Delta Industrial 46-460 12-1/2-inch Variable-Speed MIDI Lathe, Gray

Original review circa 12/25/2011: I have been a wood worker for over 35 years and finally decided to try my hand at turning. My family listened and got me my choice of lathes for this Christmas. I decided on a midi-lathe, since a full-sized lathe would have been too expensive and a waste should I not like turning. Who wants another expensive tool to dust off in the shop. However, I have learned a long time ago you get what you pay for. So, I wasn't going to cut my teeth in turning on poor equipment and risk invalidly marring my opinion of the activity. Before I made my selection, I read up on mini lathes all over the 'net and not just here on Amazon, but on turning websites and forums as well. I could not find anything that suggested the 46-460 was not a top of the line midi-lathe. It is not that they are complicated but the ease of use, machining, alignment of turning points, heftiness, speed control, etc. are all factors that separate a good mini/midi-lathe from the next. I got this lathe set up only yesterday and had never turned before. Becuase I had watched many TV shows of our favorites turning, I had some idea on how to do it. Straight out of the box with a set of mediocre chisels, i.e. not of Sorby class, I was able to make my first turning, a handle for a triangular file out of a stick of red oak bound for the fire pit. I bought the chisels here PSI Woodworking LCSIXW High Speed Steel Wood Lathe Chisel Turning Set, 6-Piece as a gift to myself. The 46-460 is a quality machine, very quiet, plenty of power, well-designed, feature-filled lathe. It comes with a face plate, which I haven't attempted to use yet, and one each of the spur and live centers. These fit snugly into the headstock spindle bore and the quill, respectively. You don't have to remove the face plate to insert the spur center. A couple tool rests, 6" and 10", round out the equipment. You can turn the longest piece of wood by moving the 10" tool rest only once. The sliding action on the tail stock and the tools rest is very smooth and uninhibited by rough machining; the lock down handles are easily reached and tighten with less than a quarter turn. In fact, all the machining is top notch, welds are fully ground and smooth, unlike other equipment I've bought made in Taiwan. The movable ribbed-belt on 3 pulleys offers 3 ranges compounded by the electronic speed control provides ultimate flexibility. Although I don't know much about speed control and what to turn at for what process or wood selection, the electronic speed control is a luxury (I'd say). Changing out the belt is quite simple with access from the front and side through two portals; there's a tensioning lever that makes changing pulleys a piece of cake. Since it is a midi-lathe the length of the piece being turned is limited but with a 12 1/2" swing pretty large plates and bowls can be achieved. Also, there is a forward and reverse switch that makes sanding in both directions easy; just remember to return the switch to forward if you are going to turn anymore after sanding! Nothing bad happens but your chisels won't cut...The thing weighs over 100 lbs, which is awesome for being that size. I just put in on my bench top temporarily to get a taste of turning and it never budged an inch. I wasn't turning huge lop-sided pieces of wood but the equipment itself is extremely smooth, no vibrations and well-balanced. I also like the base expandability and optional legs, which are available even for an expanded base. It's only been a day or so but I would recommend getting or upgrading to this lathe. If you turn or want to turn pens or smaller things, like ornaments, tool handles, goblets, etc. you won't go wrong with this tool. I am no wood turner yet, but I know quality when I see it. Update 06/23/2018: I have had this lathe now for over 7 years and it has performed wonderfully. However...it has just died. The motor will no longer rotate. I have tried the reset switch repeatedly thinking I had overheated it but the switch even feels loose and ineffective. I have to confess that I have periodically turned the lathe on with the indexing pin engaged. I would immediately turn off the lathe and disengage the indexing pin.The lathe would start up without fail. Until yesterday...I did it again and this time it will not turn! So, be forewarned and do not get comfortable thinking your lathe will be OK even with the indexing pin locked in just a brief moment. It will accumulate the impact and it will fail. I think a modification which would kill the power circuit, if the pin was engaged, would be a great product enhancement! A new motor costs nearly as much as a new lathe, so replacement of just the motor doesn't seem right. I will see if a repair of the motor can be done and report back later.

I purchased this after reading Fine Woodworking's Midi Lathe Tool Test from Andrew Finnigan. This Delta lathe and a comparable Rikon model were both rated Author's Choice in the under $1300 category. It is a lot of fun to use, seems heavy, well designed. It is very quiet while running, with a pleasant hum from the motor, and the variable speed adjustments are smooth. Seems like a good value for a heavy duty tool. Mine arrived with the FWD/REV switch wired backwards. In order to fix this, you need to locate the logic board and swap the M+/M- wires circled in yellow in my attached photo. The fix was simple enough, and I was expecting this issue after reading that other reviews have had the same issue, so I don't think it is worth downgrading from 5 stars for this minor issue.

I am a military member who has been waiting for this product to become available again for months. I pre-ordered it and was about to give up and buy it in the states when I received an email that it was being shipped while I was in Quebec on pre-deployment training for Afghanistan. I finally got back home and went to the states to pick up the 46-462 lathe stand and immediately put them both together this weekend. My father pointed out that the controller box (part #DPEC000471) was cracked exposing some wires inside, took a photo. The box was in good shape and the lathe was wrapped in packing plastic and secured in manufacturers custom polystyrene. It went from the box to the stand with no opportunity to be damaged on this end and the shipping is unlikely a problem either. I do not believe this will compromise its function, it seems to run smooth, but I will likely have to seal the controller box to prevent dust/debris from getting inside (another job for duct tape or equivalent). I may contact delta to order a replacement part; however, in order to replace it I believe i have to disconnect some of the wiring in order to remove the box... I am not interested in messing with that. Just my luck one of the couple plastic parts on my unit is busted.... I highly recommend potential buyers to buy the optional chuck 46-461. The spur center the lathe comes with is rudimentary at best.

Shipping was timely, but the lathe arrived with a broken on/off switch. Literally a simple plastic tab had broken off, which was less damage than I expected because the well padded carton had forklift holes in it. I looked up the part number to see about simply ordering the switch - it said - "contact an authorized service center". They told me the part was back-ordered but that when it arrived they would replace it for me - as long as I brought the lathe to them. I asked about the cost of the part, thinking I could simply buy it and install it myself, rather than packing up a 100 Lb. tool and waiting for the service center to swap out the part. They were unable to tell me, and expressed their own frustration trying to get parts and information from Delta Machinery, the company that has now purchased the Delta tool line from DeWalt. They said they had tools there in the service center waiting months for parts to complete repairs. So, I knew getting parts might be tough, and wondered if I should gamble - something else could go wrong on a replacement. Still the obvious quality of the product (and, a great price) led me to conclude I could risk it. I returned lathe #1 to Amazon for a replacement, which is a painless process. Because of the weight of the item they had the original carrier (hint, the brown one) pick up the return. Carrier showed up with the replacement the very next day (amazing) with an undamaged box holding my new lathe. They left with my original lathe. NOTE TO SELF - that would prove to be an unfortunate choice on my part. Lathe #2 was unpacked to discover a broken casting. Literally the cast iron dog ears that enable bolting the lathe to a bench were broken off. The significant styrofoam packaging was trashed. Although the outside of the box looked fine, this machine is trashed - except of course, for the perfectly intact on/off switch. So, I needed to return lathe #2. Had I just held on to lathe #1 until I opened lathe #2 I would have simply pulled the on/off switch switch, if you get my drift, and then sent back lathe #2 instead of lathe #1. Feeling more than a bit frustrated, I managed to uncover the best-hidden customer support phone number in the world and talked to an Amazon employee (Anita, extremely nice - and whip smart- somebody should promote her to director of customer service training). She assured me that she'd get, wait for it. . . a third lathe sent out via a different carrier (think blue and orange) the very next day. She then advised me NOT to return lathe #2 until I was sure between the two I could arrive at a point where one lathe was in NEW condition (well doh, not making that mistake again). Well today Brown stopped by to pick up lathe #2 and I asked them to come back tomorrow. Blue/Orange arrived and carried a pristine carton gingerly on to my porch. I've unpacked lathe #3 and it's perfect. I've packed lathe #2 up (I'm getting pretty good at that, unfortunately)and will entrust it to Brown tomorrow when the saga (with the three part harmony) should reach it's conclusion. Oh, the product? It's a great lathe, love the variable speed, extremely well machined, no run-out and I got a very good price. The only knock I have is the live center for the tail stock has a hollow MT mandrel. The lathe comes with a little bar with a knob - think phillips head screwdriver without the tip - so you can push it thru the head or tail stock to knock out whatever get's stuck in there. With the hollow mandrel on the live center it doesn't work. Nothing a longer bar didn't fix, and the only knock I've found. It's the risk of not being able to get parts that rates the product 3 stars - Delta Machinery needs to get their act together. As for Amazon's customer service - world class.

The first one I ordered arrived with the same trouble that apparently a lot of people have had. The variable speed did not work. It would come on barely, run a second, then if you slightly turned the knob cut out, etc...I called Delta and they said it was a bad control panel, and I could either take it to a service shop or return it where I bought it. Now, since I bought it form Amazon, they picked it up the next day, shipped me a new one immediately, and refunded my one day shipping fees. I thought that was AWESOME. It was the best experience I have ever had returning something. My new one seems to work fine, and I like it so far very much. But if I were someone looking to buy one of these new, I would absolutely make sure I bought it from someplace like Amazon where a return would be no fuss, since i am by no means the only person to have had trouble with a bad control panel or whatever causes these issues. The other thing that really surprised me was that when reading reviews, a lot of people said that the reverse/forward function on their lathe was backwards. So you place it in reverse to actually run it forward. This is not a big deal at all, but that seems like something that would have been addressed. However, I have the exact same issue, on both the one I sent back and the new one. I believe this (10/21/2016) is a few years after some of these people wrote about that problem. TLDR It seems like a great lathe, but I would not buy one from any place that I could not immediately return it, or try the one I buy. And honestly, I'm not positive I'll buy Delta stuff in the future. Those little things are just a little scary of what else is going on.