Woodturning Lathe to Drill & Tap Cases for OAL Gauge??

[Wild Thing]

New to the forum and I believe this will be my first post. Looking for a little help from the machinists out there.

I recently inherited some woodworking tools and have a Delta Midi-Lathe Model 46-250 which I am interested in maybe using to drill and tap cases for use in my Hornady OAL Gauge modified cases. I can slow the RPM's down to 500 by moving the belt but it does not have variable speed.

If this is OK, I need to know what make/model chuck to purchase to hold the cases on the headstock end? It has a 1" X 8 TPI #2 Morse Taper.

I really don't have a clue about running this lathe as I have never used one. Just thinking if I can purchase the correct chuck this machine may be useful for some brass prep applications.

Thanks in advance for any specific recommendations you may have.

Here is what the lathe looks like:

 

[Intheshop]

This might help?

Search this site; neck turning with lathe or mill.

Another; Benchrite case lathe

It's an interesting question.... tough though because of the $ investment into tooling that may or not,transfer to other equipment. Being as it's so user dependent... IOW's, what works fine in one shop may be a total waste of capital in the next?

As a slight tangent; a small modest wood lathe in a machine shop is nice to have. I use ours for some pretty cool stuff. Good luck with your project.

 

[joshb]

Welcome to the site. Sorry, but it’s like using a 338 Lapua to shoot squirrels. Use that nice little lathe to turn some bowls. Drill and tap your cases by hand.

 

[ebb]

Grizzly used to sell a three jaw chuck that will fit the threads of that head stock. That could make it usful for some things. That said tapping cases can be done by hand.

 

[ebb]

josh we were typing at the same time. Make some nice bowls to hold the cases you are loading

 

[BigBolt]

I have the same lathe with a 3' extension bed. It is for wood and over kill for case turning. Here is what I use made by Hornady. I also made an attachment to replace the handle. I use a cheap 1/4" drive screwdriver fast easy and accurate.

 

[SmokinJoe]

Well, you couldn't use it for power anything on metal, minimum spindle speed on a wood lathe is way too high generally. But I don't see any reason that you couldn't use it to hold everything in alignment between centers to do the modified cases with hand power. Keeping things lined up while making those cases is the most important aspect of the job.

 

[Richard Jones]

One way would be to use your drill chuck in the headstock and feed the drill and tap by hand. You would not need to have the power on, just feed it and crank the headstock by hand. My lathe will go down to just under 50 rpm so I can do this easily under power. Keep in mind that the chuck may mar your cases. Do you have some other sort of case holder that you can use in the drill chuck to hold the cases?

I use a 21st Century case holder w/driver in a drill chuck in the tailstock and a collet setup in the headstock.

Tooling ain't cheap....

 

[Intheshop]

Turn a wooden collet and then hold it in a 4",4jaw....

That size lathe has a place in our shop if it only turned one thing..... file handles. Interestingly,I hold these handles vertically in a V block.... to drill/tap for accessories.

 

[Intheshop]

Zebra wood above... made this 2 weeks ago,for a dang chainsaw file. We use files every day....