. Purchased from Joe at Plaza Machinery. I pulled it completely apart (except for the gearbox) in order to clean all of the oil passages and check the headstock oilers. These lathes have oil resevoirs internal to the headstock from which oil is fed to the spindle bearings by special spring-loaded wicks. It's a good thing I checked, because there was nothing where the wicks should have been except a bit of old rag.

Boring a stock pinion to replace one that lost most of its teeth, for the Royersford drill press.

The spindle on the SB9s is hardened steel, running directly in bored holes in the headstock casting. This lathe has a scored bearing, perhaps due to lack of oil or a chip finding its way in. I cleaned up the ridges and have been gradually closing up on the bearing clearance. So far, so good.

The South Bend Lathe Co. was founded in 1886, and by 1930 was shipping nearly half of the lathes in the US market. Part of South Bend's success was due to their policy of selling small, moderately priced but fully functional lathes such as mine to high schools and trade schools for use by apprentices. The company was slow to change, producing the 9A with only minor changes for about 30 years. South Bend did not offer a quick-change gearbox on any of their lathes until around 1920, roughly 20 years after its introduction. LeBlond USA has taken over the spare parts business of South Bend and still stocks many parts for the 9" lathes.