Troubleshooting Delta 46-715 noise !

[tonysa]

Ended up getting 2nd hand Delta Lathe but not in as good condition as first thought. I'm getting an intermittent squealing noise from inside the head stock, especially on high speed, after she's been running for a minute or two. As time goes on it gets worse (even under no load). Seems to be coming from the pulley set. Any ideas ? Should I squirt some Inox on it ? Would it be the belt ? Is there anything I can put on belt to lubricate but retain friction drive ?

Started out turning some pine. That stuff is C**P to turn.
Then tried some Jarrah's offcuts, now we're talking ! Heaps easier to turn !
Nothing worth showing (yet) still practising.

The lad's taken a keen interest, won't let me on it LOL (he's 11 1/2). Mind you I watch him like a hawk with hand hovering over the switch but so far no problems.
Damn good fun !!!
The Kitchen is getting filled with lots of spindle type objects which will probably get renegated to the combustion heater.
I reckon there's going to be a few pens coming from the shed in the not too distant future.

Found a nice unsplit red gum log about 50x20cm in the firewood heap. what's Red Gum like to turn ? Probably be hard as. Might make good object for bowls, boxes etc.

Cheers

Tony

[gatiep]

Tony,

It's late here so I'll keep it short. There is nothing wrong with the pine, maybe you need more practice and the right technique. I teach students on pine!
The noise could be the belt or pulleys that have worn on the shaft if it is a reeves pulley system
Happy turning

[rsser]

Redgum varies: can be fine grained and v. hard or coarser and more readily turned.

As for the squeal, play around with the belt tension and see if anything changes.

[shaunburgess]

Sounds like the same noise you get from car fan belts when they are just a bit loose, try Supa Cheap for some spray for fan belts to stop them slipping.


Sorry don't have more info but was a while ago i did this, now just take to mechanics and say fix.:)

[TimberNut]

Don't use Inox, it will induce belt slippage and dry out the rubber in the belt quicker.

If it is just belt squeal like you hear in a lot of cars, here are some things to do.

1. make sure pulleys are running true and not worn or loose
2. check the belt for wear (specifically small splits/cracks on the inner edge that contacts the pulleys) - if it is starting to crack - replace asap.
3. if not worn, I have heard that most mechanics don't have any 'special' spray to use, but believe it or not, use under-arm deoderant (spray, not roll-on, of course).

Don't quote me on it though. Had a mate who was a mechanic who told me that the deoderant was a 'trade secret' for squealing fan belts.

then again, maybe he was just joshing.....

Give it a go - at least your lathe will smell nice! (and let me know, in case it was a gee-up, don't want to be a sucker forever!)

[La truciolara]

The squeak can come from several reasons.
the piece of wood was not totally tightened

The bolts fixing the pulley might be slightly unscrewed (watch out, there are two, one on top of the other one – don’t know why such a complex construct)

Could be the belt (but very unlikely)

lack of oil (two drops are already a lot – but put it every day prior to start)

[gatiep]

According to my investigations into the model you mentioned it has a reeves pulley system for speed changing. I was hesitant to give a definate reply earlier because I couldn't remember what the lathe looked like from the Delta model number. So you cannot do anything to the belt tension. Most noise from those lathes come from pulleys, either worn loose on the shaft ( one half of each pulley slides on the shaft to enable speed change ) or the pulleys make a noise where one half meshes with the other, or the belt is worn......usually have chunks out of it.Headstock as well as motor bearings can give a lot of different sounding noises too! Do a search here for similar problems on the MC900 or MC1100 lathes as they have the same pulley system. It has been discussed many times. Hope this is of use to you.

[tonysa]

After some playing around this arvo and by judicious squirts of Inox (not near belt), the problem seems to be coming from the pulley system rubbing on the speed change yoke. When I squirted between the two, ahhhh silence. Just gotta figure out how to get some grease down there, might have to strip the pulley system apart. Yeah its the Reeves system. Belt looks ok and the pulley surfaces feel smooth.

Thanks for all the advise fellas, appreciated.

La truciolara - I tried the drop of oil on the bearings. Didn't help.

Ianhockings - I tried the underarm spray, smells nice but didn't fix the squeak. So can't confirm or deny your mechanics hint. I got some funny looks from the missus when i told her what i was doing.

gatiep- you're right about the pine. I purchased some better quality (and sharp) chisels. What a difference, works a treat :) Just gotta improve the technique.

rsser - the redgum i tried was hard as nails, had been eaten by borers but this wasn't evident until i had got the thing round. I think I'll stick with the more traditional woods for now. Just gotta clean the resin off the chisels, the stuff sure sticks.

Once again, thanks for the feedback. Appreciated.

Tony

[Jeff]

I have two of these lathes and have used them hard for years. Not the most elegant machines but a lot better than some others. When you crank up the speed and get that screeching noise, you are soon to find you will need to replace the belt and/or the inner half of the variable speed clutch unit. This is just part of the ownership of a Delta lathe. As I mentioned earlier, I've used these machines hard, and they have held up amazingly well. I've had some problems with the tool rest clamp not being very well designed, and the tail stock could be better, but they've paid for themselves many times over. I rarely see any comments about them in this forum. If you don't have an owners maintenance manual be sure to get one before you start changing the belts or clutch, because the repair work is not self-evident, and follow the directions. I tried at one point to "improve" the alignment on one of these machines and found that to be a mistake. I praise the machine overall, and encourage you to push this machine because it'll take it!

[tonysa]

Thanks very much for the feedback Jeff

The belt doesn't seem too bad visually so its proably as you say, the inner half of the variable speed unit.

I have the owners manual, but doesn't give much away about replacing the variabler speed unit. I assume the maintenance manual has to be purchased because I can't find anything onm delta's website.

Being a novice the only problem I have is with the tailstock which doesn't won't to secure itself to the bed without a lot of effort of the locking lever.

I'm turning pens at the moment (will post some photos later in another post) - jarrah and next some tasmanian oak. The screeching's reared its ugly head once or twice so it may need a squirt of oil again.

Can all parts be purchased separately or do you have purchase the whole speed unit ? Any idea of cost ? I think I'll email delta and make some initial equiries.

I'm still sourcing timber at the moment but time will come soon when I'll be able to push her harder than turning pens. Bowls and boxes are my aim.

Cheers
Tony

[gatiep]

Tony, unfortunately you are not telling us exactly what the problem with the tailstock is other than:"Being a novice the only problem I have is with the tailstock which doesn't won't to secure itself to the bed without a lot of effort of the locking lever."

In short, on those lathes there are two problems related to securing the the tailstock to the bed. Actually they are two symptoms caused by the maladjusted nut that holds the clamping plate under the tailstock. If it is hard to adjust ( move ) and clamp the tailstock, undo the nut under it a little. If the tailstock doesn't lock up with the cam locking bolt, the same big nut as before needs to be tightened. I promise you that it is easily fixed.....just take a few minutes and fiddle with it......... Tailstocks that don't slide or lock properly is an unnecessary and annoying problem but easily fixed. Too much lubrication of very slippery lubricants (anti friction stuff ) like Inox, Silverglide and silicones can make it difficult to lock a tailstock tight onto a lathe bed.

Unfortunately those and most other lathes come with very little as far as a manual go and what they supply is usually written in a version of English ( chinglish ) which don't make sense. Don't be afraid to experiment, they are very simple machines, if you undo a bolt and it makes the symptom worse, just do the bolt up ( within reason ) and it will make the symptom better.

Glad to hear that the young fellow is hugging a lathe...........there is nothing like starting young and anyway hugging lathes are good because they are not as tempremental as chics AND Can Be Fixed Good!

[RETIRED]

........ Tailstocks that don't slide or lock properly is an unnecessary and annoying problem but easily fixed.
Not to mention: VERY DANGAROO!!!(Misspelt on purpose.)