Restoring a Rockwell/Delta Disc/Belt Finishing Machine

That looks great! I have had good luck with rustoleum anything. It's my go to paint, reasonable cost, flows out nice brushed or sprayed, and is very durable. I have never tried the hammered though.

woodtickgreg said:

That looks great! I have had good luck with rustoleum anything. It's my go to paint, reasonable cost, flows out nice brushed or sprayed, and is very durable. I have never tried the hammered though.

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Hi Greg,
Thanks, I'm pleased with the finish, the hammer requires Xylene to thin out for spraying. I eyeball the viscosity during mixing and let it sit for about ten minutes prior to spaying. The real trick is to lay it down wet to the point of almost running. Re-coat wet again about 20-30 minutes depending on ambient temp. If you go past four hours to re-coat, you have to wait seven days to apply subsequent coatings. It usually dries to touch within two hours but still soft if over handled. The hammer brown/copper will look nice with the black table brackets, main bearing drive housing and trunnions. The lower base cabinet should also look good in silver hammer tone once assembled. The paint is left over from other jobs so no money was spent.

SHOP TIP.....When storing paint for long periods, I use inert gas from the mig nozzle to purge out the O2 with the lid slid back a bit. Don't forget to disengage your drive rollers on your mig. hehehe. This trick will preserve different types of paint from oil based to latex.

Have a great weekend,
Paco

In love seeing great quality older machines being restored. I recently did the same thing with a 1956 Delta drill press. It's very satisfying to have such a good quality machine, and know that it's as good as new. It's also fun to know that you understand every piece of the machine, inside and out. Great job!

GG

GG,
I completely agree on being familiar with every aspect of the machine. It should out last me.

I rebuilt one of these machines. advice look closely at the platen (behind the belt) they can have a dish worn into them. as you push in this dished area the belt will track off to the side. took me a while to find this out and replaced the platen problem gone bill

bfd said:

I rebuilt one of these machines. advice look closely at the platen (behind the belt) they can have a dish worn into them. as you push in this dished area the belt will track off to the side. took me a while to find this out and replaced the platen problem gone bill

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Hi Bill,

I swept across the platen using a straight edge and no appreciable dish noticed. Do you recommend a second look using a different method? Not much information out there on the web, so always looking to learn. Thanks for the advice in advance.

the bow was at and above the rest table. if you see no bow with a straight edge then it should be ok the bow on mine was about .020" very noticeable bill

Thanks Bill,
Looks like its good to go as nothing real obvious I can see.

My son pulled the motor out of the lower cabinet so I can prep and paint this weekend. He noticed a ton of saw dust falling out of the motor with every shake. We then noticed the shaft would spin but not smoothly and it had a growl when spun by hand. We took the motor ends off to blow with air and inspect the bearings. Sure enough the pulley side bearing was shot. We pulled both front and rear bearings and will pick some up tomorrow during lunch break. I will buy the same type of sealed bearing used on the lower and upper rollers. Not sure why factory bearing weren't fully sealed from the start, but I suppose every dollar saved in manufacturing adds up.

Front bearing.

Rear bearing.

Pulling the back bearing after clearing the sawdust. Free-all penetrating oil came through once again.

All cleaned up. Looks pretty good

Unsealed bearings removed.

Thats all for today.

Paco

Hey Paco,
Since you have 3 phase in your shop, you might consider replacing the motor with a TEFC or TENV 3 phase motor and not have to worry about metal dust getting into the motor. If there is space we could install your old 2 speed lathe motor, but may be too big.
Mark