Reverse rotation on an old Delta Milwaukee lathe

[Scott Hargrove]

Maybe everyone else who has one of these old lathes knows this, but I just discovered it recently. I have an old Delta Milwaukee lather (1946?) that I assumed was impossible to reverse. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that there is a cover on the back end of the motor and inside there are two machine screw connections and the text "switch connections to reverse rotation". This is not the same cover that houses the voltage changing wires, but another separate cover.
So I bought a double-pole-double-throw toggle switch of the appropriate specs, and wired it up and voila! it works. Pretty simple and really cheap ($9 for 6 switches on Amazon) upgrade to an old machine. It is important, of course, for anyone doing this to know that anything that screws onto the headstock (chucks, faceplates) must have a set-screw, or better yet two set-screws to prevent sudden unscrewing and the less-than-desirable flight of those parts.
Maybe everyone already knew this. Hopefully someone will be helped by it. It sure made me happy just to finally be able to reverse sand.

 

[J. Paul Fennell]

Scott,
When I had a similar Delta lathe many years ago, I just used a drum switch for reversing capability.

 

[Scott Hargrove]

I guess I just have a lot more experience with small electronics than industrial machinery... I've seen switches like that but wouldn't have had the faintest idea what they were called or where to find them. Turns out they're readily available if you know what to ask for.
A household 4-way switch would also do the trick, and with simpler wiring. Those and the drum switches cost $30 ish.
Thanks for the tip.

 

[John K Jordan]

two machine screw connections and the text "switch connections to reverse rotation"

Nice discovery and trivial fix. I suspect someone else somewhere has one of these lathes.