I have a Lot 2 Dalton Lathe, I posted a photo of it and some details at the time Lot 2 No 23, anyway I have now sorted a few items out namely mounted the lathe on a metal table and fixing the motor below and to the rear with the Pulley above to feed the Lathe. I had the motor fixed, the solenoid had broken, its now sorted. Now I'm at the point of turning metal so I've produced a few practise pieces and have found issues more important than say sorting out any backlash in the Slides.
1) On turning work I'm finding when cutting that the work ends with a slight taper (thicker at the Lathe Chuck end), there's 0.5mm or a number of thou out over say 50mm or 2", I've checked its not the top slide being out and causing it by moving from back to front using the carriage and apron instead for the parallel movement of the cutting tool.
2) I have play on the Tailstock Barrel when I want to drill into my Work Piece, it ends up off centre.
The Lathe is 108 years old so there's going to be play everywhere but I need to fix these if it's to become a successful working lathe. The Lathe Bed is Cast Iron so that should be straight, so is the error in the Headstock bearings, so that it's running slightly out of line. I'm not sure what or where the play is in the Tailstock Barrel.?
Bryan Alton