Delta Rockwell Lathe Restoration -- Update: VFD Installation

[Matt Meiser]

My dad and I made the drive down to Indianapolis to pick up the lathe. After inspecting Dave Richardson's pair of Rockwell lathes, I decied to disassemble it so that it would be easier to load and more stable for the trip home. Below are pics of the major pieces that I'm getting ready to start cleaning up. The only major problem is that the upper pulley is pretty much destroyed, however it looks like Dave has one that is worn but usable. Other than that the numbers on the handwheel are worn but I've located a replacement on Ebay or I might refurbish ths one by having my dad clean up the faces on his metal lathe and restamp the numbers. I'm also missing a few knobs and levers that I'll probably fabricate temporary replacements for until I can locate suitable permanent replacements.

Edit: I'm renaming the thread and will post progress pictures along the way so that the entire restoration is in one thread.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Not bad at all Matt.

I'd check with Delta, you never know, they might still stock that pulley........worth a try! :D

[Jeff Horton]

I have heard but don't know this for a fact, that lots of parts are still available from Delta. Well worth a look see. Might even be even online?

While you have it apart why not clean it up and paint it?? ;) No way I could put it together without painting it.

[Matt Meiser]

I'm not going to do a full bore restoration, but everything is going to be thouroughly cleaned and painted. I got the cleaning done today and I feathered the edges of any scrapes, etc on the cabinet so that the paint will spray fairly flat. The rest of the cast iron parts will probably be brush painted since I'm using a Rust-O-Leum paint and they tend to flow out very nicely.

[Corey Hallagan]

Matt, going to be a nice lathe for you. Congrats!

Corey

[David Richardson]

I have heard but don't know this for a fact, that lots of parts are still available from Delta. Well worth a look see. Might even be even online?



That used to be true, but since Delta was aquired by Black & Darker, they have started to discontinue many parts for older tools. Used to be you could get just about anything, but I wouldn't count on that any more...:( There are other sources though - I managed to find a number of new old-stock parts for my old Uni and the Delta lathes.

[John Hart]

What fun Matt!!! Congratulations! It's got to be a special feeling to have a major tool that you tore down and rebuilt yourself. Steve Ash got me jealous...now you're pushing me over the edge.:)

[Steve Ash]

Glad you and your dad made a safe journey with the goods.:cool:

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking lathe Matt. Can't wait to see pictures when completed.

[Ernie Nyvall]

Can't wait to see it finished.

Ernie

[Doug Thompson]

Matt, the lathe looks good. New pulleys are not that hard to find. Your dad has a metal lathe so make the knobs... aluminum works well for this.

[Matt Meiser]

I made quite a bit of progress yesterday. Everything but a few small parts are cleaned up. I also stopped by Dave Richardson's and picked up the pulley he had which will be plenty serviceable. I took apart the headstock and found that one of the bearings is bad so I'm going to replace both while I have it apart. I already located a couple online sources for those. I also found some decent handwheels and levers in the Enco catalog to replace the missing/damaged ones.

This afternoon I sprayed the base. It just fit into my spray booth, but it fit and that's all that matters. I'm using the Do-It-Best hardware store brand of Rustoleum since they were out of the Rustoleum color I wanted. It sprayed nicely with my PC HVLP gun thinned about 20% with acetone per the directions. I probably spray one more coat on the base. After lawn mowing, I'll probably start painting the bed/headstock castings and the other small external parts as well as final cleaning and lube of the speed adjustment mechanism parts.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Going to be another nice old lathe back in business!

Looking good Matt!

Cheers!

[tod evans]

keep `em comming matt. you`ll have one h#ll of a nice lathe real soon..02 tod

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Keep posting Matt! You and Steve have opened a door that I might be able to walk through to upgrade/add a bigger lathe to my tools!

[Matt Meiser]

Ok, I got side tracked--still have to mow, but some updated pictures. MSC has suitable handwheels and bearings, so I'm probably going to place an order with them in the morning.

Edit: Post 1500! On the turning forum. :eek:

[Frank Chaffee]

Edit: Post 1500! On the turning forum. :eek:
Yeah Matt,
I could tell from here that you wouldn’t last long.;)
BTW, Nice hunks of iron you got there!
Frank

[Dick Strauss]

Matt,
If you have a hard time finding parts for your old Delta, try this guy in VT...I've never had dealing with him but Andy said he is a good honest guy. I found him when I considered buying a PM90 and wanted to check for parts availability.


http://www.plazamachinery.com/

[Corey Hallagan]

Matt, it is looking great! Awesome! I love seeing these old machines come back to life.

Corey

[Jim Becker]

Very nice job, Matt. That's going to be a great machine to turn on!

[Matt Meiser]

One more update for today. First, I did get the lawn mowed. :rolleyes: I cleaned up the speed adjustment mechanism and lubed it with some dry film lube. I could hardly move it before, now I can adjust it with two fingers gripping the shaft. I also fitted up the headstock to measure for a missing bearing retainer that I'm going to have my dad make for me. I made the little lever for the indexing lock which was missing. Just cut off a bolt, chucked it up in the drill press and used a file to turn one end until it fit the hole. Then I turned it around and rounded off the other end and polished it up. When I take it back apart I'm going to coat it with some clear laquer to keep it looking good. I'm going to place my MSC order in the morning and tomorrow I should be able to start assembly, save for the headstock which needs new bearings.

[John Miliunas]

Great progress, Matt! :) You're going to have yourself one fine spinny machine once all the dust (or rust) settles! Good job and keep the updates coming! :) :cool:

[Wes Bischel]

Lookin' great Matt! Your progress is fantastic! Can't wait to see the next installment!

Wes

[Matt Meiser]

Lots more progress today. First, I ordered new bearings, hand wheels, the locking knob for the tail stock, and some other small miscellaneous items from MSC. Since I ordered early enough, and they have a warehouse in northern Indiana, I'm expecting them to be delivered tomorrow.

Tonight two of my brothers stopped by to borrow my pressure washer, so I had them help be get the cabinet in place and get the top in place. From there, I got all of the assembly I can do for now complete. I'll have to pull the headstock back apart to install the bearings and then I can put the drive components together. I'm planning to power it up temporarily with a cord wired to the motor it came with to check everything out.

I had one small unexpected disappointment tonight. The original switch won't turn on. :( I was planning to use it as the main power switch. Electrically, its not that big of a deal, but I did really like the way it looks. Unfortunately there is no way to disassemble it without destroying it so there's no hope of fixing it. Even "tapping" on it with a screwdriver didn't help. :rolleyes:

I'm having second thoughts on the power source. The motor that came with it is only a 1/2HP motor. Its a Baldor, so it is a good motor, but not what I expected (I didn't ask the seller until after the sale was complete, but he had thought it was a 3/4HP.) I have a lead on a 1-1/2 HP, 3PH motor for cheap and a source for inexpensive VFDs. I can repower with the VFD and 1-1/2HP motor for about $250 so I'm debating doing that right away.

[John Hart]

..... I have a lead on a 1-1/2 HP, 3PH motor for cheap and a source for inexpensive VFDs. I can repower with the VFD and 1-1/2HP motor for about $250 so I'm debating doing that right away.

Wow!!! That would be so cool!! Makes a good machine into a great machine. Looks nice Matt.:)

[Jim Dunn]

Alright that thing is going to be to pretty to turn on when you get it finished. I mean you need to leave at least something "unfinished" just so you ain't afraid to get it dirty.

Nice looking job Matt

[Jeff Horton]

I love my VFD but my lathe would only go down to 650 rpm so it was a must for my type of turning. I think that lathe goes down to 350 rpms? Depending on what you going to turn what you have will probably be fine. Unless your going to be turning something really big.

But the VFD is a sweet set up. And with 1.5 HP thats enough to get you hurt. :D Mine is a 3/4 and I can't stall it except at extremely slow speeds.

[Matt Meiser]

I love my VFD but my lathe would only go down to 650 rpm so it was a must for my type of turning. I think that lathe goes down to 350 rpms? Depending on what you going to turn what you have will probably be fine. Unless your going to be turning something really big.

But the VFD is a sweet set up. And with 1.5 HP thats enough to get you hurt. :D Mine is a 3/4 and I can't stall it except at extremely slow speeds.

Yep, it goes down to 340. I don't have a good sense yet of what a good low end speed would be.

[Matt Meiser]

Tuesday's Update:
Its alive! At least it is with a temporary power source. I even gave it a try. My MSC order arrived right on schedule so I installed the handwheels and the tailstock locking lever. I mis-ordered the locking lever for the spindle on the tailstock so I'll still have to get that. I also got the headstock reassembled. Debating on replacing the handwheel since there is one on Ebay right now. The only piece left is the bearing retainer that goes between the spindle and the inboard bearing. My dad called about an hour ago to say that it is done and I can pick it up so I should get it installed tomorrow night.

I installed the 1/2 HP motor and just wired on a cord for now since I decided to go for the VFD which was also ordered this afternoon. The VFD is going to be mounted in the lower cabinet and I'm going to put the FWD-OFF-REV switch, E-Stop, and speed control pot in a small box. It runs well, though I do have some noise at higher speeds. I'm thinking that it is related to the belts which I should replace anyway.

Once I saw it running, I mounted a piece of cherry between the centers and turned a small part of it. Even with the supposed same size motor as my Jet Mini, this is a much more powerful lathe. Of course this 1/2HP motor weighs almost as much as a Jet Mini which might have something to do with that. :D :D

[John Hart]

Woo Hoo!!:D Way to go Matt! Geez...what's it been...4 days? Man! You don't mess around.:)

[John Miliunas]

WOWza!!! How appropriate: First try on it and you're turning a hunk of Cherry on a pretty "cherry" machine! :D Well done, Matt! :) Dang, I can't wait to see it all rigged up with the VFD and stuff. Should kick some serious butt, IMHO! :D Great job and I'm sure you'll enjoy spinning on it!

BTW, 1500 is a real nice number and I'm glad it happened here!!! :D :cool:

[Steve Ash]

Awesome Matt way to "Get-R-Done"!

[Jim Dunn]

Matt you may want to replace the belt with a link belt type. I did that on my little crftsmn lathe and it is smooth as silk. Really! No vibration at all.

[Mark Pruitt]

That is one BEAUTIFUL piece of machinery. Congratulations!!!

[Ryan Ricks]

Nice job! Looks good - I'll have to show my wife. Maybe she'll agree I need one (Then I can make shavings to go with all the wonderful sawdust I already make her!)

-Ryan

[Barry Stratton]

Excellent job Matt!!! Moss doesn't grow around you:D

[Corey Hallagan]

Awesome Matt, it's a beauty, congrats and a nice job!

corey

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Yep, you are surely wining the race! :D

The links belts get my vote too, I could not believe how much they smoothed out my old C-man lathe (DVR-3000 to arrive here Friday:D )

Maybe you can use the original 1/2 Hp motor for a buffer?

Great job Matt!

Cheers!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Matt..........You and Steve Ash set a tough pace! Great refurbishment!

[Matt Meiser]

I was told that you can't use link belts with the Reeves drives on this particular lathe because of the way the pulley pieces come together. They are standard v-belts, so I'll just get replacements from the auto parts store.

[Jeff Horton]

The VFD is going to be mounted in the lower cabinet and I'm going to put the FWD-OFF-REV switch, E-Stop, and speed control pot in a small box.

From what I have read VFD's are very sensitive to dust and vibration. Mounting it on the lathe is not a good idea because it going to vibrate when you run it even if you don't notice it. It's also likely dust is going to get in there too. So you may want to think about that before you mount it.

I have mounted my VFD on a board mounted the wall. With the remote your going to build on the lathe it's not a problem. Besides I find that I adjust the speed 99% of the time with my reeves drive.

[Mike Ramsey]

Great job on the lathe Matt! I saw a bowl turning video with
Dell Stubs and he had a lathe similar to yours that he had some
pretty cool modifications that he showed. One was a foot pedal
clutch & it worked great. If you get the chance check it out.

[Doug Thompson]

You don't mess around... that was fast. You'll have a brand new lathe for a very good price.

I'm impressed...

[Matt Meiser]

Thanks guys. There are two main reasons I got this done so fast. First, I didn't run into any significant problems that couldn't be quickly solved. Second, it came at a good time where I didn't have anything else going on and had the time to work on it. Not including the trip to Indy, I probably have 20 hours into it.

Also, for those interested, here are some sources for stuff I used:
MSC Industrial Supply (http://www.mscdirect.com) - hand wheels, bearings, and other small hardware

FactoryMation.com (http://www.factorymation.com) - VFD and other electrical components

Do It Best Hardware (http://doitbest.com/DoItBest/Main.aspx?PageID=64&SKU=772011) - Do it Best Rust Coat Enamel in Medium Gray (made by Rust-Oleum

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Now Matt, honestly, are you not just a little bit happy you did not go for the HF, or Grizzly lathes.......... ?? ;) :D

Yep, you beat the price thing all the heck with that nice chunk of iron!

Way to go! :D

[Matt Meiser]

Now Matt, honestly, are you not just a little bit happy you did not go for the HF, or Grizzly lathes.......... ?? ;) :D

Yep, you beat the price thing all the heck with that nice chunk of iron!

Way to go! :D

Yep. I never figured I'd find a reasonably priced old lathe nearby. Everything just lined up perfect. I'm going over budget with the VFD, but LOML hasn't said anything since she knows I'll keep this one for a long time.

[Matt Meiser]

Not to much tonight. LOML picked up the bearing retainer my dad made and I got that installed. I bought new belts and installed them, which solved my noise problem. I also got confirmation that my VFD is shipping today so I should get it in time for the weekend and I picked up the motor. I'm working out the last details for wiring and mounting all the VFD components. Next update will probably be over the weekend.

[Matt Meiser]

Last night I installed the VFD. My noise/vibration which had gone away with new belts came back. I ended up tracking it down to the reeves drive assembly, so I remove the motor and the drive assembly and recleaned and relubed the drive. I also discovered that one side of the pulley was wobbling significantly. I reseated the pin that holds it to the shaft which helped, and then I gently "adjusted" it with a rubber mallet until it ran pretty true according to a dial indicator. Prior to "adjustment" I could see it wobble, but now I can only see it on the dial indicator. Once reassembled it runs very well.

The VFD was easy to wire and program. Thursday night I ran a new 220V outlet by extending the circuit my planer is on. I added a disconnect so that I can shut the power to the VFD off when not in use. The VFD controls--speed control, FWD-OFF-REV switch, and Estop are mounted in a small box from Radio Shack since they are 10V and 12V circuits. I was originally going to mount the box over the headstock, but realized that the location of the original switch would be a good location and make wiring easy. I'd like to add an LED to the box that is lit when the drive has power so that I remember to pull the disconnect. The motor has good torque down to about 1/2 speed, giving me a speed range of roughly 170 to 3200 rpm.

I finished up a few details and found a couple small things I need to take care of. I installed the bearing retainer my dad made in front of the inboard bearing and added a stainless steel fender washer drilled to just slip over the indexing lock lever. The lathe would have originally had something like this to keep dirt out. I'm thinking of making a small turned knob for the top of this lever. I painted the red stripes on the handwheel that the lathe came with. I got caught up in what I was doing a few nights ago and missed the one on Ebay. I'm not going to worry about it and hopefully I'll find one with readable numbers in the future. I also found that the solid handle on the speed adjusting handwheel doesn't work very well, so I made a temporary replacement from a bolt and a piece of dowel. I'm debating whether to turn the handle from something like rosewood or buy a metal replacement that spins. Finally, I found that I'm going to have to have my dad make a custom stud with 2 thread sizes for locking the ram on the tailstock since I can't find a locking handle with the right thread size. Should be a quick project for him.

Overall, this has been a very fun project and I'm glad I went this route rather than the others I was considering. Now I just need to find some wood and do some turning!

I owe a big thanks to Dave Richardson for his help on this project. He helped me out with both parts and information that made this project possible. Thanks Dave!

[Matt Meiser]

The rest of the pictures....

[John Miliunas]

Better than new, IMHO, Matt! Kick-butt!!!! :D Now, get out the chainsaw and go terrorize the neighborhood! Once you get back, chuck up a nice big piece and make some curls! :) Good job! :) :cool:

[Matt Meiser]

Better than new, IMHO, Matt! Kick-butt!!!! :D Now, get out the chainsaw and go terrorize the neighborhood! Once you get back, chuck up a nice big piece and make some curls! :) Good job! :) :cool:

You reminded me that I need to have my dad bring his chainsaw back to me. I'm supposed to be keeping it unless he needs it. The neighbors dropped two trees part way into my yard last weekend that haven't been cut up yet (I think they were having saw problems.) I think I will "help" them out. ;)

[Scott Donley]

Well---ll, I know I am impressed, great job and fast :D

[john blanchard]

I don`t see the vfd on the factorymation website, how much was the total for it, i have a delta 1460 i would like to add it to.

[Matt Meiser]

Here is the one I got: http://www.factorymation.net/s.nl/sc.2/category.13/.f. I have a 1.5HP motor, so I bought the 230V 2HP vfd which runs $145.

[Jim Becker]

Matt, great job. Pro-fessional!!!

[John Hart]

That's some great work Matt! Looks brand spankin' new. You kept your cables nice and tidy as well.....small thing, but hugely important. Nice Job!!!:)

[Jim Dunn]

Matt I see by your pictures you haven't had a chance to change that old belt for a link belt. You'll be pleasently suprised at the difference it makes. Fine and professional job on your restoration.

[Matt Meiser]

Matt I see by your pictures you haven't had a chance to change that old belt for a link belt. You'll be pleasently suprised at the difference it makes. Fine and professional job on your restoration.

I put new rubber belts on it. I was told that due to the design of the pulleys on the drive you can't use a link belt.

[Steve Ash]

.....who the heck is David Richardson?.....:D