Old South Bend Mill CL Find

[Technical Ted]

Mr. Pete does a video on that machine here. Lots of information and views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdPjW8nH5q4

Ted

[alanganes]

I have one of those mills, I also bought it out of a school shop at auction. Mine was made in about 1959 or 60 if I recall. It is a decent machine, probably not the most rigid mill in the world. But like anything else if used within its capabilities it does just fine. I have had it for about 30 years.

Mine came with a double taper collet holder for holding tooling, it holds onto endmills and everything else just fine. It also came with a holder for shell mills that I have never really used. I have been toying with the idea of getting an ER adapter so I can accommodate a wider range of tooling shank sizes, particularly for smaller sizes. What it has is not exactly a quick change setup but perfectly serviceable for my use.

The table drive used a SB lathe quick change gearbox driven by a small motor near the rear of the base and drove the table through a shaft with u-joints. It was missing on mine, most of them seem to get broken and then removed. Funny thing is that a couple of years later I was at another auction at the same school and spotted most of the pieces of the gearbox in a box of junk in one of the lots.

Edit to add a couple of links to more info regarding tool holders for these mills:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...0+collet+chuck


https://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/fo...ers#post648117

[macona]

That gear box looks exactly like the one on my 1966 SB 9A. I can see someone paying that much if they like collecting South Bend machines. But it has a round ram, maybe a 36" bed and it doesn't look near as heavy as a Bridgeport, which as stated could be had for not much more.

It's a round ram but not like Bridgeport. It has a rack that also acts as a guide that keeps it from turning. The head itself can tilt on the end of the ram.

Neat machine. 30 Taper makes it ver nice, I use that on my mill. Use ER collets and you won't have to worry about pull out at all. I put a M12 drawbar in my mill and use BT30 collets. You could probably just take the drive dogs off the spindle on this machine and run without, I dont use them and have never had an issue.

[JRouche]

A friend sent me this link and asked what my thoughts were. It's a long haul for him to drive to so I thought I would inquire here. Other than the mfg. name I don't know anything about this machine. I'm thinking it may be a bit older than 1965 but the gear box looks to be the same as I've seen on SB lathes around the late 50's or so.
Also not sure about the spindle taper, #30 ? How would you adapt it to take standard shank size tooling??

JL...................

https://syracuse.craigslist.org/tls/...399828593.html

Ahh? I liked it before you showed the gear box. Even more so then. I like it for 1500 bucks in that area. And like it for as it stands as a really nice machine. JR

[tom_d]

I looked into the #30 taper and this is what I found. https://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...nd-mill-bt.jpg

I never liked end mill holders of this design as it always leads to the cutter running eccentric. Most end mills don't have the flat ground on the shank for the set screw, I think that was called a "Weldon shank" someone correct me if I'm wrong. I prefer collets.

JL.............

Not correcting your being wrong, confirming you are right. The grub screw against the flat on a straight diameter like on an end mill is commonly referred to as a Weldon shank.

[LKeithR]

If you're "playing" with your tools then collets will be fine. If you start working them endmills have a tendency
to pull out. End mills don't pull out of proper holders. If you're fussy do your roughing with holders and switch
to collets for finishing.

All the end mills I buy have Weldon shanks. Very rarely do I run across an end mill that doesn't have the
notch for locking...

[JoeLee]

I looked into the #30 taper and this is what I found. https://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...nd-mill-bt.jpg

I never liked end mill holders of this design as it always leads to the cutter running eccentric. Most end mills don't have the flat ground on the shank for the set screw, I think that was called a "Weldon shank" someone correct me if I'm wrong. I prefer collets.

JL.............

[flathead4]

That gear box looks exactly like the one on my 1966 SB 9A. I can see someone paying that much if they like collecting South Bend machines. But it has a round ram, maybe a 36" bed and it doesn't look near as heavy as a Bridgeport, which as stated could be had for not much more.

[JoeLee]

I do not know. But once you post a link on a site like this...if it is a good deal, say goodbye to it...LOL

Do you think it's a good deal ?? I have no idea. I think for a few bucks more you could find a decent BP.

JL...............

[Henro]

I do not know. But once you post a link on a site like this...if it is a good deal, say goodbye to it...LOL

[JoeLee]

A friend sent me this link and asked what my thoughts were. It's a long haul for him to drive to so I thought I would inquire here. Other than the mfg. name I don't know anything about this machine. I'm thinking it may be a bit older than 1965 but the gear box looks to be the same as I've seen on SB lathes around the late 50's or so.
Also not sure about the spindle taper, #30 ? How would you adapt it to take standard shank size tooling??

JL...................

https://syracuse.craigslist.org/tls/...399828593.html