New Delta Mini Lathe

[Bill Bulloch]

In another thread I mentioned that I had order the Delta 46-460 on Oct 1st. Well, it arrived a couple of days ago. Boy is it sweet. Smoothest, quietest running machine in my shop. Here is pictures as required to corroborate my story.

It has a reverse and none of my four chucks have set screws from locking them down. I am wondering if it would be safe to use them at a very slow speed while sanding? (this Delta Mini has speeds from 250 - 4000). Does anyone know of a way that I could use these checks in reverse, or am I doomed to buy more chucks?

[Ron Lynch]

Come on Bill, if you've got 4 chucks now you know it's just a matter of time before you buy another one. Or you could drill and tap your old chucks to accept a soft tipped set screw. Nice lathe, have fun with it.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Bill - congrats on your new lathe! Don't know what to tell you with regards to your chucks. I know from personal experience that if the chuck is not secured to the spindle - and you put it in reverse - it will back off the threads. Has more to do with the mass of the turning but even slow speeds can cause it to loosen up. Any chance you can tap your chuck insert and install some set screws? That would take care of the problem for you.

[alex carey]

once again congrats on the new lathe. I only hear good things.

[Mike Minto]

bill, nice lathe - looking forward to seeing some turnings from it. reverse? wish my jet mini had reverse. on my big lathe, i do 'reverse sand' without a set-screw on my chuck, and have had no problems - yet. i don't recommend doing so to others, though. as a practice, it's not safe. drilling and tapping sound like a good idea to me - i may try it with my faceplates. mike

[Steve Mawson]

Congrats on the new lathe, I believe you will like it better the more you use it. I plan to tap my chucks and put in set screws to use in reverse. Let us see what you turn first.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on your new lathe.

[Mark Hubl]

Your shop looks pretty well outfitted. Is there a drill press? If you can drill and tap the adapters and add a grub screw. Should not be too difficult. Nice new lathe.

[Bill Bulloch]

Your shop looks pretty well outfitted. Is there a drill press? If you can drill and tap the adapters and add a grub screw. Should not be too difficult. Nice new lathe.

Sure do have a Drill Press.... Just don't have the tap. Turns out that my chucks do have a set screw, it's the inserts that don't. Ken referred me to Woodcraft that have the inserts I need for my Nova chucks for $22.00. I think I buy them for my Nova Chucks and look into tapping my face places. Thanks for the help.

[Brian Effinger]

Bill - I got my Delta lathe last week from the local Rockler, and the first thing I did was finish a rough turned catalpa bowl with some nasty tear-out, and my nova midi chuck handled the reverse perfectly. I even tried a little reverse scraping with success. The bowl is 8" dia., and I only used the slower end of the slow pulley. The chuck didn't budge the whole time.

Of course, I'll end up buying another chuck that can lock down, but that is only because I think I found a buyer for my now unused Jet mini, and the chuck came with it so it will go with it.