south bend lathe

bfullmer

Member
My lathe is running .040out of round I would like to get a new chuck - it is a 3 jaw 8 inch that bolts to a face plate-should I get a 3 or 4 jaw and is the bolt pattern to face plate all the same 3 bolts ? This is an old lathe and looking to spend 200 not 2,000. Any lathe guys in Lansing Mi. area would like to hire you to teach me to run this thing ? I checked face plate and it is true.
 
check out wholesale tool ( wttool.com) ? they are out of Michigan maybe there is a store near you can go by and match up the one you have. There are a lot of different ones made. Their catalog gives measurements.
 
A 4-jaw is a much better investment if you are not doing production work and working against the time clock.

It does take some time to indicate the work but with practice 5 minutes should do it. 4-jaws offer much better holding power as the opposing jaws are 180 degrees apart.

Did you check to see if new jaws or scroll plate is available to rebuild your current 3-jaw ?
 
The face plate should screw off and the south bend chuck screw on. on a four jaw you will need to indicate the piece you turn each time. Unless you get an expensive one. The three jaw can be cut on center if it is out.

I just checked Ebay and they have several sizes of chucks for the south bend lathes. Unless you are doing a lot of precision work you should be able to get by with a good used chuck. The only new chucks I ever bought for my mold building shop was with new lathes.
By Click Here
 
there are a bunch of videos on you tube on how to true up a chuck on a lathe, check em out, you may not need to replace yours. heres a link to one method
poke here
 
I will second Glennster's comment. Youtube is your friend here. Check out videos by Tubalcain, he's got a video that explains just about anything you need to know. I'm using his videos to teach myself how to run my Atlas lathe.
 
In general unless you spend a lot of money a 3 jaw will not be closer than a few thousands. It may be close in one position and not in another. With a 4 jaw independent chuck you can center the work about perfect, but it takes longer, but not much longer once you get a little experience. you would probably want a dial indicator and a magnetic base for it. A cheap import would be OK for this. If you look you can find them on sale for maybe $25 or not much more for both. I 3 jaw is a lot more convenient if you can live with maybe being off a few thousands. If you make the back plate fit the chuck a little loose you can center up the 3 jaw too, but that isn't too convenient either. If a person was to have only one chuck it would probably be the 4 jaw independent-unless you can live with up maybe .004 or .005" out of true. Of course if you are making a new piece and don't remove it from the chuck until done it will come out true anyway.
 
Watched video on guy making an aluminum collar -I am turning large stock 1 3/4 round -Watched one grinding jaws I don't have grinder- tried switching jaw position too. How can you reverse jaws when the threads are curved ? No new parts from southbend.
 
Get rid of the faceplate mounting . Get a chuck the threads on directly . Measure your thread and go on ebay and get a used American chuck for South Bend. I sold South Bend chucks for 100 bucks on ebay 3 and 4 jaw. Get both for 200 or less.
 
The jaws have to go in the proper locations, they should be numbered. If your jaws were out of position it would be way more than .040 out. Could be the spindly bearings. If I recall the old South Bends used bronze sleeve bearings that were mounted in a taper for adjustment. Should be some books or videos out there to tell you how.
 
Maybe you're the guy I bought mine from. 8" 4 jaw (1.5" x 8) I seem to remember for $110 with free shipping. I couldn't believe it. Half the cost must have been for shipping 'cause of the weight.
 
3 jaw chucks are notorious to keep round.

Is there play in the center shaft, if good then you can grind the jaws round, or just get a 4 jaw.
 
That much out I would check to make sure the jaws are in the correct slots. Most likely is the bolt holes are a little off.

One of my lathes is a SB 10L. The steel shaft runs directly on the cast iron bore in the headstock. There are shims you peel off from either cap to tighten the bearing clearance. Chuck a piece of shaft about a foot long and set up a dial indicator on the chuck. Pull up and down on the shaft and watch the dial indicator for how much clearance you have. IIRC you want about a thousandth total; when running, the oil wedge takes up the rest. It's been a while so look that number up. Also I'm not sure which lathe you have.

You can download a version of How To Run A Lathe by South Bend for free off the internet. Also easy to find reprints of it for very reasonable cost.
 
Are you measuring .040 otr on a shaft chucked up or are you measuring the chuck unloaded?

Something is wrong here. .040 runout is a lot to be off.
 

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