My new lathe

[bscofield]

has a significant wobble in the headstock... what's up with that? Is it hard to get service on these? I tried to mail in my Warranty Card and it came back as wrong address (Delta, in Canada).

Tyler, where'd you take your's?

Also, I got some rod stock AND delrin and neither center without wobble... would you guys guess that it was the rod stock AND the delrin or that this problem has been there all along and I'm just now noticing the wobble in the headstock?

I'm frustrated...

[RadDavis]

I tried to mail in my Warranty Card and it came back as wrong address .

This is definitely a bad omen. In fact, I think this omen may be ominous.

Rad

[Nick]

You may need to fine tune your chuck. My delta has a hair of wobble in the headstock. Nothing much though. What plagued me for the longest time was my chuck. I swore i had huge wobble. Got three different headstock packages from delta. Turned out that my chuck just needed a little tuning.
I do this by chucking drill bits in both the headstock and stail stock and the adjusting the chuck until the two line up right.

One thing to note: be careful not to catch your chuck on the steady rest. it will snap the rest right of the post and will knock the shaft our of allaignment.

[bscofield]

You may need to fine tune your chuck. My delta has a hair of wobble in the headstock. Nothing much though. What plagued me for the longest time was my chuck. I swore i had huge wobble. Got three different headstock packages from delta. Turned out that my chuck just needed a little tuning.
I do this by chucking drill bits in both the headstock and stail stock and the adjusting the chuck until the two line up right.

One thing to note: be careful not to catch your chuck on the steady rest. it will snap the rest right of the post and will knock the shaft our of allaignment.

How do you "adjust" the headstock?

[bscofield]

I tried to mail in my Warranty Card and it came back as wrong address .

This is definitely a bad omen. In fact, I think this omen may be ominous.

Rad

I hope not... it's a delta.

[Nick]

Well, the thing is, it wasn't really the headstock. It was the chuck. Or it was the spindle, because I'd whacked it out of allaignment The headstock was fine after I fine tuned the chuck.

[Tyler]

Tyler, where'd you take your's?

I went to a local Mom & Pop tool store that was Delta's contract Warantee Repair center for my region. I contacted Delta to find out where to take it.

What's happening that illustrates your problem? Is it that you chuck up a piece of delrin and there is run out when it turns? If so, I too would suspect the chuck first. What chuck are you using?

Tyler

[bscofield]

Tyler, where'd you take your's?

I went to a local Mom & Pop tool store that was Delta's contract Warantee Repair center for my region. I contacted Delta to find out where to take it.

What's happening that illustrates your problem? Is it that you chuck up a piece of delrin and there is run out when it turns? If so, I too would suspect the chuck first. What chuck are you using?

Tyler

Chucking anything at a slow speed and there is wobble. I can see the wobble in the chucked item (delrin, rod stock). Turning the tip of a delrin rod produces a very curved line (is that what you mean by "run out"). It's the slow speed part that I don't get. Incidentally, I notice the wobble on the round silver "handle" thing behind the headstock.

I am using a One Way chuck with spigot jaws.

[Tyler]

Hmmm...the wobble of the wheel on the headstock sounds bad. I'd definitely contact Delta and pursue a warantee repair/replacement.

Tyler

[ToddJohnson]

Gentlemen,

Delta lathes are meant to be disposable. When the headstock starts to wobble (usually after a month or so) you throuw it out and get another one. This is exactly what I do with watches. I buy one at Target for $8 and when the battery dies, I toss it and get a new one because it's cheaper than getting a new battery. America . . . isn't it wonderful?!

Todd

[bvartist]

Gentlemen,

Delta lathes are meant to be disposable. When the headstock starts to wobble (usually after a month or so) you throuw it out and get another one.

Todd

Uh oh! Mine must be waaaaaayyyy overdue for the trash bin!

[bscofield]

Gentlemen,

Delta lathes are meant to be disposable. When the headstock starts to wobble (usually after a month or so) you throuw it out and get another one. This is exactly what I do with watches. I buy one at Target for $8 and when the battery dies, I toss it and get a new one because it's cheaper than getting a new battery. America . . . isn't it wonderful?!

Todd

Oh for the love of Pete... don't tell me that!

[bscofield]

Well I took the chuck off and the lathe with just the threads was as smooth as smooth can be... disassembled and reassembled the chuck and it's adapter and it still wobbled. Less, but still wobbled. So I guess I've found my problem. I'm going to give it another go and tighten them much slower and see if I can rectify this matter.

Thanks for the help guys.

[bvartist]

I tried to mail in my Warranty Card and it came back as wrong address (Delta, in Canada).

Before I bought my Delta, I went to the local Lowes to ask if they could special order the lathe. The clerk in the tool department called the Delta 800 number to get a price. WRONG NUMBER!!! It was the number listed on the Delta brochure!

I ran into a similar problem using the spigot jaws on my Talon. Sometimes delrin or rod stock wouldn't run true, with a slight wobble. I found that moving the jaws to a different location on the chuck body eliminated the wobble. Now I have the jaws marked so they go in a specific location on the chuck body and that has stopped the off center problems. Someday I'll get another chuck body so I don't have to switch the spigot and #2 jaws all the time.

David