Thread: old lathe

Ya can't beat the price. I'd say go for it!

I've got no idea what brand it might be but as long as there's a motor hangin' off the other end of that belt, I reckon you're in business - looks like it has all the makings of a good starter lathe. You're dead right about it being better than a GMC too - but then that doesn't take much does it!?!? Have fun with it

It's hard to tell from your picture so I'm basing this purely on the shape of the tailstock. It might be either a Delta DoubleDuty or HomeCraft lathe. If it is, it's a good, solid, basic lathe. They were sold here somewhere around 1930-1950.

Here's a good picture of a Homecraft lathe: http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/detail.asp?id=1757

Good luck with your lathe

Paul

It looks old but I reckon it has to be better than $99.00 GMC that we are using now.

Chris, It looks well worth the money .... as long as its not on the other side of the country.

Ya can't beat the price. I'd say go for it!

And if you dont like it, give it a coat of paint, shine up the metal bits and sell it. Its got to be worth 150 tarted up

You're dead right about it being better than a GMC too - but then that doesn't take much does it!?!? Have fun with it

You'd be hard put to go wrong with it.

I say grab it. Give her a good clean up and check the headstock bearings for any play and give them a lube as well.

One thing I would definitely be doing, is making a guard to go around the pulleys and belt.

Thanks Paul. I think you might be on the right tram there. As you say anythings gotta be better than the GMC , tailstock doesn't line up with centre of the spindle and the bloody thing won't stop chattering because of the flexibility of the tube steel bed. Still it will probably make a reasonable linisher when I get the other toy.

Cheers

Here's a couple of threads on overhauling these model lathes. http://www.owwm.org/viewtopic.php?t=20691
There are threads at either SawMill Creek or Woodnet.com on overhauling a Delta HomeCraft lathe. Biggest issues is the seals, but see the above thread for options.
I happened to have a DoubleDuty Lathe for about 10 years. It's a good lathe, no flash, no glamour but a good dependable lathe. I sold mine because I needed something bigger for a job.
The difference between the DoubleDuty and the HomeCraft is the DoubleDuty has a steel bed while the HomeCraft is cast iron.

Paul

PS you can find a manual to download at owwm.org. That's where I found one when I still had the DoubleDuty.

Paul your an absolute wealth of information. You must be at least 150 years old to have have accumulated all that data.

Us old dinosaurs have memories like an elephant )
Seeing that I used my first lathe in school about 40 years ago, and bought my first one about 35 years ago, would you expect less )
Here's a tip on your lathe, when you get ready to mount it, put some spacers under it. You want to leave at least a 1" gap between the bottom of the bed and the table. There are times you may need to mount something and have to put the bolt etc through the bottom. It's a whole lot easier if you leave a gap.

Paul

Ps: If you want to drool, I replaced my Delta with a Jet 1642 along with an 18" bed extension. It's good for 16" x 60" and I not have a Vega Duplicator I can hang on it. Much as I liked the Delta, I love this one much more.