Old Dunlap Lathe rebuild

[Kurt Aebi]

I got the lathe rebuild that I started the weekend before last finished. It is just an old small Dunlap (made for Sears) lathe made in teh early 40's. It was given to me by the artist friend of mine that is helping me market my pens. It was his father's lathe and he wanted it to go to someone who would use it. It has been in hin garage for about 20 years and was in pretty rough shape. There was a live center rusted into the tailstock and the tailstock ram was also rusted into the tailstock. The headstock spun free even though it had been sitting, so I knew it was restorable. I researched itr on the WWW.OWWM.COM (Old Woodworking Machines) and determined it was sold between 1939 and 1943 for about $15.95 with the motor, $5.95 w/o and that the Atlas machine company was the manufacturer and that Dunlap was their Seaars brand name for the lathe. It originally came with a 1/3 HP motor. It is a good lightweight lathe and will become a dedicated Pen Lathe for me.

I mounted an old 1/3HP Craftsman motor on a hinged board for tension and have a 4-step pulley on order with McMaster-Carr. The power switch is from an old Hirsh router table and is good up to 3/4HP or 10 AMP, so it should work just fine for this old rig.

Lotsa elbow grease and 2 cans of Liquid Wrench and I was able to get it all apart and cleaned up. I wire-wheeled the ram and removed the rust and there was some pitting, but not too much and it works quite easily now. A paint -job (Krylon True Blue - as close to the actual original color as I could find) and mounting it on the bench, ataching the motor & good to go! I like to take on a challenge and I guess since I was raised by a man who rebuilt metalworking machinery for a living, I guess it rubbed off a little. I am pleased with how it came out. It has 3/4-16 spindle threads and #1MT in the headstock & tailstock, so attachments are stillreadily available. Overall it was a good deal, even if all I use it for is pens!

Looking back, I'm upset that I didn't take any before pictures, but I hope I described the original condition well enough.

[Jim Becker]

That's a really nice restoration, Kurt. I'm looking forward to see what you produce with it!! ;)

[Dick Parr]

Great job Kurt, sounds like you had fun restoring it back in shape. That should make a great pen lathe. :)

[Patty Kas]

Hi Kurt,
very nice job, I was looking up the older Dunlap lathe as I just purchased one at an estate sale for $3.00 but it is missing the live center which thanks to your thread I see it takes the #1 MT so I found one on ebay and purchased and will give it a try:) if you happen to know where to buy other parts I would appreciate any information you could give me,
Patty

[Jim Ketron]

Kurt buddy, thats a nice looking rebuild you done.
Great Job!
cant wait to see some work coming off that lathe.

[John Miliunas]

Great job on the resto, Kurt! It indeed looks to be a perfect size for doing pens and other such small items. Nice job!:)

Patty, welcome to the Creek! Great place to hang out, though I can't give you much help on the Dunlop. I'm sure Kurt will be able to give you some more valuable input. :) Anyhow, come often, stay long and don't forget...We LOVE pictures 'round here!:D :cool:

[Gary DeWitt]

Patty,
I saw some Atlas lathe parts going on ebay yesterday, guy is parting out a whole lathe. just search wood lathe, narrow the search to Los Angeles (200 miles of 90501). You'll have to do the research on OWW to see if the parts will fit.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great restoration Kurt. Looking good.

[Kurt Aebi]

Patty,

The lathe was built by Atlas for Sears. Old Delta lathes also are very close tothe same. If you can't find any parts fot the lathe, check with a local machinist and have him look it over and I'm sure he could make parts for it.

I have a bowl mounted on it right now and willpost pic's when finished. I've turned a few pens on it already.

[Joshua Layne]

but I have the same lathe - it was my grandfather's, but is not in as great of shape - looks like the tailstop was welded at some point and is missing the locking handle. Also totally missing the tool rest and ?banjo? (tool rest holder) - I keep trying on 'the bay' but I keep getting outbid by a dollar :( oh well - the parts come up reasonably often

josh

[Wally Dickerman]

My very first lathe was a Dunlap, purchased from sears, along with a few tools. I was 15 years old and the year was 1936.

The lathe didn't have a live center and I probably didn't know there was such a thing. With a dead center on the tailstock I applied some wax to the wood to handle the friction.

I couldn't turn on Mondays because my motor was the motor that belonged on my mothers washing maching. I had to have it back on the WM on Sunday PM.

I don't know what ever happened to that lathe. I went to Alaska after graduating high school. Then WW2 and it's aftermath came along. I got my second lathe in the early 50's. It was a Sears craftsman. I'm on my 9th lathe now, each one better than the last one. Lots of years of turning since 1936.

Wally

[Bill Wilcox]

Wally, you just made me spurt tea out my nose with your washing machine motor story. I can understand that back in "good old days" you ad to make due with what you got.
What I don't understand about the OP's restoration is the use of a hinged motor? Does anyone know about this and why would you do this??
Bill

[Mike Campbell KS]

Does anyone know about this and why would you do this??
Bill


That's how you move the belt to change speeds. The motor is screwed to a board, the board is mounted on hinges. You just lift the motor up, move the belt, and let the weight of the motor provide the tension to keep the belt from slipping.

I have a couple of old craftman tube lathes that were mounted this way.

[Bill Wilcox]

Hmmm, I would figure that the motor would get pulled up to the lathe. I should check into this because changing the pulley's with the motor secured to the base, gets kinda hard to change the belt.
Thanks for the information.

[Sid Matheny]

Now that is a great job on the restoration and it is good to see it is back in use and not thrown away which would have been a real waste.

Sid

[John Keeton]

"Back in the day" I had a grinder setup with the motor on a hinged board, and the first lathe I ever owned was a Craftsman very similar to this and the motor was on a hinged board. Both worked very well, but they were very low HP motors.

I probably should add the caveat that I used the lathe a total of 30 minutes. My level of general woodworking knowledge at the time was minimal, and I had no idea of what "sharp" meant on tools. The tools that came with the $50 setup were pretty rough. As a consequence, my lathe experience at the time was "pretty rough.":eek: Probably why it was 25 years before I ever attempted to turn again!!

[Jim Kountz]

Nice job Kurt, I know first hand the satisfaction of restoring an old machine and making it new again. I restored an old Delta lathe a few years ago and it was one of the best experiences. Good luck with the "new" lathe and looking forward to seeing what you do with it!!