I just recieved my new South Bend 8K

[ZipSnipe]

Congratz on the lathe !!!


Love those benches, did you make those?

 

[Wizard69]

Just helping to wake up this thread.

We need more info about this slow going, was it a lack of power, chatter or something else?

Oh one thing WD40 and machining steel don't go together at all. I don't know why it works so well for Aluminum but it seems to have the opposite impact on steel.

A further question, you said in your first post that the lathe has been panned on the forums. Which forums? I ask because I see the lathe as an interesting example of a step above the normal Chinese lathe. Yes the price is stiffer than many would like, but for that price you are getting an excellent spindle and what appears to be a good variable speed drive. My only regret is that Grizzly didn't put a full 5C capable spindle on the machine. As others have said it make more sense to put some electronics on this lathe.

I am starting to spend a little more time at home. I am in the process of setting up the shop in my new house. I,ve got the workbenches in now and have mounted the SB 8K. My first task this past weekend was to
machine a D1-3 backplate for my Bison 5" 3 jaw chuck I had left over from
my old South Bend 9A I sold a few months ago (big mistake). The Bison Chuck was set up with a 1 1/2" x 8 threaded backplate. The 8K cut a nice finish however, it was slow going, this steel was really tough. I had to limit the cuts to about 20 thousands a pass with a final finish cut of 0.005. I was using a 3/8" carbide insert tool using wd40. The belt was on the slow speed pulley at about 500 RPM.

A few pics:

Dale

 

[mikbul]

What happened to the rest of this thread?

Also slow speed range on the SB1001 is 50-200 rpm's. High range 200 - 2300 rpm's (mine is 215-2300). So he must have been in high range at 545 rpm's. It's not a typo, there's a photo of the digital tach, 545 rpm's, high range!
Since it's a D1-3 back plate I'm assuming it's tool steel and not mild steel using carbide, then 140 SFM X 4 = 560/3" = 186 rpm. Below slowest speed in high range. Low range would have given you the 186 rpm's needed and probably would have hogged right through it.
That's assuming all that was cut off was the three inch center bulge, but it looks like some work was done at four inches which should be 140 rpm in low range with carbide.

 

[sunworksco]

There has been good comments by owners of this lathe on The Practical Machinist Forum.
I'm considering buying one now that the good word is out.
I'm in California and shipping from Washington is not expensive.
Old South Bend lathes are rare in good condition in California and are expensive when you find one. The old South Bend lathes are expensive to ship from the Midwest, too.

 

[mikbul]

There has been good comments by owners of this lathe on The Practical Machinist Forum.
I'm considering buying one now that the good word is out.
I'm in California and shipping from Washington is not expensive.
Old South Bend lathes are rare in good condition in California and are expensive when you find one. The old South Bend lathes are expensive to ship from the Midwest, too.

Hello Rocket man
Check my thread out on there and you'll find some good info about lubricants, and the post about the forward/reverse idler gears, and grease fittings is worth looking at.

 

[Tin Falcon]

FYI grizzly has knocked another
$300 off the price for a price of $$1,965.00 plus shipping of $99


http://www.grizzly.com/products/8K-8-x-18-Lathe/SB1001

Tin

 

[sunworksco]

Thanks Mikbul