A lathe, you know for nose cones.

I'm a wood worker have been my whole life, I have a full shop of tools in my garage. I have a few tools I still need and want but for the most part I have a pretty good setup. I have owned a lathe at one point but I needed other tools more so I had to sell it.

Its only propose at the time was making nose cones (and it will be again) so it was hard to justify its existence in my shop. Especially when I needed other tools to make money to so I could eat.

I finally have decided is time to replace the lathe, so to get the wife on board I had to come up with other uses that could bring us in extra income. (I still was going to buy one, it just helped)

The problem is even the used lathes around here seem to be going for a premium. To much cash or to beat for as much as they are asking for. Fortunately I found an old Delta Rockwell that is a little beat but only $100 bucks and all the parts are there it just needs a little TLC.

A little bit of rust cleanup, rewiring, a small part or two and some paint and it will be good as new.

I have all the body parts repainted and waiting for a clear coat, still have a bit of rust removal and paint to go on the head stock and tool rest and tail stock.


TA

For income generation, you might look at making pens. Some hand turned pens command a hefty price.

thobin said:

I'm a wood worker have been my whole life, I have a full shop of tools in my garage. I have a few tools I still need and want but for the most part I have a pretty good setup. I have owned a lathe at one point but I needed other tools more so I had to sell it.

Its only propose at the time was making nose cones (and it will be again) so it was hard to justify its existence in my shop. Especially when I needed other tools to make money to so I could eat.

I finally have decided is time to replace the lathe, so to get the wife on board I had to come up with other uses that could bring us in extra income. (I still was going to buy one, it just helped)

The problem is even the used lathes around here seem to be going for a premium. To much cash or to beat for as much as they are asking for. Fortunately I found an old Delta Rockwell that is a little beat but only $100 bucks and all the parts are there it just needs a little TLC.

A little bit of rust cleanup, rewiring, a small part or two and some paint and it will be good as new.

I have all the body parts repainted and waiting for a clear coat, still have a bit of rust removal and paint to go on the head stock and tool rest and tail stock.


TA

Click to expand...

Dad had an old Delta Lathe but by the time it was handed off to me it was beyond saving the bearing were rusted completely into a single mass couldn't even save the spindle as it was frozen in the head bearing

At the time I needed a decent lathe but didn't have 300-500 bucks to drop on it at the time so I Did the next best thing for turning furniture legs, other odd jobs, a pen or two as well as tons of larger nose cones. I went to Harbor Freight to purchase a Central Machine Lathe. Salvaged several of the 3 and 4 jaw chucks, live and dead centers and as many turning accessories from Dads old Delta as I could. Over the years I've had great results with this semi-portable Full size 12in x 40in Lathe. Spent 99.00 dollars for the base unit in 1990 and have been very satisfied with the quality and accuracy of this Imported Belt driven multi speed machine.
Hope you have as much fun and satisfaction from your rebuilt delta. if all the bearing are still in good shape it should serve you well for another 50 year or so

The bearings are in good shape, but I can get them and replace them in the future if need be.


TA

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Rocketry Forum mobile app

Finally got this beast put back together this weekend and it runs like a dream looks brand new too. Now I just need to find a spot in my shop some were for it and we are ready to make nose cones.




TA

Damn! Nice refurb. That looks great! Wish I had room for one that size. Mine's a HF and can only hold a 12" length. Makes good for many a nose cones though. The one thing I do like about it is that it's not belt driven. It has a manual speed knob that is really nice to have.

Gary Byrum said:

Damn! Nice refurb. That looks great! Wish I had room for one that size. Mine's a HF and can only hold a 12" length. Makes good for many a nose cones though. The one thing I do like about it is that it's not belt driven. It has a manual speed knob that is really nice to have.

Click to expand...

True that as far as I can tell I have to pound the shaft out to put a new belt on.


TA

Micromeister said:

Dad had an old Delta Lathe but by the time it was handed off to me it was beyond saving the bearing were rusted completely into a single mass couldn't even save the spindle as it was frozen in the head bearing

At the time I needed a decent lathe but didn't have 300-500 bucks to drop on it at the time so I Did the next best thing for turning furniture legs, other odd jobs, a pen or two as well as tons of larger nose cones. I went to Harbor Freight to purchase a Central Machine Lathe. Salvaged several of the 3 and 4 jaw chucks, live and dead centers and as many turning accessories from Dads old Delta as I could. Over the years I've had great results with this semi-portable Full size 12in x 40in Lathe. Spent 99.00 dollars for the base unit in 1990 and have been very satisfied with the quality and accuracy of this Imported Belt driven multi speed machine.
Hope you have as much fun and satisfaction from your rebuilt delta. if all the bearing are still in good shape it should serve you well for another 50 year or so

Click to expand...

That Central Machine Lathe in the picture is identical to my Craftsman one, If parts break they may be available by looking up the Craftsman model. Chinese copy everything, Grizzly's cheapest wood shaper is a complete copy of my old Rockwell/Delta wood shaper, so I order parts from Griz, only bad thing is the copys screws and stuff are metric.

You're talking Qquake2K's lingo here. He's posted pictures of his new lathe and uses it to make all sorts of nosecones, centering rings, couplers, etc. I recall him mentioning that he made a lot of pens before he returned to rocketry.

BTW, beautiful restoration of the your Delta.