Dalton Bench lathe

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Levi

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I thought I ought to share some pictures of a little lathe I picked up last week.
I was listed on my local craigslist, and for $125 I couldn't pass it up. I completely disassembled the saddle/apron, cleaned and wire brushed and re-assembled it. I could tell there was a little play in the headstock, There was a nut on the outboard end that needed to be adjusted, and when I took the bearing caps off I discovered a layer of paint on the mating surfaces that was keeping them from closing up completely. After reassembly it is near perfect.The flat-belt drive seems like it could use a little work, it's a little bouncy when it runs. I couldn't find the tool holder that I know I loaded in when I bought it, so I haven't actually been able to cut anything with it. I think it might make a nice machine to keep in my garage, or move to the basement if I decide to grow my workshop.
 
Attachments like this "file://localhost/Users/levistarks/" Show that you are trying to share files directly from your computers hard drive. That won't work, you need to host them somewhere (here on this site, photo bucket, picasa web, etc) for us to see them.

I'm sure someone here will point you at the 'tutorial'.
 
Levi said:
I thought I ought to share some pictures of a little lathe I picked up last week.
I was listed on my local craigslist, and for $125 I couldn't pass it up. I completely disassembled the saddle/apron, cleaned and wire brushed and re-assembled it. I could tell there was a little play in the headstock, There was a nut on the outboard end that needed to be adjusted, and when I took the bearing caps off I discovered a layer of paint on the mating surfaces that was keeping them from closing up completely. After reassembly it is near perfect.The flat-belt drive seems like it could use a little work, it's a little bouncy when it runs. I couldn't find the tool holder that I know I loaded in when I bought it, so I haven't actually been able to cut anything with it. I think it might make a nice machine to keep in my garage, or move to the basement if I decide to grow my workshop.
Click to expand...

One of my lathes is a Dalton; which was built in 1921. What model number and serial number of your lathe? There is a Yahoo Group that tries to keep track of the Dalton lathes. There are a couple of guys that might have some spare parts, if you need any.
 
s/n stamped in end of bed 5092
latest patent date mar. 1922
This will sound odd, but after looking at lots of pictures at lathes.co.uk I can't be for sure what model it is. I'm going to say the #4, but it seems like it has some features of other lathes also.
it is a 7' swing, entire bed is only 30" long, the "nutless" change gears, the apron is "ground all over" it has both half nut for threading, and the worm gear for finer cutting. But no powered cross feed.
I'm in the process of modifying it to be used with a direct Vbelt from a 3phase motor with a VFD. I will be adding a Vbelt pulley to the smallest of the existing flat belt journals. This will cause me to have to do some permanent "damage" to the headstock.
I only paid $125 for the whole lathe, I've already got $150 in the new motor drive combination.
In the end I think I will have a very usable lathe, that performs much better than any of the cheap import mini lathes
 
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