South Bend Lathe

I got the lathe back together and finished up the part for the high mileage project I was machining when things stopped rotating. The headstock spindle is still a little loose but I needed to get the piece threaded so I'll tackle tightening things up at another time. The lathe came out of a high school machine shop and had seen a lot of service prior to my getting it. I cleaned it up and replaced a few parts before putting it into service but it needs a good going over once again. I've been using it for close to twenty years and I've made a ton of parts with the thing.

I did an internet search for South Bend lathe to see about ordering some parts and came up with the website of the factory. I thought they were about out of business but it looks like they are on an upswing. The website has a history of the company that's pretty interesting. They also have a page of historic photos that is also pretty cool if you're a machinery junkie like myself. It looks like they are going to bring a couple of their small lathes back into production. That would be good to see. I'm pretty well fixed in the lathe department but a small tabletop lathe would be nice to have. Something like an Atlas 6" or a South Bend 7" would be just the ticket. I could put it down the basement and make all kinds of things when it's too cold to go out in the shop. I'm starting to see myself in the future as one of those old geezers who tinkers around making little steam engines and whatever else comes to mind. Not the worst thing that could happen in retirement. In fact, I started building a live steam locomotive when I worked at the other school. I still have a box of parts and the plans. Maybe I can drag those out in about five years.

When I first started teaching school I didn't know much about machining. The instructor there, Ray Pawlowski, took a liking to me and taught me a lot. I had always been making things and when I realized I had a complete machine shop at my disposal, it really opened up the possibilities. Ray really helped me out and I'll never be able to thank him enough. It's been a real blessing to have come across people like Ray and my Uncle Pete. Great craftsmen who were willing to share their knowledge and skills. I'm just glad I had enough sense to pay attention to them.