Dalton TL Lathe

[ulav8r]

Bought a lathe yesterday at an estate sale. When I first saw it from across the room, I thought it was an Atlas 6x18. Looks to be in good condition, light rust on the chuck and a few other places, about an eighth of an inch of dust on most of it. Had one tool holder with wrench in the lantern toolholder. There was a live center in the tailstock. No extra change gears in sight.

According to Tony's lathe site, it is the only Dalton lathe that is not thread cutting, the change gears are only for power longitudinal feed. Since I already have a SB Heavy 10 with taper attachment and a Rockwell 10", I may not keep it. Due to the seller's desire to have everything cleared out quickly, there was a chance the lathe would be scrapped. I told him that it was worth more than I could afford but since my unemployment had expired and I was still unemployed, I would offer only $50. He considered for a few seconds and accepted.









Looks to be at least as heavy duty as the Atlas, but a better system than flat ways.

[ulav8r]

One more picture.



Original cone pulley missing, will probably try to find a DC treadmill motor if I decide to keep it.
Tailstock not shown.

[LKeithR]

All I can say is if that one's in "good" shape, I'd hate to see one in "bad" shape...

[alanganes]

All I can say is if that one's in "good" shape, I'd hate to see one in "bad" shape...

I guess I'd certainly say that is in good shape for a $50 lathe. Nothing looks broken, so for the cost of a motor and some work doing clean-up one could have an actual working metal cutting lathe for relative peanuts. Which is always better than having "no" metal cutting lathe.

[sasquatch]

Still,,,, an interesting piece of machine. Wondering what era this is from.?

[michigan doug]

Hit it with evaporust, paint the bits that want paint. Gently stone the high spots off the ways.

I'm sure it's still useful.

doug

[JoeFin]

Certainly a nice score for $50

Would be a nice addition for any garage/shop. Wonder if you could find a picture of the original cone pully and fabricate some thing similar to give it back an original look.

[Danl]

Still,,,, an interesting piece of machine. Wondering what era this is from.?

Dalton lathes were made between 1913 and the Great Depression. See http://www.lathes.co.uk/dalton/page9.html for more on this particular lathe.
Probably built for woodworking and light metal cutting. Possibly fairly rare<?>

Dan

[Doozer]

It looks heavy duty for it's size.
Nice score.

--Doozer

[sasquatch]

Agreed, i'm thinking this is a bit of a rare lathe also. Great find for $50.00 !!

[ulav8r]

It has the 1922 patent date, which covers the swing up gear cover. I did not check for a serial number. There was at most a dusting of rust on the ways, will clean it up after it warms up this spring.

The original cone pulley was for flat belts, I'm not committed to making it look original but I do like the current dark gray almost black paint.

[hoof]

When I see something that old and in that nice a shape. There is a place in my heart for it as well. Nice score.

Ray

[Don Young]

There is a group of Dalton lathe collectors. I found a TL apron amongst my treasures and donated it to one of them whose name I can't recall right now. That lathe is definitely worth saving.

[Don Young]

There is a Dalton lathe group on Yahoo. Dennis Turk is the guy I gave the Dalton TL apron to and he is active on that group. Lots of good information and advice is available there.