South Bend 9" A How Good?

Craig... Any tips you can offer would be appreciated

I have a 1945 (yikes) model that I need to rebuild

TIA

Tom

I tried to email you but it kept bouncing it back to me. So here is what I sent

Tom, This was my first try at this, I just purchased it for 400 bucks so I didn't have much to lose. I also picked up a nice Bridgeport 30" mill for even less and the mill is what I used to recut the bed. I found the worst, deepest ware part of the bed and used that as my deepest cut point. I used a

45 chamfer cutter, set it up on the table and cut the 2 ways/4 sides. I took off about 70 thou to clean it up. I did not touch the tail or head stock ways as they were fine, only the saddle ways and I only cut them out as far as normal travel would be so you can still see the original (end) of the way which I used for reference points because they had no ware. I then used 1/32 pure Teflon strips and bonded it to the saddle with epoxy and let it set on the new ways to dry and find it own center. The 1/32 thickness brought the saddle up the its original height so I didn't have to screw with the lead screw or tool rest. For a quick job it really turned out a lot better than I ever hoped for. I had a backup plan if it didn't work. look for another bed!! or mill out the ways completely and replace them with steel stock and screws/shims to get them right (plus) then cut them to the original size and do not use the Teflon. I am not too far from the South Bend Factory so I am going to email them to see how much a new bed would cost or if they have any old ones laying around.

Good Luck

Craig Grand Rapids MI

Craig thanks for responding - the email I use here is primarily a spam catcher You can get me direct from the link on my site - just tested it (just in case)

Appreciate the advice - now I have to get a mill!! :)

"Honey - I was thinking..... wouldn't a mill look great in the basement - garage etc"

Tom