Photo Index - Delta Specialty/Delta Mfg. Co./Delta-Rockwell/Rockwell Intl. - Var. speed underdrive

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Delta Specialty/Delta Mfg. Co./Delta-Rockwell/Rockwell Intl.
Milwaukee, WI; Jackson, TN; Tupelo, MS

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Metal Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Lathe, Metal
Machine Size:	10x36
Submitted By:	Mike Fendley

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Var. speed underdrive
Date of Manufacturer:
Serial Number:
Last Updated	12/22/2012 12:50:17 AM

Comments:

While scrounging in my favorite scrap yard one day, I came across something gray and greasy (always a good sign.) The cabinet looked like it had been hit by a train, but I didn’t know what the tool was mounted to it until I saw the other side. It was a Rockwell 10” metal lathe with taper attachment and four jaw chuck. However, the lathe had been dumped unceremoniously upside down on the ground. At first I thought I would just strip it and sell the parts on eBay. However, after further inspection I decided to buy the whole machine and rebuild it. When I finally found the crane operator to have it loaded in my pickup, he waved off 7 other guys who were arguing who found it first! (They all found it second.) I paid $67 for it, 670 lbs. at 10 cents a pound. Once I got it home, then the bad news hit. The cabinet was totally trashed. The bull gear and matching back gear were both severely chewed up with many teeth missing. One tumbler lever was broken off, an ear of the apron was broken off, the cross feed shaft was severely bent with the ball handle missing, a mounting ear on the tailstock end was broken off and missing, internally the apron gears were badly damaged, and the bed clamp for the taper attachment was missing. Most of this damage (except for the gear issue) was from being dumped upside down. In researching this lathe I found that the bull gear and mating back gear were the weak link in this lathe design. In a few weeks I was able to find an empty cabinet for an 11” Rockwell lathe. The only difference was the placement of the under-drive belt slot. Cutting a new slot and patching the old was all that was needed. As a volunteer HS machine shop teacher I taught one of my top students how to cut gears and he machined steel sleeves that were pressed and locked on to the old bull gear and back gear. It took him 2 tries on the bull gear but both gears were eventually accurately machined and mated perfectly. I repaired or machined all the other problems except for the apron. I was willing to do that but found a Rockwell 10” lathe for parts on eBay. I wrote the seller and asked him to part out the machine. Gave him $100 for just the apron. He later wrote back and thanked me for encouraging him to part out the machine. He made over $1,000 for the parts. I eventually sold the lathe to a dear friend after tooling it out, finding collets, machining the draw tube using my ball bearing steady, and making an adaptor for a 9” steady to allow it to work on the 10” Rockwell. The lead screw direction lever was the old style using a wrench to lock a square head bolt for the F-N-R positions. I changed the design using a black ball (like all the other controls) as a plunger to go into the F-N-R positions. The first thing I machined on the lathe while my friend watched and learned was the boring bar holder you see in the pictures. It was made from the rusty piece of metal you see in the foreground that I found on the highway while taking the lathe to his house.

Photo 1:

Comments: Restored Lathe w/attachments
Source: My camers

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Photo 2:

Comments: Boring bar holder
Source:

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Photo 3:

Comments: Machining draw tube threads
Source: My camera

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Photo 4:

Comments: FNR plunger modification
Source: My camera

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Photo 5:

Comments: Beginning of the bull gear ring
Source: My camera

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Photo 6:

Comments: Bull gear 2nd try was perfect
Source: My camera

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