On 2016-12-09 17:58:48 +0000, lin said:

I need help!
My husband has an old Delta Milwaukee bench lathe from the 1940s. The
problem is that the motor is too fast for the turning he typically
does. On the lowest setting, it's still faster than the highest one on
his previous lather (3200). I would like to surprise him with a new
variable speed motor for this lathe, but I'm way out of my element and
don't even know where to start.
Any help would be great appreciated!

The problem would be that a lathe variable speed motor can go two ways,
the cheap way is a DC motor and a simple rheostat.

The more expensive way is a multi-phase motor and a control box for that.

The problem with the DC motor is the motor lacks power at any voltage
but "full".

The other solution depends on getting the right motor and speed control

It almost might be easier to simply get a slower motor to replace the
one he put in