Out of nowhere I was given an old South Bend 9" x 4.5 feet which is from 1936 based on the serial number. It is a model C, so no power crossfeed or friction drives to worry about. I will put up a thread with pictures and all once I get further into it, but for the moment see the first picture on the page at
http://www.lathes.co.uk/southbend9-inch. Every last moving part moves smooth and free, but I am disassembling totally to clean up all the old oil that has found a new career as varnish during the last 20 years it has been in storage (in a nice dry indoor room!).
What I am wondering about is what would be suggested to use for the felt bits. The wipers for the ways are felt, but also inside some of the change gear parts there are strips of felt in the bores for some shafts, in slots along the bore similar to a keyway. Oil holes feed the back of the felt and in that way keeps the shaft lubricated. Any suggestions for what I could use to replace this material? Yeah yeah, I hear you saying "Use felt ya dummy" but are there different kinds of felt like maybe different densities? Or something better to use?
Anything unusual I should be aware of on this machine?
Thanks, more questions and pics to come.
Lee
