Newbie introduction and "what is it?"

[Steve Hajewski]

Hi,

First of all thanks to everyone here for all the great info. I am new to turning and looking forward to figuring out what to work on next. My wife is due with our first child soon (due today actually but no action yet) so I am thinking I might try to make some kind of small toys.

I am the proud owner of a thirdhand 1947 Rockwell lathe (see members and their lathe thread for pic) and all the accessories. After my grandfather passed away, grandma left his shop for all her sons and grandsons to use. However, no one ever touched the lathe. So when I bumbled my way through making a replacement spindle for my house, she suggested i take the lathe with me too.

In the box of misc parts was this part which almost seems like more of a metal working accessory with the cranks and such. If anyone here knows what the top (apparently missing) piece looks like, please e-mail me or post a pic.

After learning the importance of knot free wood, I made a pretty good looking replacement for a porch spindle on try number 2.

The second project was a table, which was made by imitating a design i saw in a furniture store. The problem with this turning is that the "end grain" portion got chipped up and left voids. I need to work on that. This has a lot of putty and dark stain hiding flaws. I also got four stitches in my palm while making the mortises for the legs. That hurts!!!!

Anyway, I look forward to getting better at this. So far i just tried to remember what I saw on PBS and went at it.

Steve

[Wilbur Pan]

Your mystery device looks like a compound slide rest for your lathe. It's missing the part that holds the tool. If you go over to www.owwm.com (a website full of information on old machinery, you can find a reprint (http://www.owwm.com/mfgindex/pubdetail.aspx?id=497) of the manual for this device.

[Scott Hubl]

You have a very nice Delta 1460 lathe on the original stand and with the "Jack Shaft" underneath it allows 16 speeds.

They were sold that way as a woodturning/Light Duty Metal Turning lathe setup.

That is a Delta Compound Cross Slide rest used for metal turning.

It is missing the cutter head that holds the tool used to cut the metal, see pic.

SWEET LATHE, I have one also.
http://i5.ebayimg.com/03/i/001/28/4a/d99f_1.JPG

[Steve Hajewski]

Wows, thanks for the fast replies.

Now that I know what I'm looking for I can see if it is somewhere in grandma's basement. Grandpa was a patent attorney and probably a bit of an engineer, and he collected a lot of odd tools. So figuring out what I'm looking at in his shop is often a challenge. I wish I would have learned more from him before he passed away.

When I brought the lathe home, I replaced the belts, both bearings in the headstock, and removed all of the pasta that rodents stashed in the cavity between the legs and wood section. Nothing like a little maintenance.

Steve

[Scott Hubl]

Do a GOOGLE search for "DELTA 1460" and lots will come up.

Go to the OWWM Old Wood Working Machines website and forums and youll get plenty of info there too.

I got my 1460 about 15 years ago from my father in law and have been collecting and adding as many of the old original accessories as I can find over the last few years.

I plan on doing a complete restoration of it and have it as a shop center piece and use for some light duty metal turning once in awhile.

My Powermatic 3520B is my woodturning workhorse.

Feel free to PM me with any questions you have , you can send me pics of things your not sure of and I will try to help you identify if its for the 1460.

Old Delta machines are BEAUTIFUL I have a few others as well.

1939 four footed Unisaw
1947 Unisaw
1952? 6 inch Jointer on the art deco cast iron stand
and my beloved Delta 1460 lathe.
I have just about every accessory that was available for them back in the day.

Take good care of the BEAUTIFUL lathe!:cool:

[Steve Hajewski]

Well, since you mentioned it... yeah I should do some googling to, but I'll share this anyway.

I also have this piece which I think goes with it. I would think if you have some kind of disc sanding attachment or something this would be a nice rest for your part that you are sanding. I am missing the clamps that hold this onto the lathe though.

That said, I have a drum sanding attachment but not a disc, assuming that exists.

Steve

[Wilbur Pan]

That's exactly what you have -- a table for use if you put your lathe into disc sander mode.

It's not hard to do that, though. Take a spare faceplate, attach scrap wood to the face plate, true it up on the lathe, and glue some sandpaper to the scrap wood, and you have an instant disc sander.

[Scott Hubl]

Yup thats what you have I recently added one to mine.:cool:

Keep lookin in Grandmas basement.