Southbend Lathes

[cmnewcomer]

Does anyone have any information on the revived Southbend product line?

I'm in the market for a new lathe and was considering the Grizzly G9730 13" x 40" High Precision Tool Room Lathe, 3 HP 220V Single-Phase which is a little bigger than I want and when I came accross the Southbend site at http://southbendlathe.com/home.aspx I thought it might we worth the wait. Might not be able to afford these new machines but would like to get any information available. The site currently shows the smaller units, less that 14", as coming soon. Unfortunately the site doesn't provide much more.

Anyway, just curious if anyone has got some inside information on these.

Best Regards.

Carl

[mtechserv]

I can't tell you anything about the price. I did read some info on another site that the owner of Grizzly purchased what was left of South Bend Lathe. Those models you mentioned are going to be produced again, but by a lathe manufacturing company over in Taiwan. I beleive he is making some minor design changes, but overall the design will reflect the original SB lathes.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't spend a dime on a new "belt drive" lathe. I think you would be much better off purchasing a geared head lathe. There is no belt slippage, and typically, you have a much wider range of speeds on a geared head.
However, I say that without knowing exactly what design changes are planned for the "new" south bends.


mtechserv

[cmnewcomer]

Ok, that makes a lot of sense then especially since they are being sold through Woodstock International, Inc. which appears to be in the exact locations as the Grizzly distributions centers.

I agree that the geared heads seems much nicer and that's why I was thinking of upgrading my existing 12" gap bed belt drive unit to the geared head. Not to mention some of the other nice features of these newer machines.

Best Regards.

Carl

[handlewanker]

Hi, coming from Taiwan, they might just be rebadged Taiwanese terrors that were cheap and nasty a couple of years ago.

Most of the Chinese etc lathes in those smaller sizes are much the same design, some are rougher than others.

I found the thread gear train mechanism to be pretty flimsy and also the belt drive to the head stock was suspect too.

You won't get a geared headstock as cheap as a belt drive model.

With the belt drive, if the belt to the head goes you've got to take the headstock apart, but the smaller models sometimes have the belts right at the end where the thread change gears go so making it easier to replace.

The attached show an oldie with flat belt drive, and a lighter newie with geared head, and another with the belts between the bearings in the head.
Ian.

[S_J_H]

I have a 1960's South Bend 9" model A. Has the QCGB and power feeds on both Z and cross slide. This lathe while nothing like a monarch or Hardinge is way superior in quality than a chicom 9x,10x or 12x lathe.
I have a hard time believing the new South Bends will be of the same quality but only time will tell. If they are and the price is reasonable they will sell.
I have a quality Leeson industrial DC motor and Minarik DC drive on it. So with the 12 speeds of the lathe and the variable speed drive it has an infinite range from about 20-1500rpm.
With a bench mount motor drive, an endless automotive serpentine belt is easy to install by removing the spindle and countershaft. The belt will last pretty much the life of the lathe.
And belt slippage is not an issue period with these belts.
I'm not sure that the new SB's will retain the superb plain bearings or go to ball bearings. The surface finish with a flat belt and plain bearing is fantastic but rpm is limited. Plus it would be nice to see a new lathe that does not look like the cookie cutter boxy designs used today.

[flick]

http://www.mmsonline.com/news/legacy...duct-line.aspx

Sounds promising?

[handlewanker]

Hi Flick, I dunno, I get the awfull feeling that the lathe while being state of the art, will in the end just be another lathe made to the current design, and with all the bells and whistles that the average modern lathe has.

One thing's for sure, if the quality is outstanding, so will be the price, otherwise the Taiwanese, who know exactly what modern lathe design is all about, would just go ahead and make them like that, and at the same price too.

This is just the same as making a Rolls Royce car in Korea, and adding all the bits and pieces that look like a Rolls, but if it ain't made to Rolls quality, it ain't a Rolls, even if it has got a naked lady on the bonnet.

I would go so far as to say that in the present manufacturing field, most of those Chinese/Taiwanese lathes take a lot of beating, and if you want something better you just gotta pay.

Back in the days when South Bend were market leaders, they filled a need for a lathe of a particular specification/price range, and today the Taiwanes and Chinese makers are way up there doing just that.

What market is there for a 9X30 lathe costing $5000? and at which point will they decide to enter the market.
Ian.

[Nzoldun]

Hey Guys,

We're forgetting very important point here.

The Southbend was designed when High Speed Steel was 'king of the hill'

With the advent of carbide tipped tools, particular todays wide range and the much higher speeds and feeds permitted, machine tools in general, including lathes need to be a LOT more rigid (stonger and heavier).

Whilst a near copy of the old southbend would still be a very nice machine to have, particularly for hobby, it simply couldn't cut it in a commercial jobbing shop of today!