Folks -
I've been working on a mobile base for my dad's Homecraft Delta Milwaukee Rockwell 36" lathe, circa 1950ish. The headstock has indexing, which is a nice feature.... My dad used it in patternmaking for microfilm camera bodies. I turned his cremation urn on it.
I'm going to clean the lathe up and polish the ways, but I am not going to repaint it or anything. The bearings all still feel smooth and have oil cups for lubrication. My dad had it set up with a 4 speed jackshaft and a
1/3 hp motor. I'll keep the motor for now and then bump up to something a *little* larger.Pop had the lathe mounted to a bench with the motor and jackshaft behind the headstock. I don't have the luxury of that kind of room, so I am mounting the powertrain more or less vertically. Getting everything set so that the belts all tighten on rotation is taking some doing, but hasn't produced much scrapwood...
I am going to set the lathe base up with casters for moving, other than that it sits flat on a base. I'll set the tailstock column up as storage for tools and may mount a disc on the outboard end of the headstock for a bastardized version of "scary sharp" touch up for chisels.
Pics to follow you know where.
John Moorhead