1920-60s DELTA / ROCKWELL picture thread - Post your Delta!

[5Prosjeff]

I was asked by Hoorn to post some pics of my 14” Metal/Wood Delta Bandsaw and I finally found the time to take some.
Here is my $100 bandsaw that I really didn’t do too much to after purchasing it other than a cleanup and new tires. I gave the wheel covers a quick spray as they were in need of some TLC. Oh, and the fence was bought by my wife as a Christmas present to me.

 

[JEFinCLE]

Here's a pair I'm proud to say was selected for the 2022 OWWM calendar.

The one on the right might not qualify for the title of this thread...I'm not sure it is from the 1950s, might be early 1960s. Either way, the one on the left is a mid-50s 14" Delta/Milwaukee and the one on the right is a late-50s early-60s Delta radial drill press. The DP-220 was a greasy mess when I got it. The radial was a "spit shine and shoot pictures" restoration.

Tool box junkies will notice the early production Huot upper with square corners in the background.

 

[Hoorn]

@5Prosjeff that is the best $100 ever spent. Absolutely terrific bandsaw and heavily accessorized. Extra kudos to the wife for the fence! Really nice setup.

 

[Hoorn]

@JEFinCLE thanks for sharing. Showroom quality DPs. Looks like you've been hitting the Woodpeckers catalog hard too! Board siding is really nice, quite a workspace.

 

[Tarnished]

5prosjeff: Great looking Bandsaw. Wood/Metal saw, cast iron base, retirement lamp, correct fence and even all the correct knobs on the base. Wow! What's not to love! Nice job in finding such a complete unmolested machine. Interesting on off switch arrangement. Did you replace the tires? Thanks for posting.
Now how about some shots of that Delta belt sander beside it. Looking just as nice... Tell us more about the legs under the desk in the background.

 

[JEFinCLE]

@JEFinCLE thanks for sharing. Showroom quality DPs. Looks like you've been hitting the Woodpeckers catalog hard too! Board siding is really nice, quite a workspace.

Thanks. The Woodpeckers collection comes pretty easy...I work there. I do most of the marketing videos. The wall covering is salvaged lumber from high school gym bleachers.

 

[5Prosjeff]

I was

5prosjeff: Great looking Bandsaw. Wood/Metal saw, cast iron base, retirement lamp, correct fence and even all the correct knobs on the base. Wow! What's not to love! Nice job in finding such a complete unmolested machine. Interesting on off switch arrangement. Did you replace the tires? Thanks for posting.
Now how about some shots of that Delta belt sander beside it. Looking just as nice... Tell us more about the legs under the desk in the background.

Wow Tarnished! You’ve got the nack for finding Waldo
I shared photos of the belt sander in a previous post. That one has been much more of a restoration, didn’t look anything like that when I purchased it.
The “leg” on the left is my Pressteel cabinet which I believe to have been made in the 50’s sometime and the right leg is from a Delta 1460 wood lathe. It’s a 3rd leg
I have the wood lathe as well that I’ll be restoring in the future. I’ll be posting some pics of my 1935 Delta 700 scroll saw sometime today as well. Before and afters.

 

[Hoorn]

@5Prosjeff you have to understand that when you post a picture of something in your workshop on GJ, everything in the background gets analyzed more than the Zapruder film lol. GREAT eye Tarnished

I had recently posted an MSA pulley find on this 1957 Craftsman 100:



And I was PM'ed if I was willing to part with this Craftsman articulating lamp cover:



The eagle eyes abound on GJ!!

Hopefully you get a chance to post that Pressteel cabinet on the Pressteel/Pressweld thread, especially with so much of the original decal intact. Those were made in El Monte, less than a 30 minute drive away for me

 

[5Prosjeff]

Here are some photos of my 1935 Delta 700 Scroll Saw I’ve restored. I’m always amazed at how accurate these old tools are. I’ll include a project I made with this saw too.

 

[5Prosjeff]

@5Prosjeff you have to understand that when you post a picture of something in your workshop on GJ, everything in the background gets analyzed more than the Zapruder film lol. GREAT eye Tarnished

I had recently posted an MSA pulley find on this 1957 Craftsman 100:



And I was PM'ed if I was willing to part with this Craftsman articulating lamp cover:



The eagle eyes abound on GJ!!

Hopefully you get a chance to post that Pressteel cabinet on the Pressteel/Pressweld thread, especially with so much of the original decal intact. Those were made in El Monte, less than a 30 minute drive away for me

Thanks Paul, I’ll keep that in mind
If I did it right I did already post pics of the Pressteel cabinet in the “Show us your toolbox” thread. I love that cabinet, picked it up for $30 in Palo Alto.

 

[mritchie77]

Here are some photos of my 1935 Delta 700 Scroll Saw I’ve restored. I’m always amazed at how accurate these old tools are. I’ll include a project I made with this saw too.

Merrill’s Marauders? Nice project!

 

[Corndoggeh]

Small update on the wood lathe i picked up. Just finished re-machining the face nut. Now reading within .001". Now ready to face turn or even start machining some small parts on this guy. Already have the 3 and 4 jaw chuck for this lathe too. Probably how ill catch the machining bug at this point after making a few parts.

I think this is a good testament to how good these old delta wood lathes were that they are so accurate and robust that they designed a cross slide to machine metal with - and it actually works in practice well enough.

 

[5Prosjeff]

Here are some photos of my 1935 Delta 700 Scroll Saw I’ve restored. I’m always amazed at how accurate these old tools are. I’ll include a project I made with this saw too.

 

[5Prosjeff]

Merrill’s Marauders? Nice project!

Yes, I made it for my son who is an Army Ranger 75th 2nd Batt

 

[Hoorn]

Thanks Paul, I’ll keep that in mind
If I did it right I did already post pics of the Pressteel cabinet in the “Show us your toolbox” thread. I love that cabinet, picked it up for $30 in Palo Alto.

Thread 'The Pressteel company tool box thread' https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/the-pressteel-company-tool-box-thread.379569/

Should be in this one brother.

 

[Hoorn]

@Corndoggeh that's a dream lathe set up you have there. I've been scouring OfferUp/CL for that era.

 

[5Prosjeff]

Thread 'The Pressteel company tool box thread' https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/the-pressteel-company-tool-box-thread.379569/

Should be in this one brother.

I’ll get them over there

 

[Hoorn]

@5Prosjeff @mritchie77 great call by MRitchie and congrats to you proud papa, that is quite an achievement regarding your son. 75th Rangers 2nd Bat was home to Randy Shughart prior to his assignment to Delta. He was one of the two Delta snipers who requested to be inserted to the 2nd crash site in Mogadishu to secure the downed pilot during Operation Gothic Serpent. He and Gary Gordon were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their extraordinary heroism. They were a couple of badasses all right.
Merrill's Mauraders had an extremely distinguished WWII history with deep penetrations behind enemy lines in Burma. Very nicely done unit insignia!

 

[jmarkwolf]

Does anybody have experience replacing the points and/or copper "foil" mechanisms on the centrifugal switches on these old Delta/A.O. Smith motors? Points are also badly pitted. Delta 62-610 1/2HP motor in particular.

Had the copper fatigue and break off on one of the points. Motor is 65 years old. Replacement parts are "way" no longer available to my knowledge. Motor ran good before this happened.

Hate to give up on this motor.

 

[mritchie77]

@mritchie77
Merrill's Mauraders had an extremely distinguished WWII history with deep penetrations behind enemy lines in Burma. Very nicely done unit insignia!

Thanks, my wife and I clean military gravestones as a hobby (long story) and cleaned the grave of Elmer Fredrickson in a tiny cemetery outside of Austin, TX. From there we connected with a descendant group of the Marauders and learned the history of them. Amazing story.

 

[Hoorn]

Does anybody have experience replacing the points and/or copper "foil" mechanisms on the centrifugal switches on these old Delta/A.O. Smith motors? Points are also badly pitted. Delta 62-610 1/2HP motor in particular.

Had the copper fatigue and break off on one of the points. Motor is 65 years old. Replacement parts are "way" no longer available to my knowledge. Motor ran good before this happened.

Hate to give up on this motor.

JMark, can you attach a photo of the issue? This may trigger a fix in some of the collective GJ creative minds.

 

[5Prosjeff]

@5Prosjeff @mritchie77 great call by MRitchie and congrats to you proud papa, that is quite an achievement regarding your son. 75th Rangers 2nd Bat was home to Randy Shughart prior to his assignment to Delta. He was one of the two Delta snipers who requested to be inserted to the 2nd crash site in Mogadishu to secure the downed pilot during Operation Gothic Serpent. He and Gary Gordon were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their extraordinary heroism. They were a couple of badasses all right.
Merrill's Mauraders had an extremely distinguished WWII history with deep penetrations behind enemy lines in Burma. Very nicely done unit insignia!

Nice little history lesson Hoorn. I’m sure Jeremy is very versed on these two Rangers.
Jeremy is out now but will always be a Ranger. He’s going through the Sheriffs academy right now in Washoe County Reno where he lives.

 

[Hoorn]

Nice little history lesson Hoorn. I’m sure Jeremy is very versed on these two Rangers.
Jeremy is out now but will always be a Ranger. He’s going through the Sheriffs academy right now in Washoe County Reno where he lives.

Hallelujah!!! Everyone knows being a police officer is better than being a fire fighter lol!
Who wants to work out at the station and wax their boat before sitting down to dinner and then sleeping on duty, when you can drive around seedy areas of town at 3am, and get shot at and yelled at while being filmed every time you get out of your car!!!!

 

[Tarnished]

5Prosjeff, you get a you a "You ****" for the $100 saw. LOL. There amazing machines. I have 2 wood/metal. One set up for wood, the other for metal. Saves changing blades. LOL. Will look forward to pics of your wood lathe. Don't think I have ever seen one with 3 legs. LOL. Now how about that "old man" bottle opener beside the dart board. Another collection?
Nice job on your Delta scroll saw also. The table looks amazing. Sand blast? I have a Delta 40-440, but the "700" is one of the few Delta's I don't have.

JefinCle: Great 220 drill press. Nice with the production table. What? No retirement light? LOL. Did you find the 14" that way? Beautiful machines. Love the "bleacher walls" also. Didn't come from Fletcher school did it?

Corndoggeh: Jealous of your lathe cross slide. Picked up a 1460 recently and is in the queue as the next machine to refresh. Been trying to find pieces to go with is along the way.


Jmarkwolfe: Don't know if you have been to the OWWM website, but if anyone can help these folks can. Amazing amount of help there. Try this post: "Rockwell 62-210"

 

[jmarkwolf]

JMark, can you attach a photo of the issue? This may trigger a fix in some of the collective GJ creative minds.

Hi Hoorn

Pics attached.

First pic is the switch (attached to the end-bell) before failure. One of the contact leafs broke clean off. Not sure I would want to just replace it with a vintage replacement. Ideally, once the alloy were known (copper vs brass vs bronze or some mix), cutting out the parts, then replacing the points, then riveting them to the substrate, etc. would be a project.

2nd pic is the centrifugal part of the mechanism (attached to the rotor and seems to work fine). With no or slow motor rotation the felt buttons press on the back of the "pusher", which closes the contacts, keeping the start winding in the circuit. When the motor spins up, the weights fling outward, retracting the felt buttons, releasing pressure on the contacts, which open and breaks the circuit to the start winding.

If the contacts are not adjusted properly they can fail to close, fail to open, or chatter. Adjusting the contacts require bending the leafs slighty. Bend too much and they can become pitted and/or they can break.

 

[jmarkwolf]

Jmarkwolfe: Don't know if you have been to the OWWM website, but if anyone can help these folks can. Amazing amount of help there. Try this post: "Rockwell 62-210"

Hi Tarnished

Yes, I frequent OWWM and had seen that thread.

 

[wrenchguy]

Not pretty, missing motor tag, 3ph but a 1944 running war effort survivor. I fire it every once in awhile when run the 1943 Cummins H Army Gen-Set. No leaves caught fire, good time had by all.
Video of running yesterday. I bore down to hard and ripped the disc.

 

[Tarnished]

wrenchguy: Great Video, thanks for sharing. Couple of great survivors there. Does the sander sit outside, or did you bring it out for the show? New paper, and you'll be ready for the nest time you need it, Wonder if there is still any info on the War Dept. numbering system that could tell you more about the sander. Did the Gen Set come from Chicago ordnance dept. also?

 

[wrenchguy]

As per Private Lugnutz when I first posted about it.
"The Ordnance Department had a nationwide footprint, but it was split into thirteen (13) districts. Each district had an arsenal or two, depots, and some also had proving grounds to manage. They also each had authority to run government owned contractor run manufacturing facilities and let contracts directly. The War Department, a cabinet level department in the Executive Branch, was split into three Depts - Army, Air Force, and Navy, in 1947. Two years later, we changed our minds and put them back together again, but changed the name to a less aggressive Department of Defense."
It's well covered outside under 3' eave.
Awesome 1943 Army Signal Corp gen-set came from NW Ohio, it spent 4 years on CL. I bought it because it ran and had 69 original hours.

 

[Hoorn]

@wrenchguy thanks for sharing. I think the star of that video was your great looking brats and chili!
Ripped the disc, can it be repaired?

 

[wrenchguy]

Peel and stick disc, whatabout the brew!

 

[Hoorn]

Peel and stick disc, whatabout the brew!

Nothing wrong with an old school Miller genuine draft now and again! Cheers!

 

[RTM]

Nothing wrong with an old school Miller genuine draft now and again! Cheers!

I used to support making yours, 20+ years ago.

 

[JEFinCLE]

JefinCle: Great 220 drill press. Nice with the production table. What? No retirement light? LOL. Did you find the 14" that way? Beautiful machines. Love the "bleacher walls" also. Didn't come from Fletcher school did it?

The 14" drill press was a greasy mess when I got it, but in reasonably good condition. To me, the "remote" switch is a bigger catch than a retirement light. The production table elevation gears were in perfect shape, but stuck in position from fossilized grease. I'll take a greasy mess over a rust bucket any day. Here's a pic on the day I got it.



The bleachers came of out Ellett High School in Akron.

 

[Hoorn]

@JEFinCLE I couldn't agree more. While I enjoy having a retirement lamp hanging off a Delta machine as much as the next guy, I am usually more excited with a good condition Cutler Hammer toggle switch with correct Delta pushrod. I have had something like 8 retirement lamps now, but only 2 push rods.

This was my 1938 as found with an adjustable bracket:



Pre logo mid 30s 220 basic version:



That pre-logo 220 is so old it has the round base.



Here are the pushrods, a couple Cutler Hammer switches and shaft covers for the 9" dia Delta motors:



I haven't seen many of these adjustable brackets on other machines:



Also of interest, the two shaft covers. One is solid cast iron, the other zamak:



A page from the 1946 Delta catalog. You can see the illustrated bracket is the adjustable type. All the pushrods were .55 cents which is $8.43 today:

 

[jmarkwolf]

@JEFinCLE I couldn't agree more. While I enjoy having a retirement lamp hanging off a Delta machine as much as the next guy, I am usually more excited with a good condition Cutler Hammer toggle switch with correct Delta pushrod. I have had something like 8 retirement lamps now, but only 2 push rods.

This was my 1938 as found with an adjustable bracket:



Pre logo mid 30s 220 basic version:



That pre-logo 220 is so old it has the round base.



Here are the pushrods, a couple Cutler Hammer switches and shaft covers for the 9" dia Delta motors:



I haven't seen many of these adjustable brackets on other machines:



Also of interest, the two shaft covers. One is solid cast iron, the other zamak:



A page from the 1946 Delta catalog. You can see the illustrated bracket is the adjustable type. All the pushrods were .55 cents which is $8.43 today:

 

[jmarkwolf]

Just completed the restoration of my 1956 Delta 15in drill press a few days ago. I screwed the pooch disassembling the motor for new bearings, so I had to replace it with a modern Dayton motor. Table in the pic is an extension. The original table underneath has no arc of shame. All new bearings, belts, electrical and paint throughout. Runs beautifully.

 

[Corndoggeh]

Very nice job. Interesting looking lift mechanism. What happened with the motor that made it unusable?

 

[Jim C.]

Well done jmarkwolf!!!

Jim C.

 

[jmarkwolf]

Very nice job. Interesting looking lift mechanism. What happened with the motor that made it unusable?

Thanks Corndog

The centrifugal switch was damaged during motor disassembly (long story). Parts long since obsolete. They're fragile thin copper alloy leafs, with vintage-looking ignition points style contacts. Mine snapped off while adjusting tension. Considering how to refabricate as a "background task".

The lift mechanism was available at Sears back in the day. Works good at lifting but doesn't "push" the table downward. You have to crank in some slack on the chain then twist the table downward (not a problem if the column is clean and lubricated). Saw one for sale for $350 on-line recently. Probably sold for $29.95 originally.

A pic of a recent offering of this "lift kit" on the web attached.