Dewalt wood lathe

[yardiron]

Having some time on my hands I dug this out of a trailer outback. I picked it up at an auction a number of years ago and never got around to messing with it.
The tag reads Dewalt 9040, its 45" wide and will turn a 36" wide piece of wood 12" in diameter.
I don't think I paid much for it, it came with a bunch of other items at a local estate sale. The wood working tools weren't getting much interest at that sale and I came home with trailer load of equipment that day.

Its got two bottom screws and clamps, it appears to be an add on for another tool, maybe a radial arm or table saw?

Its belt driven, fairly light and painted in that old spatter green paint so many older Dewalt tools were painted with.
It doesn't look to be too badly treated over the years, the bearings seem good and the chuck is is still razor sharp.

Judging by the construction an style, I'd guess it to be late 50's to early 60's.
If I can find a way to mount a simple chuck to it, I may set it up as a stand alone lathe to use for shaping cork for fishing rod handles.

If I were to put this on a stand, might anyone have any idea how much HP I should power it with?

 

[Boilerhouse]

That is the first Dewalt lathe that I have seen from that era. I have one of their 50's radial arm saw that has given me 30+ years of constant reliable service.

My lathe is 12 x 37 and has a 3/4 hp capacitor start motor. So you will want to go that size as a minimum.

 

[JHuston]

I'm fairly certain that the DeWalt lathe was an attachment that used the radial arm saw motor for the drive. I seem to recall a Johnny Unitas add for it; it was called the DeWalt Powershop, I think.

-James Huston

 

[yardiron]

I'm fairly certain that the DeWalt lathe was an attachment that used the radial arm saw motor for the drive. I seem to recall a Johnny Unitas add for it; it was called the DeWalt Powershop, I think.

-James Huston

That was pretty much my guess since this has two 'L' shaped clamps with eye bolts underneath.
There was also a Dewalt radial arm saw at that auction but I seem to remember it had something wrong with it or was missing parts so I didn't bid on it.

The lot I won included a big variety of different tools. I wasn't really after the lathe in particular, I was mainly after a pair of American Power Pull 4 ton cable winches that were in the same lot. I ended up winning the whole lot for some ridiculously low amount.

Its not a very heavy duty lathe but I think it'll work good for what I need it for. I'm not turning furniture legs, just cork handles. I just have to find a way to mount up a small lathe chuck to the spindle instead of the four tooth spur on it now.

I'm thinking that I'll likely build it a simple four leg stand just big enough to hold the lathe and motor down below it.
This is light by wood turning standards but its a lot heavier than what I've been using that's only powered by a small Singer sewing machine motor.

 

[yardiron]

I'm fairly certain that the DeWalt lathe was an attachment that used the radial arm saw motor for the drive. I seem to recall a Johnny Unitas add for it; it was called the DeWalt Powershop, I think.

-James Huston

I did some digging around on the web and the Johnny Unitas ad was in 1964, just a bit later than these lathes. It appears that DeWalt was bought by Black and Decker in 1960. This lathe is from the period when DeWalt was owned by AMF, 1949 to 1960.
When I hear AMF, it brings to mind the bad years at Harley Davidson, but I don't think that was the case with DeWalt. AMF at this time was in their heyday.
Its hard to say how much development was influenced by AMF during that period but it looks to me that it was during that period that DeWalt built some of their best equipment that gained them a solid reputation.

Back when I was still in high school I worked part time for a company who specialized in shipping large machinery. While my job then was not much more than a helper and floor sweeper, the shop had several large pieces of equipment that even back then were showing their age. One was a huge green DeWalt radial arm saw, that I was told was bought when the place moved to that location in the early 50's, and four huge table saws from that same era but although they were badged DeWalt, I think they were made by Atlas. Only one of the table saws was painted in the light spatter green color, the other three were all gray. The green table saw was apparently newer but identical in every way. One by one they replaced the table saws with newer Delta Rockwell saws.
The radial arm saw exhausted its sawdust outside into a dumpster via an open chute. When you pulled the saw towards you, the chute doors would open.
It was capable of cutting though a row of 4 12x12 beams in one pass without any hesitation. It would make the cut in one pass, leaving only a few fibers at the bottom of the cut still connected. I remember the blade on that RAS was heavy and a real struggle to swap out by yourself. The blade was at least 20" in diameter and at least 3/16" thick. I don't think I ever measured the blades for that saw, they were so much larger and heavier than the table saw blades there was no way to mix them up. For some reason I seem to remember them having three blade sizes, 14", 18" and the 'DeWalt' blades. The table saws had light blades, mounted just like a modern table saw blade, but the RAS had three bolts attached to a hub bolted to a spindle with several lock nuts. I used to have one of the old blades, they tossed one after it started showing cracks, I kept it as a wall hanger but don't recall what I ever did with it.

The older blades were straight steel, the newer blades had replaceable carbide tips. It was my job to swap out the blade and send the dull one to the sharpening department, as well as keeping all the saw dust cleaned up.

 

[ACbuildsLA]

I did some digging around on the web and the Johnny Unitas ad was in 1964, just a bit later than these lathes. It appears that DeWalt was bought by Black and Decker in 1960. This lathe is from the period when DeWalt was owned by AMF, 1949 to 1960.
When I hear AMF, it brings to mind the bad years at Harley Davidson, but I don't think that was the case with DeWalt. AMF at this time was in their heyday.
Its hard to say how much development was influenced by AMF during that period but it looks to me that it was during that period that DeWalt built some of their best equipment that gained them a solid reputation.

Back when I was still in high school I worked part time for a company who specialized in shipping large machinery. While my job then was not much more than a helper and floor sweeper, the shop had several large pieces of equipment that even back then were showing their age. One was a huge green DeWalt radial arm saw, that I was told was bought when the place moved to that location in the early 50's, and four huge table saws from that same era but although they were badged DeWalt, I think they were made by Atlas. Only one of the table saws was painted in the light spatter green color, the other three were all gray. The green table saw was apparently newer but identical in every way. One by one they replaced the table saws with newer Delta Rockwell saws.
The radial arm saw exhausted its sawdust outside into a dumpster via an open chute. When you pulled the saw towards you, the chute doors would open.
It was capable of cutting though a row of 4 12x12 beams in one pass without any hesitation. It would make the cut in one pass, leaving only a few fibers at the bottom of the cut still connected. I remember the blade on that RAS was heavy and a real struggle to swap out by yourself. The blade was at least 20" in diameter and at least 3/16" thick. I don't think I ever measured the blades for that saw, they were so much larger and heavier than the table saw blades there was no way to mix them up. For some reason I seem to remember them having three blade sizes, 14", 18" and the 'DeWalt' blades. The table saws had light blades, mounted just like a modern table saw blade, but the RAS had three bolts attached to a hub bolted to a spindle with several lock nuts. I used to have one of the old blades, they tossed one after it started showing cracks, I kept it as a wall hanger but don't recall what I ever did with it.

The older blades were straight steel, the newer blades had replaceable carbide tips. It was my job to swap out the blade and send the dull one to the sharpening department, as well as keeping all the saw dust cleaned up.

If you ever want to part with this DeWalt lathe, i would be more than willing to buy it from you.

-Aaron

 

[brentrice1]

Having some time on my hands I dug this out of a trailer outback. I picked it up at an auction a number of years ago and never got around to messing with it.
The tag reads Dewalt 9040, its 45" wide and will turn a 36" wide piece of wood 12" in diameter.
I don't think I paid much for it, it came with a bunch of other items at a local estate sale. The wood working tools weren't getting much interest at that sale and I came home with trailer load of equipment that day.

Its got two bottom screws and clamps, it appears to be an add on for another tool, maybe a radial arm or table saw?

Its belt driven, fairly light and painted in that old spatter green paint so many older Dewalt tools were painted with.
It doesn't look to be too badly treated over the years, the bearings seem good and the chuck is is still razor sharp.

Judging by the construction an style, I'd guess it to be late 50's to early 60's.
If I can find a way to mount a simple chuck to it, I may set it up as a stand alone lathe to use for shaping cork for fishing rod handles.

If I were to put this on a stand, might anyone have any idea how much HP I should power it with?

It's been years since you posted this, but I'd definitely be interested in buying this off of you to use on my RAS if you still have it laying around!