Delta 46-525 lathe question

[Karl Stowe]

I recently traded my friend some wood for his old 46-525 lathe(basically got it free since it was wood from logs I milled up and left over alder). He told me the lathe came from his old high school wood shop in Santa Cruz. I haven't really turned anything except for a baseball bat in high school and found that to be a waste of time. I am going to get into turning pens and small bowls which should be ok with this machine based on the research I have done this far. The problem I am having is trying to find a manual. Does anyone have a digital copy? This lathe hasn't turned something for 10 to 15 years. Is there any servicing I need to do to it before I get working? When I plug the lathe in it makes a hummin noise but my buddy said it has always done that. Should I be concerned about the humming? When I turn it on it seams rather loud but not bad enough to need ear plugs. How would I tell if it needs bearings? I haven't checked to make sure the tail stock lines up but that should be relatively easy to check. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

And yes turning is a tornado of things to buy. Luckily for me I will be able to get some blanks from the slash of the logs I mill. Some walnut slash has good size balls on it where suckers grew out. I hate to throw away that nice figure.

Thanks
Karl

[Dennis Nagle]

This is the closest I could find on Vintagemachinery. It is for the 500 series, not specifically the 525


http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1141/3665.pdf

[Guy Belleman]

There are several manuals for sale on eBay, or digitally online. Your lathe appears to be a Rockwell and identical to the Delta 46-541, which I have. I don't see a way to include a file (except image) on this site, so send me an email address and I will forward along the manual.

[Karl Stowe]

Dennis, thanks for the parts breakout. Hopefully I won't need new parts. Hopefully the Santa Cruz ocean air hasn't done to much damage to the unit. My buddy did have it in a more or less sealed garage

Guy, thanks for letting me know about the eBay manuals. I will look for the digital copy. I sent you a PM with my email address. I will be interested to see what it says about servicing the unit.

I hopefully have uploaded a picture, but I am trying this from my smarty phone.

Karl

[Guy Belleman]

Karl,
Sent you a PM with the manual. That Rockwell lathe looks identical to the Delta 46-541, manual available at: http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=1489

By the way, I just ordered an outboard handwheel for mine at Woodtek. Their 12" lathe has the same 1x8 left hand thread and for $34 it is a good deal, as the delta wheel is not available, although I saw a Delta handwheel last week on eBay that was being bid up far higher than the Woodtek option. Oneway also has faceplates with the same thread, but they cost double. Hopefully you can make a new belt cover for the headstock.

Good luck.

[charlie knighton]

get the 3 inch faceplate or faceplates, maybe one at 6 inch faceplate but that might be overkill for bowls, use 1 faceplate for dedicated jam chuck for bowls, should be able to do pens between centers

[Karl Stowe]

Guy, I will look into the hand wheel more. It sound like a good idea. I might be able to make a simple wood box protective cover for the head stock. Thanks again for the manual. The Delta machine looks almost identical.

Charlie, I think I already have those face plates. The bowl on the lathe in the pic is mounted to a face plate and I have one other large plate. I didn't measure them but they look like the dimensions you are talking about. I am slowly researching chucks and finding 101 options.

Thanks
Karl