I bought an oldish (30+ years) Delta lathe a while ago, and I’m going to refurbish it courtesy of the extensive parts collection of one Mr. Harold Barker in Ohio. As an aside, if you love old tools, look at what he’s got…
http://www.apex-ephemera.com/template/display_ad.cfm?ID=1477&MerchantID=60
Anyway,I am concerned about the flatness of the lathe bed. As far a I can tell with some crude observance (winding sticks) it looks flat. However, how concerned do I need to be? Does it matter as much on a lathe as it does on a jointer for instance? Should I have the bed surface ground at a machine shop?
Whatcha think?
Kevin
Replies
There's virtually no chance that the bed of your machine needs to be surface ground. You may be in for bearings at some point though.
If you haven't found http://www.owwm.com/ yet, that's definitely a great starting point for manuals, common-sense information from experienced people, and pointers to parts sources.
Pete
Don't worry about the lathe bed being flat. Makes no difference if it is slightly warped or a less than smooth casting. You would have problems if it were a jointer. When turning between centers the piece will round out even if the live center is not exactly inline with the spur center. Where there may be a problem is when drilling with a jacobs chuck in the tailstock. Then your hole will be off center . You can buy a double ended morse taper to check your deviation from headstock to the tailstock.
I imagine your lathe has a #2 morse taper in the spindle and tailstock. Place the double ended morse taper in the headstock spindle, move the tailstock up to it and see if it fits. I believe Penn State has these as other companies.If the tailstock does not meet up exactly, you can shim it for height,laterally their may be adjustments. If there are no lateral adjustments their usually is enough play to move the tailstock one way or the other.
You do not need any surfacing, think about this, Roy Underhill and many others do excellent work on everything from wooden pole lathes to treadle lathes. I guarantee you none of those lathes are precision machines. Clean it up and enjoy it.
mike
Mike- Excellent point about the treadle lathes. Mine is actually missing the tailstock, but I'll try that when I get it.Pete- Thanks for the link. Excellent!
Thanks for posting the link to Harold Barker's advertisement. I had a copy of his list years ago, but I misplaced it, and didn't know if he was stiill around.As I recall, he really did have an amazing selection of parts.
Rick W.
The bed isn't a problem, I've got one of that vintage or older.
As mentioned, check to see if the drive and tailstock are even. If not, check the tailstock for damage.
I'd replace the bearings just on principle.
BTW, thanks for the link, nice to have another source for old parts.
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