During the first two years of production the "Workshop" lathe was sold as either a bench unit with a separate but self-contained countershaft drive - or fitted to cast iron legs, in which case the drive system had to be remotely mounted on the wall or ceiling.
During 1937 South bend introduced the first of the Workshop "Underdrive" models; these were fitted to well-built wooden stands and incorporated a version of the drive system already in use on larger models in the range. In order to accommodate the drive from underneath the headstock casting was completely new with wide, cast-in tunnels to allow the belt to pass directly downwards. The bed and its headstock-end supporting foot were cast as one and a deep, hinged guard provided to cover the belt. In the same year the cast-iron "leg" stands were improved by the addition of a tall, floor-mounted countershaft unit which allowed the machine independence from the tyranny of wall and ceiling-mounted countershafts.
By 1947 the first of the more modern-looking underdrive 9-inch models had been introduced; fitted to neat, self-contained sheet-metal cabinet stands the design then evolved, with very few alterations, into the Light 10 Model that remained in production as South Bend's standard small lathe until 2002 - though batches of these late-models examples were made by Hercus in Australia, rather than in the USA.