1947 model A 9" South Bend

[Anasazi]

I bought this lathe from the original owners nephew. it was bought new in 1948 from W T Wills Machinery Co. cat # 644 A serial # 5116NAR8 it came very fully tooled, tapper attachment, milling attachment, 64th set of colletts and many old style lantern tool holders as well as newer ones. It is in excellent condition! It has never been repainted or restored. I love the old patina and the grey is a bit darker. It has less than 10 thou backlash on compound and cross slide screws, original scraping marks on all the way and machine surfaces! It was on a old oil soaked bench made from a door. I built a new bench for it using recycled, old growth, strait grain, Doug Fir for the 2 1/2" slab top and laminated 2x6s for the legs and top and bottom rails, also added levelers with heavy duty casters. It is my treasure, and it gives me peace.

 

[inshootingsupply]

That's a beauty! Nice job on the table too. Now if you'd like to come off of that milling attachment.....

 

[Anasazi]

Thanks, it is a pleasure to use. I am making a ER-32 collet chuck for it. I keep making tools for it ha ha.

 

[Certreb]

Nice setup on your 9A. A couple of months ago I found a 9A very close to you S/N range with the same tooling. The South Bend was listed on CL, one hour drive from home, had been stored in a barn for over 20 years. The seller had inherited the South Bend from his great uncle's estate. His story was that his great uncle was given the South Bend at retirement via the company he had worked for over 40 years. I found out that is was true, the company he worked for purchased the lathe in early 1948. This find make my South Bend collection to a total of 8 South Bend lathes. Hope all goes well with you tool making

 

[comstockfriend]

I have two W T Wills Machinery Co distributed SB's, a 9" Model A CL644A s/n 38987NAR9 shipped April 2,1956, and a 13" CLC145B s/n 6715TKX13 shipped June 25, 1958.

W T Wills Machinery Co was in downtown Los Angeles on Olympic. Your location is kind of vague. Are you in the LA area???

John

 

[Anasazi]

Ocean Park WA

 

[SteveM]

I also have a 1947, although not in the shape yours is in.
I'm making a bench using 4x4's for the top - we have a flat-bed trucker in the neighborhood that has them as leftovers from trucking jobs.
I'm also going to build a 40" Snap-on intermediate box into it for storage, and have kickdown casters on it so that I can move it when needed, but have it resting on the floor when not.