# Delta/Rockwell 46-111 a good starter lathe?



## beelzerob

I found a craigslist ad for this and, humorously, it is on the way to the scroll saw I'm going to pick up tomorrow.

He's asking $150 and says he's selling it because he's upgrading, so it works fine.



> For sale is a VERY well built Rockwell/Delta woodworking lathe on a sturdy steel stand. It was made in Pittsburgh & they don't build them like this any more. It can turn up to 12" diameter & over 3' bed. It comes with the wrenches for it, another center, a faceplate for turning bowls, & 3 rests. It is variable speed. Absolutely nothing wrong with it just bought a larger lathe to turn bedposts & don't really have room for it.


I had resisted going to a lathe just because wood turning seems like a whole 'nother kind of obsession, and I really have too many of those already. But one thing I would like to make one day is a little rocking chair for my youngest, and also some small rocking chairs for my Mom's dolls she makes. So this lathe seems like a good fit for that.

Just checking for a quick yea/nay if this is a good deal, ASSUMING it is indeed fully functional.

Thanks!


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## Itchy Brother

I took a look at the internet on it.Last made about 30 years ago,Made of good steel,1x8" M2, small chuck,made for mostly spindlework not bowls.Just other peoples viewpoints but I did notice someone looking for parts for it.Another asking if $100 was too much to pay for one.I'd take a look on the internet and take all the reviews under consideration before you commit.Itchy


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## beelzerob

Ya, it's definitely an old one...I didn't know if lathe's fell into that category of "they made them better back then" that seems to happen so often with woodworking tools.

I also searched for any posts about this lathe, and the posts I could find seem to indicate that, at least a couple years ago, $150 was a pretty good price for this. I'm kinda bummed there's no tools with it, but I don't know how much the faceplate, wrenches, rests and metal stand all help things along.

I really have no burning desire to make bowls...it's really more towards the chair spindles than anything else. As with everything else, if I find I get this and my desires outpace what the machine can do, then it's upgrade time! But I'm just hoping this will be a good starter lathe.


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## Bneff

I have this lathe, via inherited from my father-in-law. It's a solid lathe, but a drawback is that has only 4 speeds by changing the belt on the pulleys. The slowest speed is about 900rpm which is too scary dangerous fast for turning a large out of balance blank. You'll only get about a 10.5 inch diameter blank to mount on it. I had one that was about 8 inches across and 5 inches deep that was making it dance an shake so I stopped and tryed a different piece of wood. Other than that I like my mistress Delta.

Bill


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## beelzerob

I ended up deciding to pass on the listing. I've got a jointer and planer need first in line, and a lathe is somewhere after that. My google searches showed that even 2 years ago, $150 was about the going price for this thing...so it seemed to me that this was about a *normal* deal for a lathe, and not an exceptionally GREAT deal. So no real reason to jump on it.


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