I have a delta midi lathe, the 250 model. I ordered a new belt for it because my old one broke.Now I am having some serious issues taking apart the headstock to change the belt. I have been trying to remove the hand wheel but am unable to remove one of the set screws. Any help would be appreciated. I have broken about 6 allen wrenches so far and still havent got it to budge. Can I start on teh other side of the head stock to remove it or am I supposed to start over there in teh first place.If so how do I remove the threaded piece my chucks screw on and is it a left hand thread?
Thanks
Chuck

My guess is that the allen screw has been locked with thread locker. Try warming the screw with a soldering gun or iron before removing.

ken

Service Manual:
[www.dewaltservicenet.com]

To remove the set screws:
1. Get a couple of new allen wrenches.
2. Use an abrasive wheel to cut off one of the allen wrences, so you have a straight length of hex material that is a perfect fit for the allen wrench.
3. Light up your propane torch.
4. Put the cut off allen wrench into the allen screw. Heat the wheel and allen screw with the propane torch.
5. Use a hammer to give the allen screw a good pop to free up the threads.
6. Put the other new allen wrench into the allen screw, and as you heat the screw with the torch, back off the screw. I expect that it will come out easily.

If the screw has had red loctite applied to the screw, you really need heat to loosen the loctite and extract the screw.

p.s.
Make sure that you are using absolutely the correct hex wrench. Some tools use SAE (american style ) allen wrench

es, and many of todays tools use Metric allen wrenches. Just be sure to use the right one.



Roger

When i have a screw that will not move, I put my driver in it and hit the driver with a hammer several times. This tends to seat the screw driver and helps to loosen the screw. Then a vice grip also helps.

Bill - willierods.com

Exactly,
That is the reson that I suggested that you get a new allen wrench, cutting it off so you have a "perfect fitting driver" putting it into the allen screw and hitting it with a hammer to free up the threads.
The heat from the torch will also help to free up the screw and loosen anything that might have been in the threads.
Roger

Well Guys Thanks for the help. I tried every already mentioned before I posted. I finally went and got an easy out to try to remove it but, I broke it off also. Finally just cut off the set screw, will replace it and the hand wheel as soon as they get here. It was waaayyyyy cheaper to tear up the hand wheel than keep tearing up tools. I spent about 60 in now broken tools and the hand wheel was less than 20...

Chuck,
Sometimes things just have a mind of their own.
By the way, when you cut off the set screw and hand wheel, did you see any reason why there was such a problem in removing the screw.

I am wondering if there could have been a manufacturing problem and the set screw got cross threaded or something similar on the initial assembly.

Roger