Walker-Turner Lathe
Turning has been a strong focus in my work for some time.  I purchased this Walker- Turner lathe in 1997.  It had been used in a metal spinning shop for odd jobs, and was in sad shape.  I completely reconditioned the machine including stripping the paint to bare metal.  Walker-Turner used bearings of a proprietary I.D. which are impossible to purchase today.  In order to adapt to commonly available bearings I modified the spindle shaft diameter down to 25mm.  The model of this lathe is something of a mystery.  Every W-T lathe I have seen is from their PowerDriver line, and this lathe is different in the headstock area.  My lathe looks much like the early Delta, and in fact Delta purchased some of the W-T patterns.
The W-T lathe is heavy cast iron throughout.  Even the leg stands are cast iron.   To add more weight and mobility I built the mobile base from 1/4" wall 2" structural square tubing.
The original drive was a small AC motor.  Speed changes were made via a four step belt sheave.  I have installed a 1.5HP DC variable speed motor while retaining the step sheaves.  The result is a drive that is finely adjustable from 0 up to 5900 RPM.
A useful accessory for the lathe is vacuum chucking.  This is the vacuum pump which I can connect to the outboard end of the spindle of the lathe.  Shop made chucks or faceplates are then mounted on the spindle to hold workpieces.
This is a handle little gadget which I use for storing 2" velcro backed sanding disks.  These little disks are mounted on a foam backed pad chucked in a hand drill and then used for power sanding of workpieces, usually while the lathe spins.  This little carousel handles 6 grits of paper.  I typically use grits of 80, 120, 180, 220, 320, and 400.  The carousel makes it easy to keep the grits organized and dispense a single disk from the bottom.