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 lathe (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.

 

[Dave Jones]

One of my first lathes was a delta just like that, and I loved it. Did not have that motor, though. I tried to figure out a reverse on it, but never managed. I might need one of those again someday.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

The Delta lathe in high school woodshop had a forward and reverse switch down under the motor and a separate more accessible on/off switch.

Our first required project was hand planing random thickness wood strips to edge glue into a cutting board. The teacher spent class time working in his office on his own projects. So I got the bright idea to use the jointer which we were not allowed to use. Wouldn't you know I cut the tip end of my index finger off. Blood was gushing everywhere as I went into the teacher's office to tell him. His first response was to tell me to get out of his office because blood was getting on the floor and his work bench. I was banished from woodshop for the remainder of the year and received a D grade.

A couple weeks later a friend decided to play a trick on the much disliked teacher. He had been turning a set of large platters on the outboard reverse threaded spindle of the lathe. My friend turned the motor switch to reverse hoping the teacher wouldn't notice, he didn't, so as soon as his tool contacted the wood the face plate unscrewed sending his platter off to shatter against the wall.

This was long ago and times were different. I knew to take responsibility for doing something I wasn't supposed to do. My parents were even angry with me. If this happened today lawyers would be lined up around the block to sue the school on my behalf. Worse yet, my best friend almost a year to the day was showing how I cut my finger and managed to cut his finger. Thinking back I wonder why they didn't turn the power off to the banned usage machines.