Dalton B4 Restoration

[Hammer]

Hello all,

I was gifted a partial lathe a year or two back and I've decided to restore this before I go on and buy a mill or something bigger. As she came to me I recieved a MASSIVE .25hp induction motor, counter shaft, lathe, some change gears, various accessories in various states of neglect.

I plant to find a find a new smaller (lighter) .5hp motor, build a bracket/ tensioner for the counter shaft, clean up the old iron and steel parts, put some new paint on her, new felt, build a lathe table (for which I really hope wood will work) and maybe new brass bearings if I can find them.

I have a scraper, but I do not plan on on scraping the ways or the lathe bed. I don't have any of the camelbacks/straight edges and I've never done it before.

I've never done a "build thread" with a ton of pictures but if there is enough interest I'll post regular updates. Tips, tricks, and anyone who has worked with these lathes before, drop me a line!

Wish me luck!

 

[brino]

Hello Hammer, welcome aboard!

It sure sounds like an interesting project.

Was the original motor 2.5hp? (maybe a typo above).

I do not know the Dalton lathes, pictures would be great.
What size is it? (swing and between centres), flat belt?, what's the spindle type/size?
You said "partial", what pieces are you missing?

As for a lathe bench, these was a thread recently dealing with some thoughts there....I'll see if I can find a link and post back if I do.

Good Luck!
-brino

 

[brino]

Hammer,

Here's the recent thread with some lathe bench discussions:
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/lathe-bench-laminated-mdf.34723/#post-293738

-brino

 

[Hammer]

Brino,

It is a .25 or 1/4 hp motor. That seems dreadfully small to me, so I plan on upping it. I will snap some pictures tonight. I measured about 7" swing and maybe 20" between centers. It's a little guy. the spindle is driven by flat leather belts, I will move it over to scarfed serpentine belts. Through hole was .875 or so. Just a little too small for a rifle barrel . I am missing the stand to hold my countershaft, seen here:

lathes.co.uk/dalton/page5.html

I can't post links yet, so you're going to have to drop that into google.

Excellent news for me on the bench then! I glued some dimensional lumber together and routed the top flat. I planned on adding some .125 or.25" steel to the top. Now I'll just do that, add some 2x6 joists to the bottom and I should be good.

I also recieved some extras, steady rest, some HSS bits, etc. Most are in bad states. I may not even restore those. I'll sum it all up after I get home tonight.

 

[brino]

As she came to me I received a MASSIVE .25hp induction motor

aaahhh, of course, sorry I did not hear your sarcasm

the spindle is driven by flat leather belts, I will move it over to scarfed serpentine belts

I have two lathes with flat belts. Both currently using old serpentine belts.
The first one I scarfed but I could never get rid of the slight "bump" as it went around the smaller pulleys; I believe it was a problem with the joint being stiffer than the rest of the belt.
When I made the second one I just cut it square, butted the ends up and stitched them together. It runs better, though I do see a slight separation in the ends of the belt, I can just see light thru now.
I'm hoping that was just the initial stretch of the stitches and that the movement will stop. I do release tension when not using it.

Thanks for the link, I've never see that make before.

I like the basic black and steel with the brass colour on the tumbler handle.
It looks like a fine lathe!

-brino

edit: did you get all the change gears?

 

[Hammer]

Some intricacies are just lost with the internet, I meant that this motor has .25 hp, and is physically massive. Makes no sense, I own 1.5 hp motors smaller and lighter than it. You will see in the pictures. I have a good lot of change gears, I don't know if it was all of them. I'll just cast and finish machine out new ones as I need them.

This steady rest isn't exactly in great shape, it's brazed together and pretty rusty. I may make a new one.
Counter shaft that needs some kind of support and tension.
No idea what this is. came with the lathe.
old belts, lathe goodies, massive motor. the one to the right is 1.5hp.

 

[Hammer]

I pulled the spindle off last night. The babbit looked OK, but there were no more shims to remove play, the fiber washers were pretty beat up as well. The fiber washer will be replaced with needle bearings. But I don't know what I'm going to do with the babbit. I don't like the idea of loose rollers riding on the cast iron as a replacement, I may attempt to peen the babbit or file down the cap to get more room for adjustment. Picture of this may not be up until tomorrow.

 

[Mark_f]

I have a Dalton B4 I fixed up. there is a thread on it here somewhere. You will have a hard time finding parts. I make most of mine. There is a yahoo group just for Dalton lathes and you can get a lot of information there. sometimes you can get a few common parts there. These lathes were started in 1913 and the company failed in the stock crash of 1929. I can try to help you with ant info you may want . If you need any change gears, there is a list of Boston gears available. most are still available. They are 20 DP gears. The B4 is a nice little lathe. Mine was in use at a friend's shop the last 7 years, and I finally brought it home.

EDIT: See mine here: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/dalton-b4-lathe.34646/

 

[Hammer]

Mark,

I am very jealous of your original cast counter shaft bracket! So a few questions from me if you don't mind. How is that belt running for you? Any noticeable effect from the joint on a finishing cut? What size motor are you using? How does is handle a heavy HSS cut? (.050")

-Arrmon

 

[Mark_f]

Mark,

I am very jealous of your original cast counter shaft bracket! So a few questions from me if you don't mind. How is that belt running for you? Any noticeable effect from the joint on a finishing cut? What size motor are you using? How does is handle a heavy HSS cut? (.050")

-Arrmon

Arrmon,

The flat belt runs smoothly and gives no problems at all.

The counter shaft was not complete. I had to make the top brackets and support bar. But it did come out nice. You can easily build the counter shaft assembly using the parts you have and making the rest. The other GOOD option is to pickup a south bend 9 inch lathe counter shaft unit on eBay. It will work perfectly on your machine.

The B4 Dalton is actually a threading lathe. It has no feed rates except for threading. You can get some large gears and gear it down for a decent feed rate, but you probably won't be able to close the cover with them on. Other than that, you have to hand feed.

My Dalton ran for years with a 1/4 hp motor, but it won't take heavy cuts. I am changing to a 1/2 hp motor. I am also changing to a DC motor so all I do is dial the speed I want. Don't have to move belts. ( my Dalton was set up this ).

All said and done, I would use a south bend counter shaft and a 1/2 hp Dc motor. You can get the motor drive under $100 and a new motor for about $150. And you are done.

Anything I can help you with, let me know.

Mark