Age of SB 13 ?

[Gearbusters]

I am trying to figure out how old a SB 13 Big Bore Lathe is. I bought it recently - but will not pick up until late July on a road trip North.

This is what I know so far -

SB ID Plate over the Gear Change Box was painted over (so no Catalog #) & s/n is absent as well.

It has a Heavy Cast Iron Base Base, Large Dials on Saddle and Compound, Lever Clutch, 2 pc Aluminum Gear Cover, Double Tumbler Gear Box, 2-1/4" Threaded Spindle and cast in numbers on the Gears. Its painted a god awful red color - but not much rust...

Most of the videos I have seen on You Tube - have the gear teeth no's hand written with a sharpie on the side... So I am thinking late 50's or 60's - after they started to cast the tooth no on the gears...

Loose bolts are a little wierd too !!!

Any help would be appreciated.

JP @ Gearbusters

 

[SLK001]

Probably between 1957 and 1967. No serial number means that it was used by SB as a production lathe (and later sold after bankruptcy), so no help there. The lever clutch came in the later '50s and the cast aluminum gear covers went away in the late '60s. That's probably as close as you're going to get. Maybe the company name on the ID plate can help narrow things down.

 

[Gearbusters]

Wow - tell me more about the South Bend Production Lathes ?

 

[SLK001]

Wow - tell me more about the South Bend Production Lathes ?

Whenever SB needed a lathe for a specific purpose, do you think that they put out RFQ from a competitor? No, they got them off the line. Since the addition of a serial number is one of the last things that happens to a lathe before it is shipped out, these internal lathes didn't get a S/N. They were never meant to be sold, but after the plant closed, all the production lathes were auctioned off.

 

[SBLatheman]

Interesting theory, but that’s not the way it worked.
1) Almost all the lathes and special machines had serial numbers. The exceptions I know of were when a machine needed a replacement bed.
2) Capital expenditures had to be applied for and justified. We couldn’t just pull one “off the line“.
3) Serial numbers were assigned and stamped into the bed as soon as the bed was set up in final assembly to fill an order ( customer order or stock order)

 

[Gearbusters]

Ted
So do you think this SB 13 made it back to the factory for a Bed Replacement ?
JP @ Gearbusters

 

[SBLatheman]

Ted
So do you think this SB 13 made it back to the factory for a Bed Replacement ?
JP @ Gearbusters

Wait until you have the machine in your possession.

 

[dalmatiangirl61]

SB ID Plate over the Gear Change Box was painted over (so no Catalog #) & s/n is absent as well.

Serial number will be stamped into tailstock end of the bed, not in ID plate on headstock.