Old Craftsman Lathe face plate needed

I would think the only thing you really need to know is what is the thread? I am guessing it is 3/4" by 16, if so, I may have one or two. If not, there are different places I have seen advertise which have, or will make a variety of face plates.

Walt Conner

I have an old Dunlap (sold by Sears years ago) and found a face plate at home depot (Ridgid Brand)that fit the threads.It would be worth a try as their return policy is very liberal Qlty

If the headstock uses the 3/4 x 16 threads that most Craftsman lathes do, Sears still sells faceplates that fit (although apparently with a different part number). So do a lot of other places.

Even if it's some other diameter and thread pitch, you still shouldn't have any problem finding something that will fit. Who says it has to come from Sears? Google is your friend.

Here are a couple of places to try as a start:

- click Accessories, then Faceplates

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Couple of suggestions of 3/4. If so, get a fine and a coarse thread nut of the same diameter and try. Then go to someplace like

for a suitable faceplate.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll check into all the suggestions. I'm new to turning and swapped a old delta benchtop table saw for the lathe. Figured it would be something to learn on and eventually if I enjoy turning as much as I think I will I'll save up some and get a newer lathe. Thanks, Mike

Bill Noble likes to make faceplates by welding a washer to a nut, and he sells them pretty cheap--I mean inexpensive. Look back through this NG, and you'll find numerous postings by him.

Hi Mike,

Here are a couple links to help you out. I purchased soe from Bill Nible. They work great.

I make "temporary" faceplates by imbedding a nut into a 1.2 inch block of maple and turning it round. Although I have a Jet which uses 1" by 8tpi, I imagine you could find 3/4 by 16 tpi nuts with little trouble. By drilling a hole in the backside of the maple block to be just a bit snug for the nut, you can get quite a few jobs out of one of these. When it gets loose or sloppy, just drill another block--or epoxy it in.

You can attach stuff to the block with glue and turn it back to flat once you part off the workpiece.

Works well for me and the beauty is they're dirt cheap!

Tom Puskar

Sears carries 4" and 8" facplates both of which come in 3/4" 16tpi and 1"

8tpi. I have two of the 4" faceplates but I prefer to use the 3" faceplate from my delta.

Steven Raphael Ithaca MI

and, although I'd be happy to sell you welded ones

, you can drill a hole (for 3/4 inch X 16, I'd drill 11/16 inch hole) in hard maple or other hard wood, wax the spindle thread, and with a twist/untwist motion, work the wood onto the thread - you will use your own spidle to form the threads into the wood - this will hold up for a while and is really cheap

bill