Anyone know what this is?

[jd5000]

I bought an old Delta wood lathe and this was in the box with all the accessories. I am wondering if anyone knows what this is? Is it an accessory for the lathe or was it something else that the seller thought went with the lathe, but doesn't. Note: it has indexed numbers going around the whole item, from 0 - 200. If it does go with the lathe, how is it used?

 

[WillyBoy]

I've never seen something like that on a wood lathe. Then again, I haven't seen every wood lathe there is.
It looks to me more like a dial from some kind of metal lathe.

 

[rlitman]

I've never seen something like that on a wood lathe. Then again, I haven't seen every wood lathe there is.
It looks to me more like a dial from some kind of metal lathe.

A wood lathe might have something like a micrometer dial on the tailstock for measuring drilling depth, even if it doesn't have a cross slide.

 

[seber]

More likely belongs to an engine lathe.

 

[neophyte]

If one surface is angled and not flat and parallel to the other, it may be part of one of the old fashioned Dado Blade adapters for tablesaws back when full steel blades were the norm.
I’ve never used one, but there were usually two pieces, and the blade would spin around the axis of the blade arbor tilted at an angle, causing a wider dado kerf when you run wood over the saw.
Once carbide blades took over, or maybe for general safety reasons and litigiousness, the older dado adapters seem to have mostly disappeared from the marketplace.

 

[RTM]

Just googling things that go 0-200 in circles brings up this. First one seems pretty logical.

Google Search

 

[txvwnut]

It's probably off of a compound slide for a metal lathe.

 

[Beerhippie]

Just googling things that go 0-200 in circles brings up this. First one seems pretty logical.

Google Search

Goes 0-200 in circles? NASCAR?

Seriously, that's one of those things that I don't recognize, don't need and likely would not be able to toss out. One more cool widget to take up room on a shelf.

 

[alfadan]

If you have the model of the lathe, there are plenty of online catalogs that might show an accessory that uses a graduated dial like that. I too think it's off a metal lathe.

 

[whateg01]

If one surface is angled and not flat and parallel to the other, it may be part of one of the old fashioned Dado Blade adapters for tablesaws back when full steel blades were the norm.
I’ve never used one, but there were usually two pieces, and the blade would spin around the axis of the blade arbor tilted at an angle, causing a wider dado kerf when you run wood over the saw.
Once carbide blades took over, or maybe for general safety reasons and litigiousness, the older dado adapters seem to have mostly disappeared from the marketplace.

I don't recall a dial like that with any of the wobble dadoes.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

It is used to hold down your paper silhouette diagram of the lathe project you are working on. The numerical engravings are just a ploy to keep any non-turners in the audience occupied.