This Old Lathe
The South Bend had seen better days and, like many of us, she no longer takes orders blindly. You need to collaborate with her, coax her, lean a little on the crossfeed handle as the carriage approaches the chuck. Then she'll do good, accurate work.
I love this big old lathe from its quaint cast-iron handwheels to its Art Deco tailstock (so cleverly streamlined to reduce air resistance). Officially, its known as a South Bend Model 113-C with a 13" swing and a six-foot bed. The factory shipped it at the end of 1937, just in time, as things turned out, to fight World War Two.

Working late at night, I can almost feel the ghostly presence of the generations of men who sweated over the old South Bend. (They could be more forthcoming with technical support.)

What you might ask, does an old lathe--heavy as sin and tired as a panhandler's smile--have to do with the old car hobby? We're playing with cars, not trying replicate the Industrial Revolution.

With the exception of a drill press, a lathe is the most versalile machine tool one can own. During the course of work on a 1950 Chevrolet pickup, the lathe was used to make scores of parts, most of them unavailable in the aftermarket. Even when the parts could be ordered, it seemed more productive and was certainly less expensive to fabricate them myself. Stubborn shackle bushings called for the mother of all bushing drivers. It weighs almost 10 lb and could not have been built without a lathe.

A lathe confers a level freedom to the restoration process because it was the basic tool used to build the car in the first place.

Buying a Lathe

A new Chinese 12" x 36" gear-head lathe with tooling can be had for around $2000. These 1100-lb machines occupy a minimum amount of shop space, run on 220V single-phase current, and have enough capacity for most automotive jobs. Owners I talked with seemed reasonably satisfied, if not overly enthusiastic, about these utilitarian products, designed for the hobbyist.

The same money will buy a well used (and often abused) Atlas, South Bend or perhaps even a Monarch. At one time these lathes were serious production tools and still do yoeman’s service in small shops. But be careful: the used machinery market is no more scrupulous than the vintage car market. In fact, I think I have seen some of the same faces at auctions.

Some of the best, most cogent advice for evaluating used lathes can be found at Meridian Machinery. Briefly we can say that the ways -- the track upon which the carriage rides -- are the heart and soul of the machine. If the ways are worn or distorted, the carriage and cutting tool lose alignment with the spindle and make accurate work impossible. Regrinding the ways would cost more than the lathe is worth. Wear on the spindle and spindle bearings can also be quite expensive to correct.

Nearly all production tools operate on three-phase current, which is not generally available in residential areas. Most people run the original motor with a commercial or homemade phase converter. I opted for a new motor and, in the process, sacrificed the electrical reversing feature. So far, it has not been greatly missed.

The gears on the ancient lathe grumble, the crossfeeds bind, and the ways, while relatively true, show numerous battle scars. When these faults are pointed out to old-time machinists, they smile tolerantly and say, "Yeah, but she runs." Run? The South Bend slices through cold-rolled steel like peeling an apple. It holds tolerances close enough for the one or two-off parts needed when restoring an automobile. And, at least to my way of thinking, it has special value as an artifact from the bygone age of American industrialism, the likes of which we shall never see again.
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