Delta Rockwell Lathe Info needed

[gol4]

I picked these up this weekend. 2 Delta Rockwell 25-700 lathes. The front one has nothing wrong with it that I can find short of needing a major cleaning and having to change over to a single phase motor. The one in back was bought for parts. It needs a tail stock. no motor, The lead screw coupler needs replaced and has one gear stripped out that is only used if I want to thread high TPI.

I know they are not the greatest lathe out there but it will more that meet my needs. I gave $300 for both of them so I am pretty happy right now.

The reason for my posting is I need to disassemble them for cleaning but I don't know a whole lot about them and can't find a free manual on line. I found a previous post where someone said they were on Yahoo Rockwell user groups. I am not a member and don't want to register with Yahoo. Any one have a manual in PDF they want to PM me?

The other question is I don't really have room for 2 lathes so I am trying to decide if I should do a few quick repairs on the parts lathe and sell it to someone else who wants a lathe. Or strip it down for the parts. I know parts are getting rare yet I would have to scrap most of it like the bed and cabinet.
If I tried to sell it it would be without any tooling so not much use to anyone.
What advice would you give?

Lastly any thing I should know about this model that I need to pay attention to. Things like wear areas, operating problems etc..

 

[HanShotFirst]

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/RockwellLathe/info

The Yahoo groups tend to have groups for most machine tools, give that a try.

 

[nine4gmc]

I would bet that you could sell the cabinet and major parts off the parts machine and keep the parts most likely to fail/wear and possibly even sell the bed. That said, I'm not familiar with that lathe so I can't be much more help.

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

I have had my 11" for some 10 years nice lathe does the job for me. mine looks different is yours 10"? why not put a rotary phase converter on it to run the 3 phase. mine came with 120volt motor. and I had already made a phase converter but now use it on my 3 phase Delta Rockwell variable 800 lb drill press.

 

[My Old Tools]

You can likely get the parts you need to finish out the second here....
http://www.plazamachinery.com/

Check here for the manuals. They might have them....
http://vintagemachinery.org/home.aspx

 

[gol4]

Thanks for the replies. Just getting back to the Garage Journal as I have been busy.

I did get the manuals from the Yahoo groups. Manuals were very helpful. My daughter was registered with Yahoo so went in under her sign-on.

Ed, They are 10" lathes. I have the one I am keeping running very well on a 3/4 HP 120 volt motor. I have already been making chips fly. The speed control on this is great. 50 to 1500 rpm with out changing a belt. I still need to do more clean up on it. But everything runs good. I admit, I thought about using a dc motor but the variable drive works so well there was no need.

A lathe is like a router as soon as you get one you have to accumulate more tooling to really make it useful.

I still have to decide what to do with the other one. I can make the few parts it needs but buying the required tooling would start to add up quickly. If I keep it the tooling can be shared. I don't really have room for both.(Must stop thinking about keeping it!!)

I did decide I would cast an aluminum tail stock using lost foam method and see how that works out. The challenge will be the internal Morse taper unless I buy an insert. If it works than it would be more attractive to someone who needs a lathe.

 

[Packard V8]

I still have to decide what to do with the other one. I can make the few parts it needs but buying the required tooling would start to add up quickly. If I keep it the tooling can be shared. I don't really have room for both.(Must stop thinking about keeping it!!)

I did decide I would cast an aluminum tail stock using lost foam method and see how that works out. The challenge will be the internal Morse taper unless I buy an insert. If it works than it would be more attractive to someone who needs a lathe.

As a learning project, you'd know more about your lathe when the second one is repaired and sold, so worth it in that respect.

Strictly as a money-making project, the repairs and fabrication you describe is a losing proposition, if you bill your hours at a shop rate. BTDTNA

jack vines